Old Foes Become New Friends : Former Rivals Join Forces for Peninsula High School’s Initial Football Season

A year ago, Smiley Sanchez would not have been caught dead hanging around with any football players from Palos Verdes High.

“I saw them as bitter rivals,” said Sanchez, who played defensive back for Rolling Hills. “There was some serious hate going on last year between Rolling Hills and PV.”

How times have changed.

Today, few traces of old rivalries remain as players from Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes and Miraleste prepare for their first season together at Palos Verdes Peninsula High. If anything, players say they have worked hard to get along and make new friends.

“It turned out better than I thought it would,” said running back Danny Sarner, a senior who played for Miraleste last season. “There is no tension between any of the players. Whether or not we do well this year, it won’t be because of us not getting along.

“We’ll win as a team or lose as a team.”

With a roster of close to 70 players and a seasoned coaching staff, most expect Peninsula to be a winner. The Panthers open the season at 7:30 Friday night at Millikan of Long Beach.

Critics have complained of overcrowded classrooms and traffic at the new high school, which has an enrollment of 3,100 students and is located on what was formerly the Rolling Hills campus. So far, though, the football team seems to have avoided any problems related to the consolidation.

Sanchez, elected one of the Panthers’ two senior co-captains, said the football players have gotten to know each other better than most students because they played together this summer in passing league games.

“At school, you can see people not talking to people from other schools,” Sanchez said. “But on the team, we’re family. It started before we went to school with each other. In the summer, we hung out together. Everyone is really close.”

All of which comes as no surprise to Coach Gary Kimbrell, who begins his third coaching assignment on the peninsula after three years at Rolling Hills and 10 years at Miraleste.

“There hasn’t been any problems,” Kimbrell said. “People anticipated some things happening, but I didn’t. Once the kids accepted the situation and knew what was happening, it was all go.”

Kimbrell said an indication that the consolidation would be a smooth occurred this summer when he issued jersey numbers. If more than one player wanted a particular number, priority was given to seniors. If more than one senior wanted a number, Kimbrell would toss a coin.

However, Kimbrell said the problem never came up because of the players’ willingness to work together.

“Guys were going around checking with guys from other schools,” he said. “They took care of it themselves. There were no coin tosses.”

Courteousness is fine, but Kimbrell pointed out that the players needed to create a competitive atmosphere as well.

“The players were concentrating so much on being one school and being together that sometimes on the practice field it was not a good environment because they were not challenging each other,” he said. “Sometimes they were being too nice. But that was earlier. Things are changing.”

In some cases, changes have extended beyond the football field.

Brian Durbin welcomed the opportunity to make a fresh start at a new school. A senior tailback, he played for Palos Verdes last season and, in his best game, rushed for 120 yards and three touchdowns in the Sea Kings’ 21-7 upset of No. 1-ranked Cabrillo of Lompoc in the CIF Division VIII semifinals.

The following week, however, Durbin was suspended from the team for disciplinary reasons stemming from academic problems, causing him to miss the school’s last football game, a 29-7 loss to Temecula Valley in the Division VIII final. He spent the second half of his junior year at Rancho Del Mar, the district’s continuation high school.

A year older and wiser, Durbin says he is determined to improve his grades and stay out of trouble at his new school.

“To walk into Peninsula High School almost brought tears to my eyes,” he said. “For me, it was the best thing that could ever happen.”

Durbin, voted team co-captain with Sanchez, said he has been surprised by the camaraderie of the players, considering their different backgrounds.

“Actually, I’m amazed,” he said. “When I left PV High School, the last look I got, people were not very excited about going to a new school. But I don’t think anybody could be happier.

“It’s the kind of thing where everyone is trying so hard to make it work, they’re almost going overboard with it. The school spirit is amazing.”

Competition for starting positions has been equally impressive.

Kimbrell said four players are contending for the quarterback job. Steve Cooper, a senior from Miraleste, will start Friday’s opener, but he does not have the position locked up. Also in the running are Scott Gordon, a junior from Miraleste; Matt Cheeseman, a junior from Rolling Hills, and Rich Radford, a senior from Palos Verdes who starts at free safety.

“We have four quarterbacks, and all could easily start,” Durbin said. “They’re all working hard and they’re all going to end up better athletes. Competition always makes everyone come out of their shell and be so much better.”

If the new situation of melding three schools into one has a drawback, Kimbrell said, it’s that the team has yet to establish an identity.

“We don’t have a personality,” he said. “We’re sort of mechanized.”

But many believe it’s only a matter of time before Peninsula becomes a football machine, and a close-knit one at that. The Panthers are rated No. 9 in the preseason CIF Division III rankings and will play in the competitive Bay League.

“Everyone wants to make the whole thing work,” Durbin said. “There’s nothing I want more than to be on that field Friday night.”