SOUNDS OF PREP FOOTBALL ARE MUSIC TO THE EARS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

CARSON - To see what's different about a football game at the high school level, close your eyes.

A high school game, especially an elite one like Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks vs. Dominguez of Compton on Saturday and the rest of the championship finals the past two nights, doesn't look much different from a middling college game. Without perspective, the kids running around on the Home Depot Center field in the navy-and-gold and white-and-black uniforms could be mistaken for the University of Notre Dame and San Diego State.

It's the sound that's unique. Smaller, higher, sweeter.

Where pro and college stadiums shake with a fuzzy roar, prep fields ring with distinct human voices that don't need a dictatorial message board to tell them what to say. Where pro and college crowds, huge as they are, can be drowned out by the perpetual Guns 'N' Roses song on the loudspeaker, prep crowds, small as they are, can be heard loud and clear. Where pro and college crowds are dominated by the masculine voices of belligerence, prep crowds emphasize the female voices of mothers, aunts, sisters, teachers and cheerleaders.

Nobody goes to a prep game just to be seen, without an emotional attachment to one of the teams. Everybody goes to be heard, knowing every encouraging shout will reach a young favorite on the field.

``I definitely don't take this for granted,'' Rodney Glass, the star running back for Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, said before playing his final prep game. ``We're blessed that we're able to come this far and be able to play in such a great atmosphere.''

So it was that on a cool Saturday evening, Notre Dame went after its 36th consecutive victory and a fourth straight CIF Southern Section Div. III championship, which would have staked the school's claim to the state's No. 1 ranking.

A win by Notre Dame would have given the Daily News circulation area, with a record 10 teams in Southern Section and Los Angeles City championship finals, a shot at matching the area's all-time best with six division titles in a season.

As it turned out, sitting on the side of the field where Notre Dame fans stretched from one 20-yard line to the other, mostly what you heard was the sound of a win streak snapping.

Dominguez had taken control of the game with an extraordinary 19-play, all-on-the-ground, 80-yard touchdown drive that ate up all but two minutes of the first quarter. Notre Dame responded with a one-play drive, quarterback Garrett Green's 75-yard run for a touchdown, but a long run by Dominguez's Brandon Johnson set up a touchdown and a Knights turnover led to another and the rout was on.

``Defense, Knights! Defense!'' the Notre Dame cheerleaders chanted late in the first half. Too late.

Dominguez won 41-14 in another of the weekend's disappointments for San Fernando Valley-area teams.

On Friday, Taft of Woodland Hills lost to Crenshaw 21-14 in the City final at the Coliseum, rallying with two touchdowns to tie the game before a late Crenshaw bomb decided it, and Moorpark was overwhelmed by top-seeded St. Bonaventure 27-7 in the IV final in Ventura.

And late Saturday, Campbell Hall of North Hollywood fell to Rio Hondo Prep of Arcadia 10-7.

Still, the area was winning as many as it was losing.

On Friday, it was Canyon of Canyon Country beating Hart of Newhall 21-13 in Div. II, for the school's first title since 1985, in a game the Foothill League couldn't lose. And Crespi of Encino topping Lompoc 24-14 in Div. X with defense and the ball-control rushing of Josh Morgan. And Eagle Rock edging Marshall 36-35 in the City Invitational division on Jeremy Camacho's last-second touchdown pass to Josh Jovanelly.

Late Saturday, it was Oaks Christian of Westlake Village beating Grace Brethren of Simi Valley 49-0 for the Div. XI title.

Four championships for the locals. Good, but two short of the standard set in 2003.

Earlier in the week, Notre Dame coach Kevin Rooney had been asked about opposing fans' claim that the Knights play boring football.

``We're not thinking about trying to be entertaining,'' Rooney said. ``As long as we keep on winning, then I guess we'll continue to be boring.''

With Dominguez gaining 349 yards on the ground, Notre Dame was out-dulled Saturday.

Not that its few hundred fans went to sleep. At Home Depot Center, the soccer facility that may be Southern California's finest sports venue and certainly is its most acoustically advanced, they made themselves heard to the bitter end.

``I think there's more enthusiasm (at Home Depot),'' Dean Crowley, the former Southern Section commissioner, said at halftime. ``If you play at Anaheim (Angel Stadium), as we did for a few years, the crowd is so far away (the players) can't hear anything. ... This is a real positive atmosphere.''

Football just sounds nicer before its voice changes.

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Notre Dame football coach Kevin Rooney doesn't like the look of his team's loss to Dominguez in the Southern Section Div. III final. The Knights lost 41-14.