Coastal football history 101

Roger Carlson

Someone once asked what was the most exciting moment for me when I

was a sportswriter for the Daily Pilot, covering high school football

from 1964 to 1988, before I left the press box for a soap box as the

newspaper’s sports editor.

The answer was, “Twenty-five years.”

Too many personalities, too many accomplishments and too many

nights to remember defy a top 10 list.

But there is a defining moment, each year, right about now as

Labor Day slips by and the openers await.

Everyone is unbeaten with high hopes. Friday Night lights are

about to be turned on. Footsteps are quicker and you feel a couple of

pounds lighter. It’s opening night and Showtime is here.

And there are a lot of questions, soon to be answered.

For instance:

Will this be a year Corona del Mar High’s Sea Kings rival the

exploits of the back-to-back CIF championship runs of Dave Holland’s

1988 and ’89 teams? The ’88 unit was unbeaten (12-0-2) and a year

later, the Sea Kings blanked three straight CIF foes before capturing

the title.

Holland was named Coach of the Year by the California Athletic

Director’s Association.

Always a defensive-minded coach, his Sea Kings’ 15-14 victory over

Newport Harbor in 1985 still resonates with the impact of a hammer.

There were his Sea Kings, who had rallied with two touchdowns and

a two-pointer to take the lead deep in the fourth quarter in

unbelievable fashion. Still time, however, for Mike Giddings’

explosive Sailors to retaliate, and respond they did behind the

quarterbacking of Shane Foley.

The Sailors quickly drove deep into CdM territory, but then

uncharacteristically shot themselves in the foot as time ran out and

Holland’s Sea Kings held on to post the dramatic upset at Orange

Coast College.

For CdM, an incredible and unforgettable finish to a 4-6 season.

Newport, which entered 8-1 and was the top-rated team in the

division, lost its No. 1 seed in the upcoming CIF Southern Section

playoffs, had to share the league title and never really recovered,

finishing 10-3.

Will Edison continue its amazing run of dominance since the

school’s inception in 1969?

It all started with a seniorless squad going 4-3-2, capped by a

staggering 21-20 upset of Fountain Valley to deny the Barons the

league championship and knock the Barons out of the CIF playoffs,

just a week after Fountain Valley had “upset” Herb Hill’s vaunted

Loara Saxons. The “upset,” as described by Fountain Valley Coach

Bruce Pickford, was a come-from-behind 21-21 tie, putting the Barons

into the driver’s seat for the league title and lone CIF playoff

berth with one game left. All that remained were these sophomores and

juniors at a first-year program called Edison.

The Chargers were emotionally charged after one of their players,

Mark Naylon, died from injuries sustained in a junior varsity game

against Estancia the previous week and played with spectacular

abandon. And it was an emotional mind-set that lasted for years.

A year later, Bill Vail’s Chargers would go 13-0, with a 27-14

victory over Lompoc at UC Santa Barbara giving them the CIF 3-A

championship.

The emotional strain proved too much for Vail, who retired from

the game a few weeks later and gave way to Bill Workman.

One winning season followed another and through 1987, 19 years,

there was never a losing season.

Another memorable moment came at Anaheim Stadium, where underdog

Edison had Long Beach Poly on the ropes in 1985, but was forced to

settle for a 14-14 tie when Poly’s heralded, and mouthy, Jackrabbits

scored with virtually no time left and then refused to go for a

two-pointer for the victory and kicked the PAT for the share of the

crown. It was an ultimate compliment to Edison, which had outplayed

Poly the entire game.

Will there ever be a display of power offense again to rival

Edison’s 1979-1980 juggernauts, who posted back-to-back CIF Big Five

Conference championships?

Individually, that night at Orange Coast College when Kerwin Bell

touched the ball four times in the first half and ran for four

touchdowns to pace a 43-14 victory over Canyon in 1979?

The four-year reign of terror (1978-81) posted an overall record

of 45-5 under Workman.

The ’79 team ran up a 55-0 victory over Redlands for the CIF

crown, winning its last eight games.

There was but one flaw in the run for the Sunset League

championship on a night when the Chargers visited Davidson Field on

the campus of Newport Harbor.

There the Newport Harbor Sailors of Bill Pizzica stunned Edison,

17-13, and all a frustrated Workman could do was throw his clipboard

high into the air as the Sailors celebrated their upset. Just three

weeks earlier, El Modena had shocked his projected unbeaten team,

28-27.

Newport’s shocker triggered a 32-game winning streak for Edison,

the Chargers averaging more than 30 points a game in that span.

Knocking off Edison wasn’t Newport’s only eye-opener.

Just a year earlier, the Sailors entered the Big Five playoffs as

“No. 16,” the wild-card pick, pitted against the No. 1 seed, host St.

Paul, coached by Marijon Ancich. Pizzica’s Tars shocked the

Swordsmen, 10-7, clearly the upset of the year in Southern

California.

The Big Five was just that in the era of 1977-1987. It was the top

three entries from the Angelus, Del Rey, Sunset, Citrus Belt and

Sierra leagues.

That meant dealing with the likes of St. Paul, Bishop Amat, Mater

Dei, Redlands, Fontana, Los Altos and Loyola, as well as the Sunset

League gauntlet. Later, the Moore League (Long Beach Poly) would

replace the Sierra League.

Pizzica’s first year (1974) included a 17-16 victory over Edison

and a memorable 21-14 victory over Loara en route to a 10-2 season. A

year earlier, Don Lent’s Sailors would run up a 9-2 record, all of

this in the toughest circles of the Southern Section.

Today’s edition of Sailors, under Coach Jeff Brinkley, operate in

a different arena. And they don’t often enter as the underdog. So the

question begs: How often will the Sailors be the underdog this year?

Estancia’s Eagles have been on the downside for a couple of years.

Can the Eagles turn the corner, as did the 1970 edition after four

straight losing seasons?

The 1970 team of Phil Brown went 9-2 with the losses coming to CIF

champion Edison, 14-12, and powerful Bonita, featuring Allen Carter,

in the second round of the CIF 3-A playoffs, 15-14, on a mud-soaked

OCC field. They were four points away from an unbeaten season and a

berth in the CIF semifinals.

Decades would separate Estancia’s next waves with the 9-3 and 7-5

teams of Ed Blanton in ’79 and ‘80, and the 7-3-1 and 10-1 teams of

John Liebengood in ’88 and ’89.

Can the Oilers of Huntington Beach return to the glory years of

the early 1980s?

Who could forget the slashing runs of Danny Thompson, who carried

Huntington Beach to back-to-back seasons of 8-4 and 7-3-1 under

coaches Greg Henry and George Pascoe, respectively?

They were seasons a long time coming after just three title years

in the school’s history (1926, 1946 and 1966).

Luke Davis of youth baseball fame in Costa Mesa was Huntington

Beach’s big weapon for the Harry “Cap” Sheue-coached Oilers in 1926,

and the 1966 team was produced by Coach Ken Moats.

Pascoe, incidentally, was the son of Edison’s first principal,

Ernie Pascoe.

There aren’t too many questions at Costa Mesa, where life has been

good for the Mustangs for 10 years. But it wasn’t always like that.

Costa Mesa, from 1960 to 1988, 29 campaigns, had just three

winning seasons, all under Coach Tom French (8-2-1 in 1976, 7-4 in

‘75 and 7-5 in ‘76). After that, things went south again, for a long

time.

For the Mustangs, the great moment came in 1967 when Ramon Ricardo

delivered a field goal and Newport Harbor fell, 3-0. Inquiries by

telephone had one consistent reaction when the score was revealed:

“Are you sure about that?” Yes, it was for sure.

While there was plenty of individual talent to consider, the final

scores often fell short. But then, one day in 1993, Myron Miller

showed up.

Will Marina High’s Vikings come up with someone like Steve

Monahan, the receiver-turned quarterback under a legendary coach

named Leon Wheeler?

Wheeler, a coach from the very old school, put the Vikings on the

map in spectacular style, soon after another coaching legend, El

Rancho High’s Ernie Johnson, spent one year at Newport Harbor.

Johnson and his Sailors swept to the Sunset League championship

with an overall record of 8-2 in 1970.

I still remember Johnson stalking the field before Harbor’s opener

against Corona del Mar.

He was furious his team was on the field for warm-ups and there

was no ball.

On the other side of the 50, meanwhile, was Holland and his Sea

Kings, with six balls, and six sets of set-ups all going through

their motions.

The Sailors won, 7-0. In the first 18 years of their series,

through 1980, Newport was 15-3 against CdM.

Holland, Corona del Mar’s coach for 20 years over two tours, is

presently turning the wheels at Laguna Beach (his eighth year) where

the Breakers continue a history of underdog roles.

Laguna Beach wasn’t the underdog in 1968 under Coach Hal Akins,

with solid victories over such foes as Foothill, El Modena, Villa

Park and Tustin highlighting the road to the Crestview League

championship. The Artists bowed out in the second round of the CIF

Division 3-A playoffs with a 10-1 record.

The sight of Akins, and his Artists, assistant coach Norm Borucki

and Skipper ringing the victory bell on the sideline, was a scene

right out of 1940. High school football in its purest form.

Will it be a memorable season for Ocean View? Who would ever

forget the smashmouth coach named Karl Gaytan? The Seahawks had a

great player in Notre Dame-bound offensive lineman Todd Norman, but,

unfortunately, were never able to find a way to clone him.

It all begins this week at Davidson Field, Sheue Field, LeBard

Stadium, Guyer Field, Boswell Stadium, and the Santa Ana Bowl, among

others.

The same sites where the likes of Frank Seurer and Dave White of

Edison, Jerrott Willard and John Katovsich of CdM, Alvin White, Wade

Tift, Vinnie Mulroy and David Cadigan of Newport Harbor, Andy

Sinclair and Rick DiBernardo of Edison, Benny Ricardo, Dave Gleason,

Bill Lux and the Ferrymans (Dick and Jim) of Costa Mesa, Matt Johner,

Vince Klees, Steve Kraiss, Jeff Graham and Larry Hall of Estancia,

Steve Brazas, Steve Bukich, Jim Swick and Fritz Howser of Newport

Harbor, Jeff Thomason and J.R. Walz of CdM, Bob Tripp and Brian

Theriot of Newport Harbor, Dan Bauer and Steve Cook of Costa Mesa,

Estancia’s Mike and Tony Camp, and so many more, dazzled under Friday

Night lights.

And taking it back a little further, there were the exploits of

Jim Stangeland, and Clare Van Hoorebeke at Huntington Beach, and at

Newport Harbor, Al Irwin, Hal Sheflin, Bob Berry, Johnny Ikeda, Gino

Boero, Rolly Pulaski, Manuel Muniz and a quarterback named Don

Cantrell, among many others. All of them traveled these trails.

Hey! Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Don’t be late!