High School Athletics Los Angeles

A proposal that would have scrapped the City Section basketball playoff format in favor of one similar to the City's postseason football structure has been set aside, Commissioner Barbara Fiege said this week. "It never went through," Fiege said. "And it's much too late to even consider at this stage of the year." The section instead will maintain the format in which teams qualify for postseason play in 4-A and 3-A divisions based strictly seedings within their own division.

With a 24-game winning streak and City Section 4-A player of the year Durell Price in his senior season, Sylmar not surprisingly was chosen Friday as the section's top-seeded football team for the playoffs, which begin next week. Sylmar, which defeated Crenshaw, 38-6, in last season's title game, will open defense of its division championship at home against Jefferson, the Southeastern Conference's third-place team.

Eli Essa, an assistant basketball coach at North Hollywood High for nine years, has been named boys' varsity coach at Bell-Jeff in Burbank. Essa, 44, an assistant to Steve Miller since 1986, helped guide the Huskies to eight league championships and a City Section 3-A Division title in 1990. Last season, the Huskies finished second in the East Valley League and were eliminated by Crenshaw in the opening round of the playoffs. "I'm very happy for him, but I will miss him," Miller said.

Sure, it's early. Sure, it's hot. But this is precisely the way most City Section football coaches wanted it. Preseason conditioning for City football teams already is underway, believed to be the earliest that players and coaches have been permitted to meet in preparation for the fall high school season. The season begins Sept. 9. Because of rule changes backed by the City's L.A. Football Coaches Assn.

The Southern Section this week moved closer to modifying its divisional playoff groupings in high school football for the fall season, which likely will result in realignment for two prominent area leagues. The Golden League, which includes 1993 Division I semifinalist Antelope Valley, would drop to Division II for the 1994 and '95 seasons. The Del Rey League would be the lone area entrant in Division I under the plan.

Athletic officials from the Los Angeles Unified School District voted to try to salvage the winter sports season Tuesday despite earthquake damage to facilities at many of its schools in the San Fernando Valley. All district athletic events have been postponed since the Jan. 17 earthquake, and none are scheduled to begin until next week. Many schools have not resumed classes.

Despite damage to gymnasiums at high schools throughout the San Fernando Valley, a panel of City Section athletics administrators decided Tuesday to resume the winter-sports program--albeit with considerable modification in many instances. After a two-week hiatus caused by the Jan. 17 earthquake, basketball and soccer schedules for boys and girls will resume next week in most leagues. However, because damage varies by school, leagues have the autonomy to set their own schedules.

Snow and cold weather have forced Bell-Jeff's Division X playoff game against host Big Bear to be relocated to San Bernardino Aquinas High School at 7 tonight. Three to four inches of snow fell on Big Bear's field during the week and school officials could not line the field properly because it had frozen. Temperatures have ranged from 12-30 degrees. An announcement was made Friday afternoon that the game had been moved.

Granada Hills High won its first Northwest Valley Conference title and had an 11-1 regular-season record, but was not granted any favors by the City Section girls' volleyball playoff seeding committee. The Highlanders were given the fifth seed in the 4-A Division playoffs, which begin Thursday. "I'm not pleased," said Granada Hills Coach Patti Leiblie, who expected to be the second or third seed. "I don't feel it was done in an accurate way, but I guess that can happen. It's disappointing."

The more things change, the more they stay the same in the City Section. Months after the City Football Coaches Assn. fought to get quarterfinal-round football playoff games moved to Friday night--the day after Thanksgiving--the Los Angeles Unified School District office of school operations issued a directive reversing the change and pushing the quarterfinals back to their original day, Wednesday, Nov. 26. Quarterfinal games have been played on a Wednesday for more than a decade.