Today we are continuing our preseason football coverage with a detailed review of the 1993 season. It's the ninth 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 (1993-1994)

Eisenhower (Rialto) (7) - Ricky Austin (6-4, 300, OL) to Washington St.; Marlon Farlow (5-11, 190, RB) to Arizona St.; Chris Lee (6-4, 285, OL) to Fresno St.; Arthur Lloyd (6-4, 190, TE) to Nevada; Julius McChristian (5-9, 180, RB-DB) to San Diego St.; Monty Tevaga (6-3, 250, OL) to Air Force; Glenn Thompkins (5-9, 170, WR-DB) to UCLA.
Poly (Long Beach) (5) - Danjuan Magee (6-2, 250, LB) to UCLA; Kelly Malveaux (5-9, 170, DB) to Arizona; Lamont Morgan (6-0, 175, DB) to Arizona St.; Damien Murphy (6-1, 175, RB-DB) to San Diego St.; Brandon Whiting (6-3, 260, DL) to Cal.
Atascadero (4) - Kevin Doherty (6-5, 270, OL) to Cal; Jasch Janowicz (5-10, 175, RB) to Cal Poly SLO; Bruce Kelly (6-2, 260, OL) to Cal; Mike Mitchell (6-4, 235, OL) to Cal Poly SLO.
Loyola (Los Angeles) (4) - Kadar Hamilton (6-0, 205, RB) to Stanford; Miguel Medrano (6-3, 220, DL) to Columbia; Eric Scanlon (6-2, 230, DL) to Duke; Anthony Scotti (6-3, 190, P) to SMU.
Skyline (Oakland) (4) - Ron Holmes (5-11, 195, WR) to Arizona; Kevin Parker (5-10, 180, DB) to Oregon; Kwame Stewart (5-11, 215, FB) to Washington St.; Halafihi Vuna (6-1, 220 LB) to Arizona.

1993 Season Notes & Highlights: When your program builds a reputation for producing winning teams and possessing D1 talent, college coaches will eventually flock to your campus. That seems to be the case for Eisenhower of Rialto, which opened the season ranked No. 3 in the state behind No. 2 Morse of San Diego and top-ranked Bishop Amat of La Puente.

Morse lost in its opener versus Kahuku of Hawaii and two of its first three and finished the season unranked. They had one reported signer, lineman Meni Atuatasi (6-4, 315) to San Jose St.   

The Lancers were rolling along through the regular-season and were leading host Antelope Valley of Lancaster, 7-0, heading into the fourth quarter of their CIFSS Div. I quarterfinal game before the roof caved in with three turnovers. Another key for the Antelopes' 21-7 upset win was punter Chad Shrout. He averaged 54 yards on six punts and pinned Amat's offense inside the five-yard line three times, another time at the seven. The Lancers had  two reported signers, running backs Rodney Sermons (USC) and Jason Harris (Washington), but Sermons wasn't at full speed against Antelope Valley.

With Bishop Amat's loss, Eisenhower moved up to No. 1 in the state, and really, it could have been argued they were the best team even before Amat's loss. Three on Ike's non-league foes finished 9-1 during the regular season: Long Beach Poly (12-6), Hart of Newhall (15-14), and Canyon Springs of Moreno Valley (41-19) while Muir of Pasadena (22-14) finished 8-2.

The always-tough Indians did a better job of slowing down electrifying IKE QB Glenn Thompkins than did Muir or Poly. In a contest at College of the Canyons, Hart pulled within one point on a two-yard plunge by QB Mike Kocicka with 2:50 left on the clock. Hart coach Mike Herrington decided to kick the PAT for the probable tie rather than go for two and the lead, but a low snap caused kicker Matt Kohl to miss low to the left.     

Thompkins, who finished with 86 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries, iced the win for Ike by picking up nine and three yards on consecutive carries to kill the clock.

"I don't care what anyone says about him, he's (Thompkins) the most valuable player in the state," remarked Eisenhower coach Tom Hoak. "When it's right down to it, he'll find a way to win."  

Indeed, Thompkins and company found many ways to win. They clobbered Mater Dei of Santa Ana, 56-3, in the CIF Southern Section Div. I finals and rolled to state team of the year honors with a No. 2 finish in the USA Today Super 25 and a No. 4 finish in the National Prep Poll, precursor to the ESPN RISE FAB 50.

This year's Eisenhower club wasn't necessarily more talented than its 1991 club that came within one game of a mythical national title, but a consistent talent level on par with recent teams at Banning of Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach Poly meant more scholarship opportunities for players in Hoak's program. Ike's performance against Mater Dei sealed the Eagles' status as the state's No. 1 team, but who was No. 2?

It was a bittersweet season for De La Salle of Concord, and not just because they finished No. 2 behind Ike. Ranked No. 5 in the preseason, the Spartans suffered a tragic loss late in the summer when all-state caliber DB Chris Vontoure drowned in a rafting accident. Despite the loss on their best underclass player off their 1992 state team of the year, the Spartans rolled to their 10th CIF North Coast Section title in 13 years, upped their record in the 1990s to 51-1 and to 156-11-1 since 1980. They also set a new state record by scoring 665 points in 13 games, breaking the old record set by Morse in 14 games in 1990.

A case for No. 2 could have also been made for Clovis West of Fresno, ranked No. 8 in the preseason. The Golden Eagles completed their 14-0 season with a 27-14 victory over previously undefeated Bakersfield, ranked No. 4 in the preseason. Tailback McKay Christensen scored two TDs in the CIF Central Section Yosemite Division title game win over the Drillers before 13,000 fans. Clovis West finished ranked No. 3 with a 27-game winning streak while No. 4 Los Alamitos ended its campaign with a 34-0-1 unbeaten streak.    

Thompkins was a strong candidate for Mr. Football as was Christensen, his QB teammate Brad Martin, and Huntington Beach's Tony Gonzalez, but the eventual winner came from 14-0 Newbury Park, which finished its season ranked No. 5 behind Los Al. The performance that clinched the honor for 5-foot-10 quarterback Keith Smith was a 177-yard rushing, 259-yard passing performance during a 22-14 victory over speedy Hawthorne in the CIFSS Div. III finals.

Smith, who finished his prep career with a state record 9,967 yards passing, also rushed for 1,490 yards in his career, including a serpentine 98-yard scramble out of the end zone against Hawthorne to help clinch the section title. Smith became the first player ever from Ventura County to be named state player of the year.

They had the better athletes, the bigger school and the most tradition," Newbury Park head coach George Hurley said. "We had Keith Smith."

A Look Back at the 1993 Season
(All Selections Made by Cal-Hi Sports)

State Team of the Year: Rialto Eisenhower 14-0

Preseason No. 1 Team: La Puente Bishop Amat 11-1 (No. 8 final rating)

Number of Undefeated Teams: 14 (42 in the regular season)

Highest Score (11-man only): Eureka 91, Arcata 13

Eight-Man Team of the Year: Los Angeles Brentwood 11-0

State Coach of the Year: John Barnes (Los Alamitos) 14-0

CalHiSports.com Mr. Football State Player of the Year: Keith Smith (Newbury Park) QB

Junior Player of the Year: Steve Wofford (Bakersfield) RB

Sophomore Player of the Year: Rueben Droughns (Anaheim) RB

Medium Schools Player of the Year: Wilbert Smith (Montclair Prep, Van Nuys) RB

Small Schools Player of the Year: Jim Romero (L.A. Baptist, Sepulveda) WR

State Quarterback of the Year: Smith

State Running Back of the Year: McKay Christensen (Clovis West, Fresno)

State Offensive End of the Year: Torlando Bolden (Santa Barbara)

State Lineman of the Year: Darrell Russell (St. Augustine, San Diego)

State Linebacker of the Year: Tony Gonzalez (Huntington Beach)

State Defensive Back of the Year: Lu Hearns (Pittsburg)

Individual Scoring Leader: Christensen -- 264 pts. (44 TDs, 14 gms.)

Individual Rushing Leader: Wofford -- 2,651 yds. (14 gms.) Jr.

Individual Passing Leader: Smith -- 4,244 yds. (14 gms.)

Individual Touchdown Pass Leader: Ben Wilkins (Princeton) 45 TDs (11 gms.)
   
Individual Receiving Yardage Leader: Leodes Van Buren (Newbury Park) 1,668 yds. (101 rec., 14 gms.)

CalHiSports.com Nickname of the Year: "Touchdown" Torlando Bolden (Santa Barbara) TB-WR

Previous Seasons:

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.