GOLF OUTLOOK: FOOTHILL BATTLE MIGHT BE BEST VALENCIA LOOKS TO CHALLENGE HART.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

There should be plenty of familiar scenarios playing out this season in area high school golf.

Longtime power Westlake is favored again in the Marmonte League. Recent and impressive newcomer Camarillo is expected to ride its surge to a third consecutive Pacific View League title. And Highland of Palmdale will again be the team to beat in the Golden League, where the Bulldogs won three consecutive championships before losing in the final match of last season.

But the most interesting competition of 2002 could come in the Foothill League, which has produced annual and mostly uncontested championship charges by Hart of Newhall since 1990. Under the direction of the recently retired Dennis Ford, Hart lost only one league match in 12 seasons. This year, Hart gets a new coach and a real challenge.

Valencia hopes to dethrone Hart behind star sophomore Brandon Christianson and excellent depth. New Hart coach Aaron Fuller has one of the state's best players in Brian Edick, but there are questions about team depth.

Edick, called by Ford ``the hardest worker I've ever coached,'' works as hard at leadership as he does in the classroom or in the practice or physical conditioning that carried him to within a playoff loss of last year's CIF/SCGA championship.

He disagrees with those who say Hart lacks depth and says when it counts, Hart will be deep enough.

If his teammates try to emulate their captain, they might will their way to improvement - if they don't drop from fatigue first. Edick, a 5-foot-8, 136-pound senior who has already accepted a golf scholarship to Pacific, runs seven miles a week, lifts weights four times a week and practices six days a week in addition to carrying a 4.3 GPA.

``I've gotten a lot more versatile this year,'' he said. ``I've got a lot more shots in my bag, especially around the green. It's all coming together.''

Including, apparently, the most anticipated Foothill League race in more than a decade.

A look at some of the area's other top leagues:

--City 6-A: Granada Hills should remain the area's premier City Section program. The Highlanders, who won six section titles during the 1990s and added another last year, return two-year standout Phillip Martinez and are expected to duel Palisades for this year's league and section championships. The strongest area push in team competition could come from Chatsworth. Birmingham of Van Nuys has a solid individual in Jacob Fagfoomsingtu.

--Golden: Taylor Spaulding leads a title defense by Quartz Hill, and Highland of Palmdale, winner of three of the past four titles, will rely on a youth movement headed by sophomore Eugene Park.

--Mission: Alemany of Mission Hills has a solid duo in Porter Valley course record-holder Jonathan Feuerhelm and Edgar Reyes, last year's individual champ as a freshman. But defending titlist Loyola of L.A. is the one to beat in this league's always-deep team competition.

--Marmonte: Only the names of the individuals change as Taylor Neal and Jeff DiTullio assume leadership of 10-time defending champion Westlake, which again is expected to outlast the rest of the area's most talented league. Jeff Riddle-led Royal of Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks might provide the toughest opposition.

--Pacific: Three-time defending individual champion Michael Park leads Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta, but the challenge, as always, will be finding a way to get past Arcadia for the team title.

--Pacific View: Two-time state amateur qualifier Kyle Dowden and Colin Wilcox - a CIF/SCGA finalist last year as a freshman - give Camarillo one of the best 1-2 combinations in the area and lead a charge that should carry the Scorpions to a third consecutive team title.

--Prep: Second place might be a more reasonable goal for Flintridge Prep of La Canada Flintridge, which has won seven of the past eight titles. The Rebels add an outstanding freshman in Brett Kanda but lost (current Tulane star) Jeff Osborn to graduation and face a challenge in defending titlist La Salle, which returns U.S. Junior Amateur finalist Blake Moore.

--Tri-Valley: Oak Park returns one of the area's top young golfers in junior Brandon Beck but has graduated many of its best - including James Logeman, who will attend Long Beach State on scholarship.

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Photo:

Hart High of Newhall's Brian Edick tees off Tuesday on the first hole at Vista Valencia in the Indians' 327-345 victory over Westlake.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer