Jim D Amore

Carson High has announced that assistant coaches Jim D'Amore and Marty Blankenship will succeed retiring Gene Vollnogle as co-coaches of the football team next season. Vollnogle, 60, has coached Carson since the school opened in 1963, guiding the Colts to nine L.A. City titles and 13 league championships. He will be seeking an unprecedented 10th City title Friday night against Banning. D'Amore is the Colts' longtime defensive coordinator and Blankenship is linebacker coach.

Following in the footsteps of a legend isn't an easy job. Just ask the coaches who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA. But the pressure to maintain a winning tradition was the last thing on Jim D'Amore's mind Friday night at El Camino College. His thoughts were on a colleague who won't be around much longer. D'Amore, Carson High's veteran defensive coordinator, had just watched the Colts defeat Banning, 37-16, for the L.A.

Following in the footsteps of a legend isn't an easy job. Just ask the coaches who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA. But the pressure to maintain a winning tradition was the last thing on Jim D'Amore's mind Friday night at El Camino College. His thoughts were on a colleague who won't be around much longer. D'Amore, Carson High's veteran defensive coordinator, had just watched the Colts defeat Banning, 37-16, for the L.A.

Carson High has announced that assistant coaches Jim D'Amore and Marty Blankenship will succeed retiring Gene Vollnogle as co-coaches of the football team next season. Vollnogle, 60, has coached Carson since the school opened in 1963, guiding the Colts to nine L.A. City titles and 13 league championships. He will be seeking an unprecedented 10th City title Friday night against Banning. D'Amore is the Colts' longtime defensive coordinator and Blankenship is linebacker coach.

Carson High has announced that assistant coaches Jim D'Amore and Marty Blankenship will succeed retiring Gene Vollnogle as co-coaches of the football team next season. Vollnogle, 60, has coached Carson since the school opened in 1963, guiding the Colts to nine L.A. City titles and 13 league championships. He will go after an unprecedented 10th City title Friday night against Banning. D'Amore is the Colts' longtime defensive coordinator and Blankenship is linebacker coach.

* GAME: No. 2 La Puente Bishop Amat (0-0) vs. No. 11 Carson (0-0). * WHEN: Tonight at 7:30. * WHERE: At Veterans Stadium. * COACHES: Mark Paredes (Bishop Amat), eighth season; David Williams (Carson), first season. * LAST MEETING: Bishop Amat defeated Carson, 14-10, last season. Paul Shay intercepted a Carson pass in his own end zone late in the game to end a Colt threat.

Twenty-two South Bay schools, including Westchester High, the top-seeded boys' basketball team, will be competing this weekend in the 24th annual L.A. Watts Summer Games. The games begin Saturday at various Southern California sites. Championships are scheduled to be played the following weekend. Twenty high schools sent a total of 152 athletes to the first Summer Games in 1968. In 1991 more than 12,000 individuals representing 300 schools will compete.

The play of wide receiver Anthony Ramirez and special teams led Mission Viejo to a 21-13 victory over defending Southern Section Division I champion Loyola Friday night at Mission Viejo. Ramirez caught touchdown passes of 65 and 74 yards and finished with three catches for 180 yards. His second touchdown, on a 74-yard option pass from reserve running back Adrian Amposta with 2:59 left in the game, sealed the season-opening victory.

Newhall Hart 32, Canyon Country Canyon 27--Senior quarterback Ryan Connors directed Hart's new no-huddle, run and shoot offense by completing 22 of 42 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Indians at College of the Canyons. Canyon sophomore running back Ed Williams, who rushed for 204 yards, had a chance to give the Cowboys the lead but fumbled on the Hart six-yard line with just 2:08 to play.

The streaker found on the campus of Granada Hills High on Friday afternoon was a precursor to Friday night's activities. In the semifinal game of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs, the Carson offense made the Highlander secondary feel, well, naked. Behind the arm of quarterback John Walsh, Carson shelled Granada Hills, 57-13, at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach to advance to the final next Friday night against Banning.

Crenshaw High had one of its best player turnouts in years. But, without enough equipment, many of the new players were turned away. It's a dilemma that City football coaches are finding more common since the school board cut $274 million from its $4-billion budget. With the additional problem of a year-round school calendar, City coaches are frustrated because they must operate with less money and fewer assistants.

Marty Blankenship knew it wouldn't be easy. Succeeding a legend never is. Before the start of the 1991 football season, Blankenship talked about the pitfalls he and co-Coach Jim D'Amore would encounter replacing Gene Vollnogle at Carson High. Vollnogle guided the Colts to eight City Section titles and a 235-66-1 record in 28 seasons before retiring in 1990. "If we win, people are going to say it's Gene's team," Blankenship said. "If we lose, they're going to say, 'Look what happened.'