Kory Minor

Kory Minor took a leap of football faith four years ago, across half a continent and into the gold-tinged arms of a nondescript little Midwestern school called Notre Dame. And, after four years of huge games and thundering emotional rides, on the eve of his final regular-season game, Minor, stirringly, finds that the long journey has taken him home again. For the fourth and last time on Saturday at the Coliseum, the La Verne native will suit up as a Fighting Irish linebacker against USC.

Kory Minor took a leap of football faith four years ago, across half a continent and into the gold-tinged arms of a nondescript little Midwestern school called Notre Dame. And, after four years of huge games and thundering emotional rides, on the eve of his final regular-season game, Minor, stirringly, finds that the long journey has taken him home again. For the fourth and last time on Saturday at the Coliseum, the La Verne native will suit up as a Fighting Irish linebacker against USC.

A season after scoring on a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minutes to send the Notre Dame game to overtime, Delon Washington will start for USC at tailback today. Washington had fallen to third string after two poor games this season as the starter, but with freshman Malaefou MacKenzie recovering from a sprained shoulder (he's available to play) and LaVale Woods already out because of an ankle injury, USC announced the move Friday.

Representatives of the Fiesta and Independence bowls requested credentials for the Notre Dame-USC game, with the Fiesta in line to bring the Irish to Tempe, Ariz., had they beaten USC, and the Independence figuring to have a chance at Notre Dame in case of a loss. The question remained whether Notre Dame, which puts so much emphasis on the bowl alliance, would accept a bid to play in Memphis, Tenn., and, if so, whether Lou Holtz would coach them one more time.

Freshman Marvin Powell III, switched from reserve safety to reserve fullback this week to bolster USC's thinning running back unit for Saturday's game at Notre Dame, got extra carries at the end of practice Wednesday, working with running backs coach Charles White. * Notre Dame's 35-28 victory over Purdue on Sept. 9 was Lou Holtz's 200th as a college head coach. He's the sixth active coach to get 200. Seventeen more victories and he will tie Knute Rockne as Notre Dame's winningest coach at 105.

La Puente Bishop Amat (10-0-1) vs. Trabuco Hills (9-1-1) 7:30 TONIGHT TRABUCO HILLS HIGH Should Long Beach Poly falter, fourth-seeded Bishop Amat is definitely capable of winning the Division I title. "We played them in the 1994 semifinals," Mustang Coach Bill Crow said. "The good news is, they no longer have Daylon McCutcheon and Kory Minor. The bad news is, they do have Dennis Wyrick and Mike Wagner." Bishop Amat also has a stingy defense, giving up only 98 points in 11 games.

For one quarter, Mission Viejo held its own against the top-ranked team in the nation, but reality soon set in. La Puente Bishop Amat scored 21 points in the second quarter and rolled to a 42-11 victory in the first round of the Division I playoffs Friday at Bishop Amat. The top-seeded Lancers (11-0) will meet Fontana, which defeated Edison 30-7, in the second round next Friday.

Talk may be cheap, but the Bishop Amat High football team might be worth the heap of hype that's going around. And not just around the league, around the country. One national poll ranked Bishop Amat as the top high school football team in the nation. Another ranked the Lancers best in the state. "Amat," as the parochial power is known, is even the topic of conversation on the radio dial.

James Sherman is among the strongest high school football players on the West Coast. The Whittier High senior bench presses 430 pounds and squats 650. His strength and size--6 feet 3 and 260 pounds--impressed recruiters from across the nation, including those at USC and UCLA. But like many top local prospects, Sherman, a two-way lineman, decided to go out of state. He signed a letter of intent with Nebraska on Wednesday, the beginning of the signing period.

Today is the start of the national signing period for football. This is a partial list of top local players who have declared their college choice. The list was compiled by prep editor Eric Shepard. Player School Pos. Ht. Wt.

TIME--7:40 tonight. SITE--Anaheim Stadium. RECORDS--Bishop Amat 13-0, Mater Dei 13-0. TV--KCOP, Channel 13. MATER DEI--Can the Monarchs win back-to-back emotional games? Last week, they topped Los Alamitos, Orange County's top-ranked team. This week it's former Angelus League nemesis Bishop Amat, ranked No. 1 in the nation by some national polls. The Monarchs have lost eight of the last nine games the teams have played.