Scott Spalding

To know Scott Ross, El Toro High School middle linebacker, is to simply take a look at his 1961 Volkswagen. The red Bug sits in Ross' garage, battered, beaten and broken from too many wild times on the town. His mother gave him two new fenders and a front hood for his 18th birthday last week, but the prospect of Ross driving the car these days isn't good. Ross estimates that he's been in six accidents. He says that some of them weren't his fault, but those who know him, well . . .

Today and Saturday will be feast days for prep football fans. Sunday is for digestion. Eleven City and Southern Section titles will be won in the two days, with the three biggest--the Big Five, Southern and City 4-A--being televised by Prime Ticket. The results of those will determine the unofficial No. 1 team in Southern California. The biggest upset would be a victory by Carson over Wilmington Banning tonight at 7:30 at East Los Angeles College.

The Fountain Valley High School football team wasn't just beaten by El Toro Friday--it was doomed. In front of 3,000 at Mission Viejo High School, El Toro dominated virtually every phase of the game and came away with a 31-12 nonleague victory. How dominating was El Toro? Offense: El Toro had 256 yards of total offense in the first half. Fountain Valley didn't make its initial first down until five minutes were left in the first half. Defense: El Toro made eight tackles for losses.

This is supposed to be decision day. The day high school football players across the nation can sign an agreement known as the national letter of intent that binds the student to a four-year college. The initial signing date has traditionally been the second Wednesday in February, but the timetable for securing players has changed dramatically on the collegiate calendar in the past five years or so. Decision day has become anticlimactic.

With all the hype that now is part of the college football recruiting scene, there may come a time when wire services rank schools in the off-season on the basis of their prospects. If so, UCLA is contending for the national championship. The Bruins reportedly brought in another blue-chip recruiting class Wednesday, as they did last year. Wednesday was, of course, the day when high school seniors could officially sign letters of intent to the schools of their choice.

Fewer scholarships each year for NCAA Division I football programs may mean more quality athletes in the Western Athletic Conference and the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. Delegates to the NCAA Convention in San Diego voted last month to reduce football scholarships from 30 to 25 in any given year. Basketball scholarships were cut from 15 to 13 for Division I schools. Both rules go into effect Aug. 1, 1988. "I think the new rule will help us," said Gene Murphy, Cal State Fullerton football coach.

When Scott Ross, 6-2, 215-pound linebacker from El Toro High School, signed a letter of intent to play for USC, El Toro Coach Bob Johnson told the Daily Trojan: "He is an outstanding player. Both he and Scott Spalding are very good." Spalding, a 6-5, 250-pound defensive lineman, also was expected to sign with the Trojans. Last month, he said, "I have USC in my blood." Two weeks later, he said he was going to UCLA. Johnson: "He must have had a transfusion." Would-you-believe-it Dept.

There are plenty of big players on the El Toro team, and plenty of players with big statistics, but one thing Charger Coach Bob Johnson isn't big on is players with big heads. El Toro (13-0), which plays Santa Ana (12-1) in Saturday night's Southern Conference championship game at Orange Coast College, has been ranked No. 1 since the third week of the season in the Southern Section Southern Conference poll.

Fans packed 5,000-seat Zephyr Stadium in Allentown, Pa., an hour before the kickoff of Thursday night's game between Whitehall High School and El Toro, anticipating the first-ever meeting of high school football teams from California and Pennsylvania. Several hours later, the overflow crowd of 6,500 left wondering why schools from these states, considered two of the nation's hotbeds of prep football, hadn't met before.

Capistrano Valley High School quarterback Scott Stark, who established an Orange County single-season passing record with 3,154 yards, and his favorite receiver, Nathan Call, were named Offensive Players of the Year in the South Coast League in a vote of the league's coaches. Stark passed for 29 touchdowns in leading the Cougars to a 9-2-1 record. Call finished fourth on the county's single-season receiving list with 73 receptions and caught 13 touchdown passes.