Today we are continuing our preseason football coverage with a detailed review of the 1987 season. It's the third 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 email ronnie@studentsports.com or call (800) 660-1334 Ext. 4414 for details on how 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.

By Ronnie Flores, Senior Editor

California Schools With the Most D1 Signers (1987-1988)

Carson (9) - Arnold Ale (6-4, 210, LB) to Notre Dame; Charles Gardner (6-3, 200, DB) to Alabama; John Lark (6-3, 175, WR) to Washington St.; Dion Lee (5-10, 150, DB) to Long Beach St.; George Malauulu (6-0, 190, QB) to Arizona; Byran Reeves (5-11, 170, WR) to Arizona St.; Rick Tiedemann (6-1, 205, LB) to New Mexico; Brian Treggs (5-11, 170, WR) to Cal; Arthur Warren (5-10, 190, LB) to Washington St.
Fontana (6) - Kurt Bruich (6-0, 170, DB) to Cal Poly SLO; Derrick Malone (5-11, 195, RB) to New Mexico; Edrian Oliver (6-0, 175, RB) to Army; Kevin Snyder (5-11, 160, WR-DB) to Arizona St.; Challen Tessatorre (6-1, 190, LB) to Cal Poly SLO; Chris Ybarra (6-4, 240, OT) to Nebraska.
Banning Wilmington (5) - Mike Alexander (6-4, 235, OL) to Arizona St.; Andrew Buggs (6-1, 175, DB) to Iowa St.; Zachariah Davis (6-0, 170, WR) to Oregon St.; Mike Ghio (6-3, 245, OL) to Pacific; Titus Tuiasosopo (6-2, 237, DL) to USC.
Edison (Fresno) (5) - Leif Barrells (6-0, 185, DB) to UNLV; Rodney Crozier (5-11, 185, DB) to UNLV; Keshon Johnson (5-10, 175, DB) to UNLV; Kejon Murphy (5-10, 175, RB) to UNLV; Marquis Thomas (6-4, 210, TE) to UNLV.
Granada Hills (5) - Joe Beauvais (6-1, 230, OL) to Arizona St.; Sean Brown (6-3, 225, TE) to Arizona St.; Jamal Farmer (6-0, 190, RB) to Hawaii; Kyle Jan (6-4, 195, WR) to Arizona; Jeremy Leach (6-2, 215, QB) to New Mexico.
El Toro (4) - Adam Brass (5-11, 175, DB) to Arizona St.; Bret Johnson (6-1, 175, QB) to UCLA; Adam de' Malignon (6-2, 230, DL) to Utah; Cory Wayland (6-4, 250, DL) to UCLA.
Monte Vista (Danville) (4) - Steve Abrams (6-0, 195, RB) to Utah; Stewart Hansen (6-4, 185, QB) to Utah St; Chris Swartz (5-10, 165, WR) to Indiana; Dave Zeising (6-5, 240, OL) to San Jose St.
Vintage (Napa) (4) - Anthony Anderson (6-0, 175, DB) to Sacramento St.; Warren Bowers (6-3, 230, OL) to Utah St.; David Ilsley (6-6, 240, DL-TE) to Washington; Sean La Chapelle (6-3, 190, WR) to UCLA.

1987 Season Notes & Highlights: Carson was stunned 27-14 by upstart Granada Hills in the L.A. City Section 4A championship game in arguably the biggest upset of the decade. During the regular season, the Colts routed the Highlanders, 42-14, behind one of the best defenses in state history.

Arnold Ale, the State Linebacker of the Year whom most felt was the state's most heralded college prospect along with L.A. Locke's Darian Hagan, led a two-deep defense that allowed negative 90 yards rushing the entire season. Even though Carson's defense, with featured six linebackers with D1 ability, gave up 173 yards and three touchdowns to Granada Hills QB Jeremy Leach, the Colts were still able break the state record set a year earlier by Kennedy of Granada Hills for the lowest total yards allowed in a season. In 12 games, they gave up a paltry 975 total yards. Carson also set a still-standing state team record with 74 sacks.                      

In spite of the stunning upset, the Colts still rated as the state's most talented squad with a reported nine D1 signers. That total was higher than any other school in the state and gave Carson a state-leading 28 letter of intent signers in the past four years. It's not as if the Granada Hills team that beat them wasn't talented, as Leach and receiver Kyle Jan signed late to give the Highlanders five signers. Carson's rival, Banning of Wilmington, also had five scholarship players to tie for third-best in the state.

The loss prevented the Colts, who started out No. 8 in the preseason ratings, from finishing ranked No. 1 in the state, and quite possibly the nation, in the National Prep Poll, the precursor to the ESPN RISE FAB 50.   

Fontana was named mythical national champion after completing a perfect season with a 21-0 victory over Fountain Valley in the CIF Southern Section Big-Five title game. In the semifinals, the Steelers defeated defending Big-Five champion Crespi of Encino in a driving rain, 12-7.

Crespi, led by junior running back Russell White, actually opened the season ranked No. 1 by both Cal-Hi Sports and the National Prep Poll. That rating, however, was short-lived after the Celts played less-heralded Redlands to a 17-17 tie in their season opener. Before a national television audience, Crespi struggled after White left with an injury in the second quarter and were unable to score on three consecutive quarterback sneaks in the closing minute.                  

Fontana was California's first mythical national champion since 1975, when the National Sports News Service named Loyola of Los Angeles its No. 1 team. Cal-Hi Sports named Rancho Cordova its State Team of the Year.      

A Look Back at the 1987 Season
(All Selections Made by Cal-Hi Sports)

State Team of the Year: Fontana 14-0

Preseason No. 1 Team: Encino Crespi 10-2-1 (No. 5 final rating)

Number of Undefeated Teams: 10 (34 in the regular season)

Highest Score (11-man only): San Diego Lincoln 82, San Francisco Wilson 0

Eight-Man Team of the Year: Redondo Beach Coast Christian 12-0

State Coach of the Year: Bennie Edens (Pt. Loma, San Diego) 13-0

CalHiSports.com Mr. Football State Player of the Year: Bret Johnson (El Toro) QB

Junior Player of the Year: Russell White (Crespi, Encino) HB

Sophomore Player of the Year: Chris Peery (Canyon, Canyon Country) RB

Medium Schools Player of the Year: Darrin Wagner (Lincoln, San Diego) RB

Small Schools Player of the Year: Anthony Daigle (St. Patrick-St. Vincent, Vallejo) RB

State Quarterback of the Year: Johnson

State Running Back of the Year: Glyn Milburn (Santa Monica)

State Offensive End of the Year: Michael Smalls (Eisenhower, Rialto)

State Lineman of the Year: Tamasi Amituani (Vista) Jr.

State Linebacker of the Year: Arnold Ale (Carson)

State Defensive Back of the Year: Kurt Bruich (Fontana)

Individual Scoring Leader: Milburn -- 234 pts. (39 TDs, 11 gms.)

Individual Rushing Leader: Milburn -- 2,713 yds. (11 gms.)

Individual Passing Leader: Perry Klein (Pacific Palisades) 3,899 yds. (12 gms.) Jr.

Individual Touchdown Pass Leader: Aaron Garcia (Grant, Sacramento) 40 TDs (12 gms.)
   
Individual Receiving Yardage Leader: Harold Champion (Pacific Palisades) 1,425 yds. (79 rec., 12 gms.)

CalHiSports.com Nickname of the Year: Chris "Yogi" Ybarra (Fontana) OL-DL

Previous Seasons:

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.