Nomadic Orso Granted Eligibility at Montclair Prep

David Orso, a senior at Montclair Prep who averaged 17 points last season at Village Christian, was granted eligibility as a hardship case Wednesday by a Southern Section appeals panel.

The three-member panel of high school principals cleared Orso to play in Montclair Prep’s next game Tuesday at Western Christian. The 6-foot-3 guard set single-game school records last season at Village Christian with 12 assists and seven three-point baskets.

Orso enrolled in the fall at Montclair Prep, his fifth high school in five years. State rules allow only four years of eligibility, but Orso was granted eligibility because two of the high schools he attended folded.

As a freshman he attended Cal Christian in Sepulveda and, after the school closed, he moved to Grace Community in Sun Valley for one year before that school closed.

He then attended Village Christian for 1 1/2 years before transferring to Chatsworth, where he completed his fourth year of high school last June.

After Orso, 18, appealed to the City Section for a fifth year of eligibility, City Commissioner Hal Harkness granted the waiver last summer. However, Orso learned from Chatsworth that he lacked enough credits to graduate this spring, so he transferred to Montclair Prep.

The Southern Section initially denied him eligibility in a preliminary hearing last month.

Orso expressed relief Wednesday and credited the efforts of Harkness.

“He helped me a lot and listened to my story,” Orso said. “I’m dedicating my first shot to him.”