St. Bernard Passes Test at Best in the West

New St. Bernard football coach liked what he saw from his team at Saturday's Best in the West Passing League Tournament at Beverly Hills High.

Three-fourths of it, at least.

The Vikings won their three morning pool-play games, then advanced to the single-elimination playoff phase, where they lost a shootout to View Park. It was the only seven-on-seven tournament St. Bernard will participate in this summer and all signs point to an improvement over last year's 3-7 record under former coach .

"We certainly can throw the ball, we have a talented bunch of kids and my goal is to win it all," said Muno, whose son J.J. plays for Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, which was also in Saturday's tournament. "Why shouldn't that be the goal every year?"

One reason for optimism was the play of senior quarterback , who threw 20 touchdown passes in the Vikings' four games Saturday. 

"He's a Division I quarterback," Muno said of Smith, who threw for 2,171 yards and 24 touchdowns last season. "He reads coverages, picks up receivers, goes through his progressions and doesn't lock in on one guy. He makes things happen."

Smith, in turn, was complimentary of his coaches and said they have brought "something special" to the program. While the Vikings will continue to run the spread offense, Muno has added some wrinkles.

"Coach has us running a lot of fast screens and he wants us blocking for more than seven seconds," said Smith, who has drawn interest from the University of San Diego and Oregon State. "He's very energetic and he's strict at times when he sees us slacking." 

Wide receiver agreed.

"He's not gonna let us lose," Hill said of Muno. "He's strict because he expects a lot and we expect a lot of ourselves."

St. Bernard edged host Beverly Hills 20-16 and routed Lynwood 40-12 in its first two pool play games. In the last round of pool play, Smith threw for five touchdowns and the defense picked off five passes in a 40-16 triumph over Selma of Fresno County, which went on to win the tournament.

"This is great competition and great preparation for the season," said Smith, who insisted he will still be a dual-threat despite having a talented corp of receivers to throw to. "If I don't see anyone open, I won't hesitate. I'll tuck it and run."

Saturday's games lasted 35 minutes and were played on fields shortened to 40 yards. Quarterbacks had just over three seconds to throw the ball or play was whistled dead. There were no pads and two-hand touch on the receivers instead of tackling. Touchdowns were worth six points and interceptions earned two points. 

St. Bernard's three impressive victories earned it a bye in the first round of the playoffs, but the Vikings had to sit for nearly two hours before taking on View Park in one of the most exciting games of the tournament. Hill had two scoring catches while , and each had one.

"I'm satisfied with this morning, but not this game," Hill said of the setback against View Park. "I think we're good enough to win this whole thing."

Selma scored a late touchdown to beat Dorsey 20-18 in the final. Other teams included host West Torrance, Atascadero, El Monte, Santa Ynez, Mira Costa and Hawthorne.