Glendora Lineman West Tackles a New Challenge : Football: After playing in Saturday’s Shrine Game, he will test his skills at Northern Arizona.

For many players in the state, selection to the Shrine All-Star Football Classic is regarded as a crowning accomplishment to their high school career.

It is a goal that some players spend their career dreaming about.

But for defensive lineman Chris West of Glendora High, the game was mostly a foreign concept until recently.

“I didn’t really know much about the game until this year,” he said. “It wasn’t like I had been dreaming about being picked for a long time. I didn’t really know anything about it.”

Saturday’s game, which starts at 6 p.m. at the Rose Bowl, will feature most of the top graduated seniors in the state.

West was surprised to be selected to the 32-man South team over his much more heralded Glendora teammate, prep All-America quarterback J. J. O’Laughlin, who had to settle for being an alternate for the game.

“I didn’t know if I was even worthy of being picked for a state all-star game but I wasn’t going to argue with anyone about it,” he said.

He is the first Tartan player to be selected since center Scott Kogstad in 1975.

“I wasn’t really surprised that Chris was chosen,” Glendora Coach Dean Karnoski said. “He was deserving of the honor. He was an All-Southern Section selection, which J. J. wasn’t. J. J. was an (all-division) player, he was co-player of the year in our division and an All-American. He had the credentials, too. But it all depends on who’s on the selection committee and how they go about selecting (the team).”

Based on his senior season, West, 18, certainly warranted a position on the Shrine team.

As an offensive and defensive tackle, West was voted most valuable player of a Glendora squad that posted a 12-1-1 record and tied Ramona for the CIF Division IV championship--the school’s first football title.

He was credited with 89 tackles--41 unassisted--four fumble recoveries and an interception. West returned the interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

“He just dominated every game he played,” Karnoski said. “He was probably the major defensive factor, just as J. J. was on offense. Without him, we wouldn’t have been the same kind of team on defense.”

At first, West received considerable interest from college recruiters.

“I had 134 different colleges that sent me letters, and from those maybe 60 called me, and of those maybe 10 were really interested,” he said.

From that list, only four responded with offers of recruiting trips. West made visits to San Diego State, Fresno State, Northern Arizona and Rice. Air Force and Kansas were also interested.

West finally signed with Northern Arizona--an NCAA Division I-AA program.

At 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds--small for a Division I defensive lineman--West realizes his lack of size was a reason he wasn’t recruited by bigger programs.

“If I had four more inches and 50 pounds I can say I would’ve been a (major) Division I prospect,” he said.

But Karnoski said judging West by his size would be a mistake. He thinks West has the ability to excel for a lot of Division I schools.

“If anything, Chris lacked a little size as far as the position he was playing in high school,” Karnoski said. “But recruiters are paid to see what a player can do and he played offensive and defensive line because that’s what we needed him to play. He could have played a lot of positions and played them just as well.”

After his first week of practice for the Shrine game, West said he thinks he can compete at a top Division I school.

“There’s a lot of players here that are going to UCLA, Cal and Arizona and I’ve been competing with them fine,” he said. “I know I could compete (at that level), but if they don’t want me there I don’t want to be there.”

Although he is the smallest defensive lineman on the squad, West said he has not had any difficulty adjusting to the level of competition for the Shrine game.

“I came here and I was expecting to get beat up a little,” he said. “But I just decided I was going to go out and have some fun. I’ve already chosen a college and I’m happy about that. So I’m just going to go out and try to make the most of it.”

He said the game should also help him adjust to playing college football next season.

“It shows me how hard I will have to go to compete with the upper level people (Northern Arizona) have,” West said.

Karnoski has high hopes for West because of the player’s strong work habits.

“I think Chris is the kind of kid who will rise to the level of his peers,” Karnoski said. “There aren’t many kids who are willing to work as hard as Chris.”

He thinks West will receive an opportunity for playing time early in his career at Northern Arizona.

“Northern Arizona is a good place for him to go,” he said. “It’s a good program for him to play and get an education . . . I would say I foresee Chris as a starter by the middle or end of his sophomore year and maybe a three-year starter for them.”

Karnoski said West might be best suited to play outside linebacker or nose guard in college, although tight end is another option.

“I think what the coaches at NAU may choose to do is use him as a tight end,” he said. “He has great hands and that may be the spot for him.”

West, who can bench press 350 pounds and run the 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds, also appears to have a good future in the classroom. He had 4.0 grade-point averages for his junior and senior years.

“The only reason I’m going on in athletics is because it’s paying my way through school,” West said. “I’d like to go on (with football) after college but it’s not imperative. The most important thing is my education.”

But for the moment, West is focusing on football and trying to make the most of his opportunity to play in the Shrine game.