Today we are continuing our preseason football coverage with a detailed review of the 1997 season. It's the thirteenth part in a series taking a look back at the past quarter century of prep football in the Golden State, beginning with the 1985 season. Football coaches can CLICK HERE to print out a questionnaire to make sure your program is included in our series of team previews for the 2009 season and considered for our preseason state rankings package. Please fax completed questionnaire to (209) 463-1219 or email info to mark@studentsports.com.

By Ronnie Flores, Senior Editor

California Schools With the Most D1 Signers (1997-1998)

Bakersfield (5) - Sean Mackey (6-1, 185, DB) to UNLV; Keith McKnight (6-5, 290, OL) to Fresno St.; Tim Osborn (6-2, 210, QB) to Fresno St.; Jason Stewart (6-2, 260, DL) to Fresno St.; Eliott Zajac (6-5, 280, OL) to Washington.
Dominguez (Compton) (5) - Douglas Brumfield (6-3, 190, CB) to Oregon St.; Willie Hurst (5-10, 195, RB) to Washington; Eric Manning (6-2, 265, DT) to Oregon St.; David Relf (5-11, 175, WR) to Oregon St.; Jason Thomas (6-4, 220, QB) to USC.
Damien (La Verne) (4) - Brian Allen (5-10, 190, RB) to Stanford; Mark Christensen (6-4, 290, OL) to Oregon St.; Rashidi Wheeler (6-1, 202, DB-RB) to Northwestern; Darnell Parhms (5-10, 185, DB) to Washington.

1997 Season Notes & Highlights: Can you become too dominant? The answer is yes when it comes to the De La Salle of Concord football team. There were rumblings that the realignment of the Spartans into a nine-man league with a rotating bye that resulted in lopsided league contests during the 1996 season would result in forfeits, instead of games against the Spartans, by some league members.

De La Salle's response was to recommend the program join the CIF Central Coast Section's West Catholic Athletic League for football only. WCAL officials balked at that idea, but were interested in De La Salle joining the league for all sports. Officials could not come up with a solution for the 1997-1998 school year in the spring of 1997, but by late October an agreement was created with the other nine schools of the Bay Valley Athletic League. De La Salle became a quasi-independent, not able to compete for the BVAL title while five schools had to fill out the second half of the Spartans' regular season schedule.                 

The BVAL agreement allowed De La Salle to play five non-league games of their choice and one of them will come in week three of the 1998 season against Mater Dei of Santa Ana. Both the Spartans and the Monarchs figure to be strong since many underclassmen keyed successful 1997 campaigns.

The Spartans opened the season ranked No. 1 in the state and began it with a resounding 48-14 victory over Nevada Union of Grass Valley. During the ninth week of the regular season, the Spartans defeated College Park of Pleasant Hill, 56-0, to set a new national record with its 73rd consecutive victory. Filling in for injured junior back Atari Callen, sophomore D. J. Williams left no doubt the record would fall as he scored on first-quarter runs of 27 and 54 yards.

De La Salle broke the national record set by Hudson High of Michigan in 1975. Three members of that team was on hand for the game against College Park and they presented a game ball to De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur that was signed by members of Hudson's 1975 and 1997 teams. De La Salle concluded its season with a dominant 35-15 victory over James Logan of Union City in the NCS 4A title game and upped its winning streak to 76.

Mater Dei, meanwhile, rolled to the CIF Southern Section Div. I finals after opening the season ranked No. 2 in the state behind the Spartans. The Monarchs entered the match up against preseason No. 4 Long Beach Poly riding a 27-game winning streak. After defeating previously undefeated and preseason No. 5 Loyola of Los Angeles in the semifinals, the young Jackrabbits knocked off the Monarchs, 28-25, in a battle of undefeated clubs.

Mater Dei had a 17-14 halftime lead, but took the lead on a 32-yard screen pass from junior quarterback Chris Lewis to senior Herman Ho-Ching. On the first play of Poly's next drive, Lewis found Andre Cyrus on a 76-yard touchdown pass. Mater Dei finally got on the board in the second half with 1:48 remaining in the game on a short plunge by Kevin Mitchell, but Mater Dei's onside kick landed straight in the hands of Ho-Ching, who broke through the wedge and returned it down to the four-yard line.       

The Jackrabbits, like De La Salle, had a host of talented underclassmen, but were still able to move along three players to the D1 ranks, the same number produced by Mater Dei, preseason No. 7 Santa Margarita and No. 13 Muir of Pasadena.                

Preseason No. 3 Dominguez of Compton, probably had the most talented team in the state, but their season took a wrong turn literally when QB Jason Thomas dislocated his ankle early in the season in a 28-10 victory over Antelope Valley of Lancaster. The very next week, the Dons lost to Long Beach Poly without Thomas, 28-13. Thomas, the state junior of the year in 1996, attempted a comeback in the playoffs, but did not have nearly the same impact he did before the injury for a team that saw its season come to an end in the CIFSS Div. II quarterfinals against, of course, Antelope Valley.     

Other than Dominguez,  the other team that reported five signers was Bakersfield, which was denied the program's 600th all-time victory when they lost to Clovis, 23-14, in the CIF Central Section Yosemite Division title game.

When it was all said and done, the Spartans were named state team of the year in a close call over Long Beach Poly. USA Today jumped Poly ahead of De La Salle into the No. 2 position nationally behind McKinley of Canton, Ohio after the Jackrabbits defeated Mater Dei. Poly did not jump De La Salle in the National Prep Poll. After watching De La Salle and Poly play twice, it's not obvious which team was better. Two things are obvious, however. One, De La Salle did nothing to justify a drop in the ratings and two, Poly played a stronger schedule than the Spartans.

The latter will not be the case next year.    

A Look Back at the 1997 Season
(All Selections Made by Cal-Hi Sports)

State Team of the Year: Concord De La Salle 12-0

Preseason No. 1 Team: Concord De La Salle 12-0 (No. 1 final rating)

Number of Undefeated Teams: 19 (52 in the regular season)

Highest Score (11-man only): Bloomington 94, Menifee Paloma Valley 0

Eight-Man Team of the Year: Santa Maria Valley Christian 11-1

State Coach of the Year: John Beam (Skyline, Oakland) 12-0

CalHiSports.com Mr. Football State Player of the Year: DeShaun Foster (Tustin) RB

Junior Player of the Year: Chris Lewis (Poly, Long Beach) QB

Sophomore Player of the Year: D.J. Williams (De La Salle, Concord) LB-RB

Medium Schools Player of the Year: Michael Jones (Laguna Hills) RB

Small Schools Player of the Year: Robert Thomas (Imperial) LB

State Quarterback of the Year: Carson Palmer (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM)

State Running Back of the Year: Foster

State Offensive End of the Year: Joey Cuppari (Westlake, Westlake Village)

State Lineman of the Year: Matt Leonard (Palmdale)

State Linebacker of the Year: Thomas

State Defensive Back of the Year: Donte Stallworth (Grant, Sacramento)

Individual Scoring Leader: Foster -- 362 pts. (59 TDs, 14 gms.)

Individual Rushing Leader: John Bordenkircher (Dixon) 3,416 yds. (12 gms.)

Individual Passing Leader: Kyle Biggs (Clovis) 3,557 yds. (14 gms.)

Individual Touchdown Pass Leader: Erik Garcia (Franklin, Los Angeles) 41 TDs (12 gms.)
   
Individual Receiving Yardage Leader: Tim Feirfeil (L.A. Baptist, North Hills) 1,742 yds. (72 rec., 10 gms.)

CalHiSports.com Nickname of the Year: Matt "Ox" Leonard (Palmdale) DL

Previous Seasons:

Season in Review (1996)
Season in Review (1995)
Season in Review (1994)
Season in Review (1993)
Season in Review (1992)
Season in Review (1991)
Season in Review (1990)
Season in Review (1989)
Season in Review (1988)
Season in Review (1987)
Season in Review (1986)
Season in Review (1985)

Note: The above list of reported signers includes players that signed with Div. I-A or Div. I-AA programs; does not include Div. II, Div. III or NAIA. For additions, comments or corrections, send email to ronnie@studentsports.com. To view our various state player of the year lists going back to the late 1800s, our all-time state rankings going back to 1975 and our various all-state teams (first team, second team, medium schools, small schools, underclass, sophomore) going back to 1980, consider ordering the seventh edition of the CalHiSports.com State Record Book & Almanac. For ordering info, call (800) 660-1334 Ext. 4431. If you love the content on our site, you'll love the book, so order your copy today.