ALL-LEAGUE, NO CLASS GLARING OMISSIONS BRING TO LIGHT NEGATIVES OF PREP COACHES VOTING.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

Rudy Carpenter was the Marmonte League's offensive player of the year in football as a junior last season at Newbury Park High. His offensive lineman, Ryan Sorenson, made first-team all-league.

By all accounts, each player had better seasons as seniors. They led their team to the Southern Section Div. IV title. Carpenter greatly increased his efficiency, throwing for 36 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Sorenson anchored an offensive line that allowed Carpenter ample time and helped the team to an average of 6.2 yards a carry.

Yet, neither made the Marmonte All-League team this time. Not on the first team. Not on the second team. Not even as honorable mentions.

Carpenter and Sorenson fell out of favor with league coaches because they transferred from Newbury Park to Westlake, then Westlake beat its opponents by a minimum of 24 points each game.

This was just the latest episode in a long line of politics among coaches that some say prevents them from choosing deserving, performance- based, all-league teams.

``It's ridiculous to hold something against kids who are trying to do the best they can for themselves,'' Birmingham of Lake Balboa coach Ed Croson said. ``If the kid did it on the field, he did it on the field. Without that quarterback, Westlake doesn't win the championship. He will be All-CIF but not all-league. That makes them look pretty small and petty.''

Sometimes, a coach doesn't even have a problem with the player, but with the other coach.

That's what happened last year to Kris Theus from Highland of Palmdale, who now is at College of the Canyons. Theus led the league in rushing and receiving but wasn't named back of the year.

``It came down to a vote from another coach who was unhappy with a comment I made for his player, so he voted for the other guy and cheated Kris out of being back of the year,'' Highland coach Sam Vaiana said. ``I've never seen a year go by without some kid being cheated at an all-league meeting by a coach. It's pretty disappointing.

``If we can't do it objectively and judge a kid for how he performed on the field, maybe we shouldn't do it at all.''

Ganging up

Carpenter and Sorenson were shunned because of their transfer. Worse, they transferred to Westlake, already the league's best team with a recent history of transfers.

Despite the transfers being approved by the Southern Section, Newbury Park coach George Hurley stood up at the Marmonte selection meeting and said Carpenter and Sorenson should be left off the team.

Westlake coach Jim Benkert nearly walked out of the meeting but decided to stay because he didn't think leaving would be fair to his other players.

After hearing the overwhelming response, Benkert decided not to nominate Carpenter or Sorenson because he thought his other players would be penalized by the other league coaches.

``The writing was on the wall,'' Benkert said. ``Coaches in the league are going to say they didn't vote for Carpenter or Ryan because I didn't put them up. They can say what they want. They know what went on.''

Hurley admitted as much.

``What we started with is that the third group of kids are honorable mentions,'' Hurley said. ``So the second and first teams should also be honorable. The kids who deserved to be on the all-league team were on the all-league team.''

Except, they weren't.

To any coach not in the Marmonte League, that had to be obvious.

``I definitely thought Rudy was one of the best quarterbacks I saw,'' said Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks coach Kevin Rooney, whose team won the Southern Section Div. III championship but lost to Westlake in the regular season. ``He was a difference-maker for them. When we played them, he made a lot of plays that would have been different if he wasn't there.''

Taft of Woodland Hills coach Kevin Pearson only faced Westlake in a summer passing-league tournament when Carpenter was just beginning to learn the school's system.

``He was the best quarterback I saw all year,'' Pearson said. ``If I'm the quarterback wearing the all-league patch instead of Rudy Carpenter, I wouldn't feel too good about that.''

The player awarded Offensive Player of the Year honors by Marmonte League coaches was Agoura quarterback Bryan Walker, who had a stellar season and certainly was the second-best quarterback in the league behind Carpenter.

Carpenter completed 160 of 260 passes (61.5 percent) for 2,652 yards and had a passer rating of 189.1. More importantly, he led his team to an undefeated season and the section title. He also received limited opportunities in the second half of many games because Westlake won all but one of its games by at least 24 points.

Carpenter said he has scholarship offers from Brigham Young and every Pacific-10 Conference school except USC and UCLA.

Walker was 162 for 292 (55.5 percent) for 2,652 yards with 30 touchdowns and seven interceptions and a passer rating of 155.8. In his first year as a starter, he led Agoura to a surprising semifinals appearance, but put zero points in head-to-head showdown with Carpenter.

Fellow players agree leaving deserving players off an all-league team weakens its credibility.

``It makes it worth less because I don't know who would be a better quarterback than Rudy in the league, or the county,'' said Westlake receiver and defensive end Michael Stuart, who did make the team. ``And the same with Ryan.''

Grudge matches

Transfers aren't the only issue that can bring out a coach's vindictive side. Sometimes a coach doesn't like another coach, or another team in general, or that the player made what he thought was a dirty hit or seemed to have what he thought was the wrong attitude.

Pearson remembers going through all of the above at Cathedral of Los Angeles. Croson remembers when he was at Chaminade of West Hills in 1991, Bishop Montgomery of Torrance finished sixth in the league and had nine players on the first team. Chaminade finished second and had one.

``We got in a spat with the St. Paul (of Santa Fe Springs) guys and lost that vote, then they would team up because they were all buddies,'' Croson said. ``Plus nobody felt good about losing to Chaminade at that time. It was ridiculous.''

Then there are the coaches who push their own players beyond the understandable ``vouching for my own,'' sometimes even making backhanded deals with other coaches.

``I remember there was a great coach for Jefferson back when I was at Manual Arts,'' Sylmar coach Jeff Engilman said. ``He would get up and argue for all of his ballplayers. I just looked at him and said, 'Coach, you were last place in the league. If you have all these great ballplayers, does that mean you're a (bad) coach?' ''

Pearson, Croson and Engilman have less of a problem in all-league meetings now because most City Section leagues have an allotment of players based on finish in league, and the coach fills his allotment with the players he finds most worthy from his own team. The coaches only vote for the players of the year.

In a way, protecting coaches from themselves.

Matthew Kredell, [phone]

matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

no caption (coaches and players)

Thompson