FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: TAFT FOOTBALL ACES SUMMER TEST.

Byline: Erik Boal Special to the Daily News

Taft High of Woodland Hills, with highly regarded receiver Jamere Holland, is again considered to be among the favorites to win the City Section football title in December.

The Toreadors might also be on their way to winning another competition before the end of the summer.

On June 25, Nike began its Nike Team SPARQ Challenge for high school football teams in four regions across the country, stopping off at 7-on-7 tournaments in Southern California, Texas, the South and the Midwest/East Coast, with the competition ending July 30.

At each tournament, teams will receive a SPARQ rating based on the average performance of their top five athletes.

The SPARQ rating consists of four exercises - a 40-yard dash, a 20-yard pro shuttle, a vertical jump and the number of repetitions in the bench press at 185 pounds - which are designed to measure speed, power, agility, reaction and quickness. A formula takes each athlete's performance in the four events to determine their overall rating.

Several other Southern California teams will be tested at the July 15 Nike Passing Tournament at USC, but Taft set the bar high in its attempt to be crowned the West regional champion.

The Toreadors had a team rating of 80.56, almost 14 points ahead of the next-best team from Southern California, Santa Fe, whose rating is 66.93.

Among the teams tested nationally, Taft is second to Jasper (Texas) High, whose rating is 82.73.

Also impressive about Taft's team rating is that Holland, the No. 6 recruit in California in the class of 2006 according to Student Sports and Rivals.com, was the Toreadors' fourth-best performer (75.78).

Anthony Evans (87.75), Malcolm Smith (84.9) and Andre Harris (78.65) had Taft's top three results and R'Tuan Malone rounded out the Toreadors' top five performers with a 75.7 rating.

Holland, the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, had a 40-yard time of 4.31 seconds, tying with Jasper's Toddrick Hunt for the fastest time nationally.

Evans and Smith are ranked third and fourth among all the athletes tested in the team competition across the country. Antonio Mohn from Parkview, Ga., is the leader at 99.3 and Jasper's Fred Soneham is second at 89.87.

Valencia, led by Shane Vereen (fourth in Southern California at 77.07), is third in the region with a team rating of 63.87.

--Summer camp success: Because of the success of quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Marc Tyler during their sophomore seasons, other Oaks Christian of Westlake Village football players might be overshadowed entering 2005.

Following his performance at a recent camp hosted by Stanford, offensive tackle Joe Dembesky doesn't figure to be one of those players.

Dembesky, the No. 90 recruit in California in the class of 2006 by Student Sports and Rivals.com, was one of seven linemen at the camp who was videotaped during a personal workout in front of Stanford coach Walt Harris. He also was one of four of the 70 linemen given an award.

Dembesky said he's been hearing the most from Arizona and Wyoming, but the 6-foot-5, 270-pound lineman, who runs the 40 in 4.9 seconds, believes an offer could come soon from Stanford.

--Two-sport star: Another Westlake Village area athlete who could be offered a Division I scholarship in football, and possibly baseball, is Westlake High's Jeff Rapoport.

The 5-foot-10, 195-pound running back/defensive back, who runs the 40 in 4.4, had an outstanding junior season, rushing for 1,586 yards and scoring 21 total touchdowns.

Rapoport is also one of the top 10 baseball prospects in the country in the class of 2006, only enhancing his chances to receive a scholarship to play at least one sport in college.

California, Colorado State, Oregon State and UNLV have expressed interest in Rapoport in one or both sports.

Erik Boal, [phone]

erik.boal(at)dailynews.com