Grid-Hoops Festival Will Open Today

L.A. Games football champion North Torrance, perennial boys basketball power St. Bernard and defending state Division I girls basketball champion Morningside head the South Bay entries in the Pepsi Grid-Hoops Festival today and Saturday at El Camino College.

Competition in the three double-elimination tournaments gets under way at 1 p.m. today, with the finals in each sport scheduled Saturday night.

North, which won six games without a loss in the 48-team L.A. Games football tournament last month, is seeded second behind Fountain Valley, the defending festival champion. However, North will be without one of its best players. Wide receiver-defensive back Eric Hansen, MVP of the L.A. Games, is attending a football camp at Brigham Young University.

The Saxons, led by returning All-Ocean League quarterback Brian Jurado, open the 7-on-7 passing tournament today against Bassett.

Other South Bay entries in the 32-team field include Banning, Carson, West Torrance, Narbonne, Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes, South Torrance, Redondo, Leuzinger, Gardena and Bishop Montgomery.

The finals are at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The football festival includes punting and place-kicking contests, weightlifting competition and a 40-yard dash.

St. Bernard is the top seed in the 12-team boys basketball tournament. The Vikings face the winner of the Banning-Pater Noster game at 3 p.m. today.

Other local entries are Palos Verdes, Torrance, Narbonne, Mira Costa and Hawthorne.

Morningside tops the 10-team field in the girls basketball tournament, which includes L.A. City power Washington and South Bay entries St. Mary’s of Inglewood, Torrance and Palos Verdes.

The girls basketball finals are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, followed by the boys finals at 9. A slam-dunk contest for boys and a 3-point shoot-out for girls and boys will start at 1:30.

Another feature of the festival is a player-to-player clinic at noon Saturday that will allow high school athletes to talk with several of the Southland’s collegiate stars. Scheduled to appear are Leroy Holt (Banning High) and Aaron Emanuel of USC’s football team, former Oklahoma quarterback Jamelle Holieway (Banning) and basketball stars Pooh Richardson, Tracy Murray, Stevie Thompson, Chris Mills and Tom Lewis.

Admission is free.