North Looks in Right Direction for an Upset : South Favored in Tonight’s Shrine Game, but as Shown in 1957, Anything Goes

Max Miller recalls the game but pays it little attention.

It was 1957, the pinnacle of popularity of the Shrine All-Star football game if the crowd of 85,931 was any barometer. And in the statewide format matching the best high school players in California, the South was clearly better on paper.

In the starting backfield for the South were Mickey Flynn of Anaheim High School, two-time Southern Section Player of the Year; Jerry Mollett of Van Nuys, a 9.6 sprinter, and Randy Meadows of Downey, a Co-Southern Section Player of the Year.

By comparison, the North could best be described as anonymous.

Then they played the game.

As expected, it wasn’t even close, a 32-0 victory.

Quite unexpected, though, was that the North won, that the great South running backs combined for 35 yards rushing, that the South failed to get a first down until the third quarter, couldn’t complete a pass all game and was outgained, 294 yards to 57.

Twenty-nine years later, with the North-South format back for the first time since 1973, the story line is somewhat similar. Going into tonight’s 35th Shrine game at the Rose Bowl--kickoff will be at 7--the North is hardly anonymous, but the South definitely has greater marquee value.

Miller, however, will not use history as motivation. He would prefer to make history tonight.

“I’m told we’re 17-point underdogs,” said the North offensive coach from Rancho Cordova High near Sacramento. “I don’t know who makes those predictions, but if you go with who has the great players and who doesn’t have that many great players, we are the underdogs.

“These kids were babies when the statewide format was dropped, so they don’t know the Shrine game like we know the Shrine game. But we are here to represent the north, and they know a lot of people down here don’t think anyone in the north has good football.

“Everyone compares the results of Stanford and Cal to USC and UCLA. However, a lot of people in the north might not think the south plays that great.”

So the upset is not impossible. Hard to imagine, but not impossible.

“We definitely have to throw the timing off their passing game,” Miller said. “They have two great quarterbacks who throw the ball real well (Dan McGwire and Scott Stark), a fine group of wide receivers, and (Terry) Rodgers, (J.J.) Flannigan and (Brian) Brown have great speed as runners.”

Quarterback Troy Taylor, an all-state selection with 3,639 yards and 38 touchdowns in total offense last season for Rancho Cordova, will lead the North offense. Running backs Braxston Banks and Johnny Johnson are more strength-oriented, both about 6-2 and 215 pounds. The third, Stacy Marshall, is the contrast.

“He could get some speeding tickets in this game,” Miller said.

That would be a good start toward making a run at history.

Prep Notes Of the 60 players in the game, 54 have signed with Division I schools, and 37 of those will be going to the Pac-10. . . . Pregame ceremonies will get under way at 5 p.m. with Dixieland and modern jazz concerts. . . . A three-hour game will be long, unlikely and very expensive. A clause in the contract with the City of Pasadena calls for the Shrine to pay $2,000 per minute for every minute past 10 p.m. “We don’t expect any problems,” said Dom Domino, the managing director. “We’re starting at 7 and playing 12-minute quarters, so the game should be over by 9:30.” . . . Dick Bass will replace UCLA Coach Terry Donahue on the Prime Ticket telecast. The NCAA ruled that Donahue would have an advantage in that role over other coaches in attendance. Prime Ticket, with Joel Meyers handling the play-by-play, will show the game Sunday at 5 p.m. Radio station KDAY (1580) will broadcast the game live, with Joe Buttitta and Kermit Alexander at the mike.

A football coaching clinic, held in conjunction with the California Coaches Assn., will be held today for coaches in high school, junior college and college from 1 to 5 p.m. in Sexson Auditorium at Pasadena City College. Registration is $15, which includes a reserved seat to the Shrine game. The public is also welcome. Stanford Coach Jack Elway, Arizona assistant Gary Bernardi, Arizona State assistant Tom Freeman and Oregon assistant John Ramsdell will speak. . . . Pat Machado, the successful baseball coach at Rio Mesa, has left the school to take over the football program at Morro Bay, which has had 1-8 and 0-10 records the past two seasons. “Ever since I’ve graduated from college, one of my goals has been to be a head football coach,” Machado said last month. “I was more or less diverted into baseball to satisfy an urge to be a varsity coach.” Rio Mesa won its second consecutive Southern Section 3-A baseball title last season and the third in Machado’s six seasons.

The big picture: Georgetown basketball Coach John Thompson said at a news conference Thursday at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Houston that in looking ahead to the 1988 Olympics, he is focusing more and more on big players to match up against the Soviet Union. But he singled out only one by name--Scott Williams, who last season led Hacienda Heights Wilson to the state Division II title and will attend North Carolina in the fall. “There are several kids that have impressed me,” said Thompson, who will coach the U.S. team in ’88. “The one who I have been most impressed with here in terms of what I saw and how his development is progressing is Scott. I think he works hard. He runs. He’s flexible. He can go out on the perimeter and play defense. I think it’s extremely important to have folks who are able to have lateral movement on the perimeter.” Williams then went out and scored 18 points--he made 8 of 13 shots--with 9 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in the West’s 103-94 win over the East for the gold medal. . . . Quarterback Ty Detmer from San Antonio Southwest, whose 3,551 yards passing last season as a junior were the most in Texas prep history, has made a verbal commitment to attend Brigham Young.