Ocean View and Marina Look to Be the Best of Balanced Bunch

It was a rough fall for the Sunset League, whose six football teams combined for a 25-37-1 record and whose three playoff representatives--Marina, Edison and Westminster--were eliminated in the first round of the Southern Section Big Five Conference playoffs.

But the Sunset League shall rise again.

Several outstanding basketball teams and talented players in Huntington Beach should help the Sunset League return to the forefront--or at least the forecourt--of Orange County high school athletics this winter.

The league boasts two of Orange County’s top teams in Ocean View, ranked No. 2 in the The Times’ preseason poll, and Marina, ranked No. 4, and two of the county’s top five players in Seahawk forward Ricky Butler, who has signed a letter of intent with Kansas, and Viking center Mark Georgeson, who has signed with Arizona.

Three of the league’s other four teams--Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Westminster--have improved, and Edison, which reached the 5-A division semifinals last season, appears strong again.

The league’s chances of placing a team or two in the 5-A semifinals should be even better this season with the probable addition to the playoffs of Ocean View, which was ruled ineligible for postseason play in 1985-86.

Southern Section sanctions that banned the Seahawks from the playoffs last season for using ineligible players during the 1984-85 season have been lifted, and the defending league champions can qualify for this season’s 5-A tournament.

Of course, they first must finish among the league’s top three teams. That will be more difficult this season than it was last season, when Ocean View went 10-0.

“Marina and Ocean View have it all,” Westminster Coach Dick Katz said. “But there’s good balance in the league. No one should go undefeated.”

The league figures to be very competitive, and the institution of a three-point shot (from the college distance of 19-feet 9-inches) should make things even more interesting.

Here’s a closer look at the Sunset League:

Mike Henderson (6-2, guard) and Mike Prince (6-2, guard).

Top newcomers--Scott DeStefano (6-3, forward), Alvin Loftis (5-10, guard), Mike Hunter (6-3, forward), Wil Foster (6-3, forward), Chip Hanlon (6-4, forward) and Danny Wadleigh (6-1, guard).

Outlook--All five starters from last season’s 17-10 team have graduated, but Henderson and Prince, who saw extensive action off the bench, return to lead the Chargers. Coach Jon Borchert calls the two guards “the best athletes he’s ever coached,” and they will be counted on to provide Edison with outside shooting and ball handling as well as leadership. The Chargers, traditionally a good perimeter-shooting team, don’t have much size, so they hope to spread their offense a little more and score off drives to the basket.

Top newcomers--Tom Weaver (6-0, guard), Steve Grack (6-2, guard), Andrew Tullemello (6-3, forward), Tom Rochlen (6-6, forward) and Jim Borgquist (6-3, forward).

Outlook--The Barons, who missed the playoffs last season, may not be able to compete with Marina and Ocean View, but they should be in contention for third place. Coach Dave Brown will have good size on the front line with Waite, a returning starter, and Rochlen, a senior. Sophomores Weaver and Grack, who played on the sophomore team as freshman last season, will probably move into starting roles. Tullemello and Grack are the team’s top shooters.

Top newcomers--Dean Cunningham (6-1, guard), Greg Gillinger (6-4, forward), Skip Murray (5-8, guard) and Jeff Hoff (6-2, forward).

Outlook--The Oilers don’t have the tallest player in the league but they have the biggest in Goodman, a lineman from the football team who weighs 305 pounds. His mere presence gives Huntington Beach a force inside. What the Oilers lack in experience--there are no returning starters--Coach Roy Miller hopes they will make up for in attitude. “They’re aggressive and feisty,” Miller said. Huntington Beach will rely on pressure, man-to-man defense and the outside shooting of Brazzel, Apostle and Marx, who all have three-point range.

Mark Georgeson (6-10, center), Steve Guild (6-6, forward), Mike Meyers (6-1, guard) and Matt Hattabaugh (6-0, guard).

Top newcomers--Dan Floyd (6-7, forward), Todd Sanders (6-2, forward), Jim Campbell (6-0, guard), David Yamate (6-2, forward) and George Garrett (6-1, guard).

Outlook--The Vikings have a fine blend of height (Georgeson, Guild and Floyd), outside shooters (Meyers, Hattabaugh, Sanders and Garrett) and experience (four returning starters). Meyers, nephew of former UCLA stars Dave and Ann Meyers, averaged 14 points a game and Georgeson and Guild each averaged 13 last season. Floyd averaged 18 points and 18 rebounds on the junior varsity. Marina, under Coach Steve Popovich, went 18-2 over the summer despite playing only five games with Georgeson, who attended several all-star camps and missed five games because of cuts incurred when he accidentally walked through a plate-glass window.

Top newcomers--Doug Rice (6-2, guard), Jimmy Anderson (6-2, guard), Drew Sheffield (5-9, guard), Mike Frohn (5-11, guard), Todd Pickard (6-1, guard) and Steve Harris (6-2, guard).

Outlook--Butler, who averaged 16.2 points and 11.6 rebounds last season, and Hazely, a powerful inside player, are the only returning starters, but Coach Jim Harris has several players up from last season’s 24-0 junior varsity, including Sheffield, Pickard and Rice, who will probably start. The Seahawks are deep in talent, and Harris likes the team’s unity. But best of all, according to Harris, is that Ocean View won’t have the distractions it had last season, when the Seahawks fought a lengthy and losing court battle against the Southern Section. “The diversion is gone,” Harris said. “Hopefully, they’ll go out and have a great senior year.”

Top newcomers--Chris Tower (6-9, center), Steve Justen (5-10, guard), Ken Abeyta (5-11, guard) and Eric Kutas (5-10, guard).

Outlook--Love, Austin and Chaisson are returning starters, but Tower, a junior, may make or break the Lions. Coach Dick Katz, who had former UC Irvine star and current Sacramento Kings forward Johnny Rogers when he was at La Quinta, said Tower shoots the ball from outside as well as Rogers did in his junior year of high school. The Lions will be a good shooting team and a good full-court pressing defensive team. Last season, they forced an average of 28 turnovers a game. Katz has only two seniors, but Westminster went 24-10 over the summer. “If you watch us warm up, we’d look like a junior high school team,” Katz said. “But this group comes through in the clutch. They’ve learned how to win.”