AVC'S RECRUITING PLAN HITS CLOSER TO HOME.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer

For the most part, the eastern parameter of Antelope Valley College's football recruiting base is in Littlerock.

That would be Littlerock, Calif., a short commute down Highway 14 and easy access off Palmdale Boulevard.

Don't be confused by that other city of the same name.

A decade ago, when Littlerock High School had yet to exist, the Marauders could easily have found themselves scanning the high school talent of Little Rock, Ark., or any other city across the land.

But this is the new AVC. Or actually the old AVC.

And that renaissance has coaches like Palmdale's Jeff Williams excited for his kids. Eight former Falcons are playing for the 1997 Marauders.

``AVC has a first-rate program. I think the local college has made a lot of opportunities available for athletes. It gives them a chance to stay close to home and get a good education,'' Williams said.

``When we started out we were all local,'' said Brent Carder, AVC's head coach since 1970. ``It stayed that way with a few notable exceptions.''

At least until 1979, when AVC's league, the Central Conference, disbanded.

``The teams in that conference were pretty much our size. But when we joined the Western States Conference, all the other schools were larger than us,'' Carder said.

``It became apparent that we could no longer compete if we only recruited locally. There were a lot less people and schools here then.''

AVC had to petition in order to recruit out of California, which was illegal.

Carder went to the closest metropolitan area across the border, Las Vegas. And Glitter Gulch soon served as a major contributor to the Marauders' success of the early to mid-1980s.

AVC won four conference titles between 1981-87, led by Las Vegas natives such as Sam Fromhart, Singleton Floyd, Mark Meade and Glen Vereen.

The Marauders developed other pipelines, attracting talent from Denver, Miami and Covington, La.

The process of recruiting wasn't easy for Carder and his coaching staff. Phone calls, videotapes of perspective athletes and whirlwind trips were a necessity.

Frank Blua, Carder's assistant head coach the past 20 years, remembered one 48-hour period when he traveled from Los Angeles to Denver to Atlanta to Indianapolis to Houston to Los Angeles.

He visited with 10 recruits but came home with nothing but frequent-flier mileage.

``We didn't get one guy,'' Blua said with a grin. ``I used to go all over the place.''

As the Antelope Valley grew, those insane trips dwindled. New high schools (Littlerock and Highland) were built and more talent was available to keep at home.

While just 23 percent of AVC's 1989 team was home grown, 40 of the 58 Marauders on the active roster attended high schools in the district, including Golden League members AV High, Littlerock, Palmdale, Quartz Hill and Highland, and smaller schools Paraclete, Rosamond and Antelope Valley Christian. Lancaster, which has yet to graduate a senior class, is soon to be another outlet.

Eight Marauders hail from nearby Boron, Mojave, Ridgecrest, Tehachapi or Edwards Air Force Base.

As for non-Californians, there are just a handful of them: Running back Tyree Booker (Denver), linebackers Vic McDonnell and Eric Glover and running back Darrian Feazell (Las Vegas) and running back Romar Agmata (Pearl City, Hawaii).

``We'll still have an out-of-stater here or there. But as more high schools have been built, we don't need to fill a roster with out-of-state talent,'' Blua said. ``We like to see ourselves as the Antelope Valley's team.''

Selling an 18-year-old on staying home isn't as easy as it sounds.

``It's tough to recruit (at AVC). A lot of these kids want to go away after they graduate,'' said veteran Antelope Valley High coach Brent Newcomb, who has seven of his former Antelopes at AVC.

Marauders freshman JaQuay Bangs was one of those who decided to skip town upon his 1996 graduation from Littlerock. But he is a perfect example of AVC's new vision.

Bangs chose to attend Graceland College, an NAIA school in Lamoni, Iowa, a town of 2,319 located a short drive from the Missouri border.

``After a month there I knew I wanted to transfer. It was a little farm town with a bunch of cows,'' said Bangs, who transferred at the semester break to Cal Lutheran before enrolling at AVC in the summer.

``It was very comfortable for me to come back to AVC. I already knew the coaches and I can play with my cousin here (freshman wide receiver Ronnie Blair).

``Everyone says they want to go away from Palmdale. I'm glad to be back home . . . It's a privilege to play football at AVC.''

Sophomore tight end Andy Rethi would agree. The Quartz Hill High product continues to live at home, sleeping in his own bed and eating the home-cooked meals of his mother Veronica.

``No cafeteria food for me,'' Rethi said. ``There's no reason to go to Pierce or somewhere like that. I used to play against these guys in high school. They were my enemies and now we're all buddies.''

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Photo: Antelope Valley College's Brent Carder, the school's football coach since 1970, now has many more outlets to find local talent.

Jeff Goldwater / Daily News