Kearny High and Point Loma kicked off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, 1979, and the Komets clinched a 9-6 victory on Oct. 27, 1979, about 18 hours later.

Five seconds remained on the clock when the Komets’ Jim Goosens attempted the first field goal of his life and booted a 25-yard placement that sent everyone home.

Mother Nature, with a little help from the officiating crew, created this  prep football time warp.

It was pouring rain. “A bolt of lightning struck a transformer,” remembered Komets coach Tom Barnett. The lights went out at Mesa College.

But the show must(?) go on, and did.

After assessing the situation for about 15 minutes, game officials, coordinated by referee Ed Olsen, met with coaches Tom Barnett of Kearny and Bennie Edens of Point Loma in the middle of the field, rain continuing to come down, images barely visible.

Olsen directed the teams to regroup, head home, and return to Mesa the following day at 1 p.m. and to pick up where action left off, 11:19 to play in the fourth quarter, Kearny ahead, 6-0.

Darkness engulfed Linda Vista after the Komets’ Mark Reeves scored on a two-yard run on the last play of the third quarter and following a missed point after.

Rain still was falling when play resumed the next day.

FINALLY

Point Loma struck with a 78-yard pass play, Bill Waller to Pete Harris, but also missed the point after. The score was 6-6 until Goosens toed his winner and avoided the additional stress of a tension-filled overtime period.

For the second time in two days the Komets began drying out after the walk back to school.

Kearny is about a quarter-mile from Mesa.  Head coach Birt Slater started a tradition when the Komets began playing in the new community college’s  facility in 1964.  They strolled to and from home games.

Kearny squads dressed out at school, and then walked to the stadium, entering from the south end to the cheers of their fans, always after the visiting team was on the field in its pregame warm-up.

FLASHLIGHTS, ANYONE?

“We had to walk back in the rain that night and all of the lights were out  in the gymnasium,” said  Barnett, who succeeded Slater in 1977.

The Komets saw the light, somewhat, after Barnett and his coaches asked a school custodian to find some illumination.

“You could hardly see your hand in front of your face,” the coach told writer Jerry (Sigmund) Froide of the Evening Tribune. “We had to use flashlights so the kids could find their lockers.”

Players struggled to take off their wet and muddy uniforms in a maze of sweat and steam as the locker room quickly humidified, then they headed home to have the gear washed and dried for the next day.

“There never was any thought of not playing Saturday,” Barnett said.  “If we hadn’t the game would have been wiped out. It would have been declared a non-game, since there would have been no chance to replay it later on. But I credit the officials.  They could have called it off.

“We also had to get the field re-lined and get permission to use the stadium again,” Barnett said. “Mesa had a game that night.”

Olsen remembered the moment as if it were yesterday.

“Finishing was the right thing to do,” Olsen said.  “I was told later that I was supposed to have contacted the commissioner (Kendall Webb) for his okay, but my only thought was that these players and coaches would have put all that effort into nothing.”

KEARNY “WALK” SIMILAR TO CAVERS’

Birt Slater was an assistant coach to Duane Maley from 1953-57, an era of remarkable success at San Diego High.  City Prep League opponents’ combined record against the Cavemen was 1-27.

Almost all of the Cavers’ league games were in Balboa Stadium, located on the school campus.  Maley’s squads dressed in the school gymnasium, steps from the stadium, and then walked up an incline to the North end, which offered a panoramic view of the 23,000-seat facility.

From the top of the stadium steps, the Cavers descended in single file, passing between the school’s flag corps and its formed “SD”, then ran to their bench amid cheers and hoopla.

Only fireworks and skylights were missing. The visiting team, already in its pregame warm-up, stopped to watch.

As a rival coach noted, “It was 21-0 before the coin toss.”

COMMANDING PRESENCE

Ed Olsen was a football official from 1968-96 but is best known for a life in baseball.  He was captain of the Walt Harvey-coached 1953 La Jolla High squad that reached the Southern California finals before losing to Compton, 3-2.

Olsen was a bat boy for the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres of the late 1940s and early ’50s, and coached more than 30 years at El Capitan High and Grossmont College, retiring in 2004.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Area schools profited from the arrival of the San Diego Chargers in 1961.  In time sons of Chargers players and coaches contributed to the high school scene, especially this year.

–Ernie Wright, Jr., was a standout tight end at Patrick Henry.

–Tight end and future Grossmont quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst was son of  Dick Van Raaphorst, former Chargers placekicker.

–Helix’ cornerback Kevin Durden was second of three sons of  Earnel Durden, Chargers running backs coach.

–Longtime Chargers center Sam Gruneisen’s son Scott, punted and played tight end for Granite Hills.

–Chargers special teams coach Wayne Sevier’s son was Sweetwater quarterback Thane Sevier, who played the same position as did his dad at Sweetwater in 1958.

–Granite Hills quarterback Ladd McKittrick’s father left the Chargers’ coaching staff this year to begin a long and Super Bowl-successful career with the San Francisco 49ers.

Granite Hills was very much into the second generation mode.  McKittrick and Gruneisen were joined by three brothers whose father had been one of the County’s top players.

Joe Klucewich, Jr., and his identical twin brothers, Josh and Jim, were the sons of Joe, Sr., an all-Metropolitan League halfback at El Cajon Valley who led the league in scoring with 11 touchdowns and 66 points in 1956.

Joe, Jr., took dad a few steps further, rushing for more than 1,000 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns and 80 points and had a touchdown and 110 yards in 21 carries in the big regular-season game against Helix.

WHERE EAGLES DARE

Granite Hills snapped the top-ranked Highlanders’ 12-game winning streak, 17-15, in a November showdown and went through the Grossmont League with a 7-0 record.

His team clinging to a 14-9 lead,  McKittrick completed a nine-yard pass and scrambled 8 and 23 yards to keep alive a 75-yard drive that used more than six minutes of playing time and ended with a 35-yard field goal with 1:19 remaining to give the Eagles a 17-9 lead.

The field goal was more important than icing on the cake.

Helix scored with 54 seconds left.  Jim Plum pitched behind the line of scrimmage to Gary Isaacson, who then connected downfield with Willie Williams for a 46-yard touchdown.

The Highlanders finally were put away when Casey Tiamalu was tackled short of the goal line on an attempted two-point conversion.

Granite Hills’ season came to a crushing end when the Eagles dropped a 28-7 decision to Morse in the 3-A championship game at San Diego Stadium.  But their 10-1 record was a highlight of a decade-closing, five-year run in which the Eagles’ overall record was 47-6.

CAN’T HOLD THAT TIGER

No team closed  the 1970s more impressively than John Shacklett’s Morse Tigers.  Shacklett became head coach in 1971, got through a tough, early stretch (9-17-1 in his first three seasons) and was 51-10-4 from 1974-79, climaxing the decade in the 3-A championship  game.

Morse advanced after an epic quarterfinals playoff at Helix.

The Tigers came from two touchdowns behind with 10 minutes remaining to tie the score in the final two minutes, 21-21.   The  California tiebreaker format was in use. Each squad got one possession of four plays, beginning at the 50-yard line.

Morse won the coin toss and chose to go on defense.  Darrell Brown intercepted one of Jim Plum’s passes and Plum was incomplete on three others.  Michael Johnson gained 13 yards for Morse and the Tigers won the tiebreaker.

“It was a helluva game,” said Shacklett.  “No disrespect to Granite Hills, but Helix was the best team we played. They had Casey Tiamalu, Jim Plum, Leon White, some outstanding players.

“Tiamalu is one great back,” Shacklett told Jerry Froide, “but Michael Johnson has got to be the most explosive runner in the County,”

Johnson rushed for 136 yards, including 112 yards in the second half.

INACCURATE QUOTE OF YEAR

From Point Loma coach Bennie Edens:  “Morse can’t lose that many good players  (from 1978) and continue to dominate.”

NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT

For the first time since the San Diego Section was formed in 1960 champions in football, boys’ basketball and baseball no longer would be determined by two divisions of large school and small school classification.  A new alignment of 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A, based on enrollment, would be in effect.

Crawford moved from the 3-A Eastern to the 2-A Western and Mira Mesa moved from the West to the East.  The Avocado Conference was renamed the North County Conference and two leagues, Avocado (2-A) and Palomar (3-A) were created.

Schools did not change in the Grossmont and Metropolitan Leagues but the Grossmont became 3-A and Metro 2-A.  Each league had 10 members and would be facing future realignment.

IF THEY FIRE YOU, JOIN THEM

Bob Woodhouse, who created AA and AAA monsters at San Marcos, then was canned by school district trustees after 14 seasons and a 94-36-1 record, announced himself a candidate for one of the trustee posts on the school board.

Woodhouse moved to San Pasqual 1977 in the Escondido school district but retained a residence in San Marcos, where, he said, school officials informed him during the 1975-76 school year that Woodhouse couldn’t be head football coach and athletic director.

According to the Evening Tribune, Woodhouse said he opted for the administrative post but also was denied that and then quit the district.  Woodhouse said he had been  accused during a stormy board meeting of unprofessional conduct in front of the student body. The board president denied making the charge.

Woodhouse retired after the 1985 season with a 59-30-4 record in nine seasons at San Pasqual.  His overall record, one of the best in San Diego Section history, was 153-66-5 for a .702 winning percentage.  Included were 10 playoff appearances, two championship appearances and one title, and an undefeated, 9-0 season in 1965.

Woodhouse was fourth in a field of nine with 1,978 votes in the San Marcos school board election.

WAGNER REBOOTS

Hilltop’s Bryan Wagner missed four field goals and a point after touchdown in a season-opening win against Montgomery.

“I was using a three-step approach like Tony Franklin (Philadelphia Eagles),” said Wagner, who went back to his normal approach the following week and crushed a 49-yarder at Coronado, the ball clearing Cutler Field and landing in an adjacent street.

Wagner later set a San Diego Section record with a 53-yard placement and was in the NFL for nine seasons, including the Chargers in 1994, and never attempted a field goal.  He was a punter.

QUICK KICKS

Kearny (83-20-4), Sweetwater (83-21-3), and Vista (81-24) were the most successful teams of the 1970-79 decade…Lincoln was the 2-A champion and Army-Navy won the 1-A title… two other first-round playoff games were decided by the new tiebreaker:  Patrick Henry edged Grossmont after a 13-13 tie and Escondido defeated Montgomery after a 7-7 deadlock… Shacklett, an all-Metropolitan League lineman at Grossmont in 1956,  was on the same freshman team at Brigham Young University with Joe Klucewich, Sr… the Eastern League literally and figuratively was the Super League… the seven schools, Mira Mesa, Clairemont, Morse, Patrick Henry, Point Loma, Kearny, and Madison, averaged 2,368 students each…Patrick Henry was one of the largest in the state with 3,360 students in three grades… the new, 3-A, 2-A, and 1-A playoff alignment was based on enrollment and, with three divisions, the season was a week shorter… Sean Doyle, who would coach Cathedral Catholic to state championships in the next century, was a 170-pound defensive end at University… Point Loma graduate Bill Christopher, 28-8 in four seasons at Rialto Eisenhower of the Southern Section, took over at Mt. Carmel and was one of 12 new coaches in the San Diego Section… Helix sophomore Jim Plum completed 16 of 18 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns against El Capitan, setting a San Diego Section record with an 88.9 completion percentage… on the season Plum threw for 12 touchdowns in 112 attempts… Orange Glen junior Sean Salisbury, a future NFL QB, threw for 18 touchdowns in 236 attempts… other future NFLers included Hilltop kicker Bryan Wagner; tackle Keith Kartz of San Dieguito;  Carlsbad wideout Glen Kozlowski, a junior who led the section with 47 catches, and Helix linebacker Leon White… Lincoln quarterback Damon Allen would go on to a 22-year career in the Canadian League…Kozlowski, Salisbury, and Wagner were all-San Diego Section first-team choices…several other players went to NFL camps…San Pasqual’s offensive line was known as the “Hog Squad”, a few years before Chargers assistant coach Joe Gibbs, who would become the Washington Redskins’ head coach and  coin his beefy forwards the popular “Hogs”… Hoover had 20 returning lettermen from a 1-8 squad and went 1-8 again… the Cardinals’ George Rios boomed a 68-yard punt, from his 15 to Kearny’s 17… Montgomery’s Gil Sanchez, all San Diego Section in soccer, kicked a football for the first time and his 42-yarder helped the Aztecs upset Sweetwater, 9-7… Clairemont’s 7-6 win over Kearny was the Chieftains’ first over the Komets since 1964…leading 33-0 and pitching its third consecutive shutout, Helix went to the air with 19 seconds left and Grossmont’s Mike Mathis intercepted and returned the pass 100 yards for a touchdown as the game ended….

 

 

A stunning, 20-12 victory over archrival San Diego High brought back a flood of memories to Hoover coach Roy Engle.

—That hazy afternoon in Balboa Stadium in 1935 when Engle drove the Cardinals to a fourth-quarter, 7-6 victory over San Diego.

—Engle, the senior ball carrier, gaining the final 25 yards in three carries in the 80-yard drive to the game-tying touchdown.

—The first victory and first points ever scored by Hoover against the big, downtown school.

Engle and his teammates shared a glorious moment in the young school’s history, but Hoover victories in the city rivalry became few and far between.

ONE-SIDED RIVALRY

San Diego held an 18-5 advantage in the series, had not lost to Hoover since 1949, and was a decided favorite in this renewal, played on the Hoover gridiron for the first time.

But the Cardinals were confident and determined.

The squad met at the home of fullback Denny Berg the night before the game and vowed to reverse years of disappointment.

TARDY COACH

Engle was late getting to the Cardinals gym. He had gotten caught in El Cajon Blvd., traffic after leaving his college area residence.

The coach couldn’t help but look twice when he entered the football locker room.

“Every player was dressed and taped,” Engle recalled to Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union.

No stragglers. And kickoff still was more than an hour away.

“It’s dangerous to see a team so high, so early,” Engle said.  “I tried to think of a joke.”

The game began with the joke on the Cardinals.

ANOTHER BLOWOUT?

San Diego scored twice in the first 9:03 of the game on plays that began with Hoover in possession.

Bobby Staten picked up an errant Hoover pitchout and raced 20 yards for a touchdown two minutes after kickoff.

Ollie Osborne recovered a blocked punt in the end zone.  San Diego suddenly was ahead, 12-0, and seemingly off to the races.

But the Cavemen’s No. 1 threat, halfback Cleveland Jones, sustained a hamstring pull in the first period, returned briefly, but left for good with 19 yards in 4 carries.

Hoover, running its Split-T offense and quarterback options to perfection, began to peck away.

The Cardinals pulled in front, 13-12, near the end of the half on quarterback Gary Bailey’s 17-yard pass to Bob Williams.

Without Jones, the Cavers had only 59 yards total offense.  Berg’s 3-yard run in the fourth quarter clinched the victory, the first by a local team over the Cavers since 1952.

“We had about 2,800, including players and fans, who were all pulling together,” said Engle. “I’ve never seen a group of players put out like our guys did.”

Engle was moved to say the game offered a reason as to why “men go into coaching.”

DIFFERENT 3-0’s

The 2,800 represented the size of the Hoover student body, one of the largest in Southern California.

Virtually all, along with a crowd that reached more than 7,000 persons, jammed the Hoover Stadium, spectators filling both sides of the field and temporary bleachers in each end zone.

Hoover and San Diego each entered the game with a 3-0 record, but San Diego had beaten Long Beach Wilson, 21-7, Point Loma, 40-0, and Arizona power Phoenix Union, 33-6.

The Cardinals had one impressive win, 14-6, at Redlands and victories of 9-6 over Grossmont and 27-12 over Mission Bay.

“Hoover played much better than it had before,” said San Diego coach Duane Maley.   “When a team can have 12 points scored against them as quickly as we scored and can come back, they deserve a lot of credit.”

 THEY SAID IT

“We figure to be real green, but we’ll come along.  We’ve got speed.”—San Diego coach Duane Maley.

(The Cavers, after having 28 players graduate and starters Luther Hayes and David Grayson transferring to Lincoln, leaving only one offensive starter, center Ron Collins, finished 7-2).

“If George gets hurt, we unpack our tent, put it on the camel and head for the hills”–La Jolla coach Shan Deniston on the prospect of losing halfback George Graham.

(Graham was the second leading scorer in the city with 12 touchdowns, including 6 in the final game).

 “Things have looked bleaker.  We just don’t remember when.  I hope we can beat someone”–St. Augustine coach Tom Carter.

(The Saints won some, lost some, and tied some, for a 2-4-2 record).

“This could be the closest race we’ve ever had.  Anyone of five teams could finish from first to fifth”—Point Loma coach Bennie Edens.

(Point Loma was a well-beaten, tied-for-fourth with Mission Bay with a 1-3 league record and

2-6 overall).

“We’re the youngest, most inexperienced, and the losingest, but we think we’ll have a chance in every game we play.  We’re in the league and we’re not afraid of anybody.”—Mission Bay coach Harry Anderson.

(The Buccaneers beat Point Loma to finish fourth in the City League and were 2-6 overall).

“The whole league will be better balanced, because most teams will be improved, and I don’t think San Diego High will be so strong”—Hoover coach Roy Engle.

(The haves, Hoover and San Diego, still held sway over the have nots).

MAN THE PUMPS

Seven Mission Bay area gasoline stations formed an alliance with the school booster club.

Two cents of every gallon of gas poured on a weekend during football season went to the school fund, benefitting the Reserve Officers Training Corps, school choir, and athletic department.

DAY-NIGHT DOUBLEHEADER

After La Jolla played Mar Vista at Scripps Field in the afternoon, Mission Bay took on El Centro Central later in the evening at the same site.

El Centro defeated the Buccaneers, 20-13, and made another trip to La Jolla later in the season, topping the Vikings, 25-14.

OH, SUSANNAH!

Susannah Lee, a 16-year-old Ramona High senior, was the only female high school correspondent for The San Diego Union.

Susannah explained  the secret of understanding football to writer Jerry Magee: Study the plays, watch the ball, and take a boy friend along who can explain the game.

“Get a boyfriend who knows football and can sit with you and tell you what they’re doing,” she said.  “I’ve used that system a few games.”

Susannah also is the Ramona High school newspaper social reporter: “In society you have to go and see what people are doing, who is going with whom, etc.  The students don’t turn in the news.”

Covering football, Susannah contended, is “easy.”

Miss Lee, who lived on a chicken ranch near Ramona, did not aspire to a career in sports writing and planned to attend Woodbury College in Los Angeles and take a secretarial course.

ELEVATOR, WE GOT THE SHAFT

Gary Dunn, passing, and Ron Palermo, catching, teamed on a 46-yard scoring play for the only touchdown in Helix’ 6-0 victory over Chula Vista.

Problem.

Three plays earlier the Spartans were shocked when the head linesman, in charge of downs and markers, signaled a change of possession, ball to Helix.

The switch occurred after Chula Vista’s Jerry Glad was thrown for a 12-yard loss on third down.

Chula Vista was robbed of a fourth down play, although it needed 14 yards for a first down.

Further frustration for Bob Geyer’s South Bay squad: it recovered five Helix fumbles and blocked a punt and still didn’t mount an offense.

THE SEQUEL

Helix didn’t fool around in the Metropolitan League rematch (some teams played each other twice in a round-robin schedule that featured Helix and El Cajon playing seven league games and Grossmont, El Cajon, and Sweetwater playing six). The Highlanders won, 52-6, with their third 50-point outburst of the regular season.

The Scots  also defeated Blythe Palo Verde, 54-0, and rushed for  407 yards in another 52-6 victory over Grossmont, with scoring plays of 24,8, 85 (Palermo), 32 , 28 (Dunn), 48 (Danny Spinazzola), and 78 (Bill Ernest).

CITY RULES

Helix had 21 touchdown plays of at least 20 yards, 11 of at least 40, averaged 34 points a game in an 8-0 regular season, and was a rare County favorite over Hoover in a first-round playoff that drew about 11,000 to Aztec Bowl.

But as San Diego and Lincoln learned, you can’t score if you don’t have the ball.

With Gary Bailey marshaling the Cardinals’ grinding, split-T attack and showing more flair as an option quarterback, the

Cardinals ran 60 plays to the Highlanders’ 31 and built a fourth-quarter lead of 21-7.

Hoover’s 21-13 victory sent the Cardinals to La Palma Stadium in Anaheim and the Redbirds’ ball control worked again, for awhile.

The Cardinals scored first, ran more plays, and led Anaheim at the half, 7-6, but the Colonists with Mickey Flynn leading the way, ran away to a 34-7, quarterfinals playoff victory.

Hoover did not compare offensively to Anaheim.

The Cardinals’ Bobby Ball had rushed for 437 yards in 93 carries for a 4.6-yard average and Denny Berg averaged 4.1 and gained 393 on 84 carries.

Anaheim’s Joe Avitia had 874 yards and a 5.7 average and Mickey Flynn, used sparingly, had scored 17 touchdowns and was averaging 10 yards a carry.

Hoover had scored 170 points in nine games, Anaheim 347 in 10.

WHAT’S THE TIME?

With 5:50 to play in the first quarter of a 21-0 win over Sweetwater, Helix’ Ron Palermo ran 6 yards to a touchdown.

With 5:50 remaining in the second quarter, Helix quarterback Bob Schultz passed 45 yards to Bill Earnest for a touchdown.

SAINTS COME MARCHING IN

St. Augustine’s long battle to find a home in one of San Diego County’s prep leagues was coming to an end.

They would have a league in the 1957-58 school year but not before clearing a few more hurdles.

Southern Section bosses in September approved the Saints for membership in the Metropolitan League beginning in ’57-58.

The Saints and La Jolla had applied for Metro membership in 1955, after La Jolla and Kearny announced they would bail in football for two years from the City League.

METRO STILL OBSTINATE

Metro big shots rejected the Saints and Vikings and had opted for this year’s unbalanced, 5-team loop in which some squads would play league rivals twice, with the champion being decided on won-loss percentage.

City Prep League principals, who annually blocked St. Augustine’s bid for membership, made a U-Turn and extended an invitation for 1957-58.

Principals of the 21 County schools attended a meeting in November at the Civic Center, where the Saints’ invitation was the only decision resolved during a four-hour session on re-leaguing.

• City Prep League coaches disagreed with their re-leaguing bosses and voted against the Saints, pointing out that La Jolla and Kearny, whose games did not count this year, would be joining the circuit with Crawford in ’57, making for nine members, an unwieldy number.
• The Southern Section re-leaguing committee, virtually rubber stamped the vote by the San Diego principals, voting unanimously to place St. Augustine in the City Prep League and removing the Saints from Metro League consideration.
• The Saints still would need the approval of the Southern Section’s executive council, but commissioner Ken Fagans said the re-leaguing group’s vote was “tantamount to approval.”
• Fagans noted that Crawford would not be playing a varsity schedule in football in 1957 and that “re-leaguing is on a year-to-year basis. If further changes are needed later on, we’ll make them.”
• The Saints officially were placed in the City League by the Southern Section executive committee at its final meeting in December.

DIVIDED LOYALTY?

San Diego vice principal Bill Bailey, who coached the Cavemen to a 34-7 record from 1943-47, had a dilemma.

Bailey’s son, Gary, was Hoover’s quarterback.

Bailey and his wife deferred questions about who they were supporting, but it’s suspected they wanted Gary to have a terrific game and that maybe the teams would tie.

Mrs. Bailey would not commit to which side from which she would watch and Bill said only that he wished for a spot on the 50-yard line, “right in the middle of the field.”

SIGNS OF THE TIME

Mount Miguel in Spring Valley was scheduled to open in 1957, as was Crawford in East San Diego.  El Capitan would open in Lakeside and Hilltop in Chula Vista in 1959.

The City Schools also announced plans for a second new high school when a 44-acre plot was purchased for $92,000 in Clairemont.

By 1958, Clairemont would greet students at its campus one block west of Clairemont Blvd., on Ute Street.  The school mascot appropriately would be named Chieftains.

SHAN’S WORLD

Shan Deniston, who took over as La Jolla coach after seven seasons as an assistant coach at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, had been a catcher for the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League.

An arm injury ended the St. Louis Browns farmhand’s career, but Deniston managed Browns farm teams at Mayfield, Kentucky; Belleville, Illinois; Pittsburg, Kansas, and Olean, New York.

ALL-SAN DIEGO BOWS

The annual Breitbard Athletic Foundation College Prep All-Star game changed format.

From 1949-55, the game matched the Los Angeles City Section all-stars against an all-Southern California team.

The opponents this year were Los Angeles and a San Diego County squad.

The Los Angeles team scored a 19-0 victory before a crowd of about 10,000 at Aztec Bowl.

COACH SPEAK

Escondido dressed 41 players compared to 21 for Vista when the undefeated teams met in an important Avocado League game.

“We respect them in spite of their numbers,” said Cougars coach Chuck Embrey.

Embrey wasn’t blowing smoke.

Escondido finally put the Panthers away, 16-13, on Chuck Wood’s field goal from the 20-yard line with 2:22 remaining.

FIELD GOAL MANIA

Wood’s placement was the second of the season by an area kicker.  Hoover’s Walt Baranski toed a field goal from the nine-yard line to beat Grossmont, 9-6, earlier in the year.

Baranski’s field goal was the first in the County since 1952.

Field goals were so infrequent that newspaper correspondents often confused the distance, reporting the attempt from the line of scrimmage and not from point of the kick.

LET GEORGE DO IT

La Jolla’s George Graham scored six touchdowns, ran for an extra point, and passed for another point after in his final game, a 37-0 victory over Fallbrook.

Graham’s 37 points were the most since San Dieguito’s Ralph Swaim scored 6 touchdowns and 36 points in a 1944 game.

QUICK KICKS

Helix tackle Roy Bottini was a first team, all-Southern California selection and San Diego center Ron Collins made the second team…tackle Jack Anderson of Escondido and back Chuck Wood of the Cougars  earned second-team honors in the lower division…Anaheim and Downey played to a 13-13 tie in the Southern Section finals before a record crowd of 41,383…San Diego had 3 touchdowns called back in a 21-7 victory over L.B. Wilson, which scored with 10 seconds left in the game, when the Cavers had only 10 men on the field…La Jolla, 16 players strong, defeated Mar Vista, 13-7, to end a 15-game losing streak… the Vikings’ last victory was 7-0 over Rosemead in the 1954 season opener…Coronado coach Roger Rigdon declared that of the 200 boys enrolled in school, 100 reported for football…a City Schools carnival crowd of 16,000 saw the West team of Lincoln, San Diego, and Kearny defeat an East contingent of Hoover, Point Loma, Mission Bay, and La Jolla, 32-6…Lincoln beat Mission Bay, 14-6, and tied Hoover, 0-0, in two quarters of play…San Diego slapped Point Loma, 12-0…the Metro Carnival was an 8-6 win for Helix, El Cajon, and Sweetwater over Chula Vista, Mar Vista, and Grossmont….

Ron Dargo, 69, who pitched Crawford High to the 1962 San Diego Section baseball championship, passed away recently at his home in Spring Valley.

Dargo, a lefthander, and  John Allison, who pitched from the right side, led a late-season Colts playoff push after they finished second to San Diego in the Eastern League race.

The Colts, who finished with a 19-6 record, defeated lefty Dave Varvel and El Capitan, 9-0, as Dargo completed a seven-inning shutout in the championship game at Westgate Park, home of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres.

Dargo hurled one of Crawford’s two other postseason victories.  He  surrendered three runs in the first inning in the first playoff against Helix but pitched shutout, two-hit ball the rest of the way and beat the Highlanders and their ace, George Sherrod, 4-3.

Dargo went on to pitch for coach Ed Sanclemente at San Diego City College and Mesa College and for Lyle Olsen at San Diego State. He led the Aztecs with 95 innings pitched, 12 starts, and 8 victories in 1967.

“Ron had a good fastball and curve, was a very good hitter, and  a great teammate, remembered Tom Whelan, who was Dargo’s  catcher at Crawford and at San Diego State.

Following college, Dargo embarked on a long military career.  He retired as a U.S. Navy Commander and became active in the local sports fishing industry.

 

Lincoln and Mission Bay took their first, tentative steps. St. Augustine continued to push for league affiliation. North County schools wanted to be closer to home. Army-Navy and Brown Military didn’t want to be left out.

Such was the landscape, which promised to  change.  

Joe Rindone, principal of Chula Vista High and president of the CIF Southern Section executive committee, chaired a meeting with bosses from other schools around Southern California at the Helms Athletic Foundation office in Los Angeles on Dec. 4, 1953.

Rindone presented to the membership wholesale changes that would affect the 21 San Diego schools affiliated with the Southern Section.

Loud and clear complaints of San Diego County’s league alignments had been ongoing since 1950 when the City Prep League was formed, creating falling dominos in the Metropolitan and Southern Prep circuits.

WELCOME, AVOCADO LEAGUE!

Oceanside, Vista, San Dieguito, Coronado, Fallbrook, and Vallecitos officially became charter members of a new North County  circuit that honored the region’s favorite fruit, giving San Diego four distinct leagues, although Vallecitos never was to exist.

Formation of the new league was only part of the scenario.

1) The City League would welcome Lincoln as a varsity participant in football  in the 1954-55 school year.

2) Mission Bay would join the CPL in ’54-55 in most varsity sports but would wait until 1955-56 for varsity football.

3) Helix and Grossmont would leave the City League for the Metropolitan League.

4) The Metro League would retain Mar Vista, Chula Vista, and Sweetwater.

Metropolitan League plans were on the table for El Capitan, a school in Lakeside, but El Cap would not open until 1959, and El Cajon Valley (1955) and Mount Miguel (1957) would get to the starting line before the school that would be nicknamed Vaqueros.

5) The Southern Prep League lost Fallbrook but retained Army and Navy Academy, Ramona, Mountain Empire, Julian, and Brown Military.

6) St. Augustine, which had languished with independent status since leaving the Southland Catholic League of mostly Los Angeles-area schools after the 1950 season, was bypassed.

7) Army-Navy and Brown Military, which had evinced interest in being a part of any new North County grouping, received a response of thanks but no thanks. 

Coronado, in  logic that appeared based on the Islanders’ enrollment, was placed in the Avocado League, although the school was geographically unsuited compared to the two military schools.

The biggest winners were the travel weary  schools that left the Metro.

Oceanside and Escondido had competed in a vertical league that stretched at least 50 miles North to South.  Coronado now would be the only opponent requiring extended travel.

SAINTS ON OUTSIDE

The biggest loser was St. Augustine. 

Having only occasional, partial  affiliation from 1924-45 (they were members in name only in the Southern Prep in 1941-42 and the so called North County League in 1943), the Saints finally joined a circuit in 1945 but were stressed by travel and costs competing in the Southland Catholic League, whose member schools were at least three hours away.

Rev. John R. Aherne, principal of St. Augustine, presented a request that the Saints be admitted to some league affiliation within San Diego County.

Aherne knew he was in trouble when the motion to accept Rindone’s suggested realignment was made by La Jolla principal Marvin Clark, the City League representative at the meeting, and seconded by Ray Redding, Julian principal and Southern Prep representative.

Clark said the City League was willing to provide competition for St. Augustine, but that it was “impossible, for administrative reasons, to extend an invitation…at this time.”

Rindone, also representing the Metropolitan League, read the  San Diego leagues’ recommendation to the executive council.

There was no language in the San Diego document about a disposition of the St. Augustine application. 

Public schools wanted no part of a St. Augustine that could offer scholarships and recruit players from the publics’ attendance districts. Religious beliefs, while not openly stated, also came into play and there was suspicion of how eligibility would be enforced at the private school.

Aherne was undaunted. “We are not through,” he said. “We will fight this through the community in San Diego until the community itself decides the issue.”

Aherne had a few ideas of how to win this battle but the Saints still were years away from reaching their goal.

VALLECITOS?

Escondido High would make a permanent move to its North Broadway locale in 1954, but getting there and what might have happened is a chapter of history that began in the aftermath of the tsunami-like earthquake of 1933 which destroyed hundreds of structures in  Long Beach and surrounding Southern California communities.

Among the most damaged buildings were those at Long Beach Poly, with leveled classrooms and a collapsed belfry.  In reaction, the California legislature  passed the “Field Act,” mandating that all high school buildings be earthquake-safe and condemned many that were built before 1933.

The three-story Escondido High building, which went up in 1930 in the middle of the downtown business area, was declared unsafe in a 1934 inspection report, but that document was set aside and never acted upon.

By the early ‘fifties the downtown campus had become overcrowded and school board officials wanted a new high school, Vallecitos, on North Broadway.

Two bond issues were required.

The state finally awakened and confronted Escondido with the old inspection report and demanded that students  vacate the building before attempting the second bond measure.

Escondido High juniors and seniors were moved to the partially completed “Vallecitos” High and freshmen and sophomores to temporary tents and buildings at the old campus that were determined safe.

The North Broadway campus would be completed as Escondido High and the name Vallecitos, was dropped.

EMBREY TO NEW SCHOOL, ALMOST

Bob (Chick) Embrey was going to be the head coach at Vallecitos and remembers that  green and gray uniforms had been purchased and that other preparations had been made.

An assistant coach at Escondido, Embrey had lived in the community since his family moved there from Oklahoma in 1936. He was a star halfback on the 7-1 1944 Cougars team and played on the 11-0 San Diego State squad in 1951.

With Vallecitos no longer in play, Embrey had to wait.

When opportunity knocked again, Embrey started a dynasty at Escondido, where he posted a 144-66-4 (.682) record from 1956-77, winning 10 league championships and appearing in four San Diego Section title games, winning two and tying in another.

OF HORNETS AND BUCCANEERS

San Diego High drew students from as far East as Lemon Grove, as far North as Clairemont-Bay Park, and as far South as the National City border.

With an eye to the future, the San Diego City Schools built Abraham Lincoln Junior High in Southeast San Diego.  Lincoln opened in 1949 with 514 students in seventh and eighth grades. They came from the East and Southeast.  

From the beginning plans were for Lincoln to grow into a high school. 

With students in grades 7, 8, and 9, a sophomore class was added in the 1952-53 school year.  A junior class progressed in 1953-54, with those juniors comprising the first graduating senior class in 1954-55.

Lincoln was varsity-active in all sports but football in 1953-54. The 1954-55 school year included double sessions with seniors out of school at noon.  

Lincoln dropped junior high grades upon completion of  nearby Samuel F. Gompers Junior High in 1955.

Known originally as the Presidents and with school colors of blue and grey, Lincoln made a pragmatic decision to adopt school colors of green and white.

MILITARY CONNECTION

A coach and physical education teacher named George Pierson was acquainted with the coach of the PhibPac navy team in Coronado.  PhibPac suspended football about the time Lincoln was teeing up. 

Pierson’s connection resulted in PhibPac’s green and white uniforms being passed on to the fledgling high school.

Some Lincoln historians claim the Hornets’ mascot was named after the aircraft carrier Hornet, which was docked in San Diego Bay. 

A more accepted version was that student leaders voted first for the suggestion of coach Carmack Berryman, whose alma mater was Fullerton Junior College, also named the Hornets.

Mission Bay’s first year was with 10^th and 11^th graders in 1953-54, followed by a school year of ninth through 12^th grades in ’54-55. 

Mission Bay played a JV football schedule until 1955-56 but had varsity status in all other sports by its second year.

San Diego baseball historian Bill Swank, who authored an early history of his alma mater, said that being a beach-area school, within a long walk to the Pacific Ocean, Mission Bay embraced a seaworthy image, becoming the Buccaneers with black and gold colors.

Billy Casper, who passed away recently at age 83, was not only a Hall of Fame golfer as a professional but  also made his mark as a student  at Chula Vista High.

Casper was runner-up as a sophomore, champion as a junior, and runner-up as a senior in the CIF Southern Section golf championships from 1948-50.

Casper won the individual title in 1949  by shooting a 73 and winning in a sudden death playoff at Montebello Country Club.

Casper was named as one of the CIF Southern Section’s 100 greatest athletes when the organization celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013.

Several Eastern League schools found themselves unable to access a favored playing site, by the San Diego Conquistadors.

Yes, those Q’s, the American Basketball Association professional team located here.

The preps, in keeping with years of tradition, thought Aztec Bowl was reserved for them for games Oct. 13, 20, and 27.

Trouble was those were the same nights the Q’s were playing at Peterson Gym, a few hundred yards away.

Since Peterson Gym and Aztec Bowl shared the same parking lot, San Diego State officials declared they would not allow prep football and pro basketball games to be held simultaneously.

Possibly contributing to the policy was that nearby College-area homeowners long had complained about traffic, vandalism, and other problems involving events at the venues.

Hoover, Patrick Henry, Crawford, Morse, and St. Augustine were forced to look elsewhere.

The basketballers were a few steps ahead of the apparently sonambulant city schools and made arrangements earlier.  Grossmont College also snared some football dates.

“Everybody thought somebody was taking care of the contracts, but nobody did,” said a San Diego State spokesman.

San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson was blamed for the scheduling lapse.

Scheduling was Clarkson’s responsibility when he also held the post of Supervisor of Secondary athletics for the City Schools.

Clarkson said that he had retired from the supervising gig and that he had notified schools that they would have to make their own arrangements for game sites.

Eastern League athletic directors were contacted but claimed they never received such notification.

After some scrambling, swearing, and finger pointing the schools found alternate venues.

WHO WON FIGHT?

Sweetwater and Castle Park rolled in the dirt in a South Bay imbroglio that matched coaches who were close friends and college teammates.

That Dave Lay’s Red Devils defeated Gil Warren’s Trojans, 20-14, almost was forgotten in the frenzy of a mini riot by fans.

As Castle quarterback Don Bohnstein moved his team toward a game-leading touchdown in the fourth quarter, another of several skirmishes that had taken place in the stands spilled onto the track surrounding the Castle Park gridiron.

Will Watson of The San Diego Union estimated that as many as 200 persons were involved and that they had almost reached the end zone to which the Trojans were marching.

COPS ARE COMING!

Police were summoned and 13 squad cars and a helicopter responded, including three Highway Patrol vehicles and a police van.

Watson reported that the mob got closer to the end zone than the Trojans, who reached the eight-yard line before Bohnstein was sacked for a 13-yard loss.

The Red Devils’ Leroy Brown knocked out the Trojans with touchdown runs of 10, 38, and 70 yards and acquired a nickname.

“BAD, BAD LEROY BROWN”

 “…the baddest man in the whole damn town…badder than old King Kong, and meaner than a junkyard dog…”

Legendary singer-songwriter Jim Croce’s recorded that classic around the time Brown was the baddest.

Opponents learned not to “tug on Superman’s cape….”

The 205-pounder  teamed with Rudy Nanquil to give the National Citians a devastating running game, key to their 12-0  record and San Diego Section championship.

Sweetwater-Castle Park was the premier South Bay rivalry during the ’seventies. Warren and Lay, who played on Don Coryell’s first San Diego State teams from 1961-63, were 4-4-1 against each other from 1969-77.

DO YOUR THING, SON

Stalled at San Diego’s three-yard line, Crawford coach Bill Hall turned to offspring-kicker Dale Hall, who booted a 21-yard field goal with 25 seconds remaining to give the Colts a 23-21 victory over San Diego.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Celebrities, no, but celebrity names, yes.

Bob Hope played tailback for Orange Glen. Cesar Romero was a wide receiver for Montgomery.  Hilltop offensive lineman Billy Casper, Jr., was son of the champion golfer.

MORE SUCCESS IN NFL

Hoover’s 2-7 record was no fault of tight end William Gay, who went on to play at USC and was a second round draft choice of the Denver Broncos in 1978.

Gay came into the league as a tight end and even was  a two-way player, tight end and defensive end, from 1979-88 with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.

Gay had 44.5 sacks in his NFL career.

ELEVEN THOUSAND?

Sweetwater won its first playoff game, 32-27, over Patrick Henry before an overflow, standing-in-the-aisles, watching-from-the-outside crowd of 11,000 persons, according to writer John Nettles of The San Diego Union.

“It seemed like half of National City was there, plus a healthy number from San Carlos,” Nettles said of the mass of humans at Southwestern College.

No actual attendance figures were available (the Evening Tribune estimate was an overflowing 8,500), but all on hand witnessed postseason football at its best.

Sweetwater spotted Henry a 13-0, first-quarter lead but stormed back to go ahead, 24-13, at the half, then fought off the Patriots as Leroy Brown and Rudy Nanquil combined to rush for 314 yards.

Nanquil had 155 yards in 17 carries and scored on a 69-yard run, while Brown contributed 149 yards in 20 carries and scored on runs of 1, 1, 35, and 1 yard.

Leading, 32-27, Alan Gutzamer ended a last Henry threat, intercepting Scott Brisbin’s pass. Sweetwater ran out the last four minutes.

ANOTHER  BIG TURNOUT

Eleven-thousand persons were on hand the next week at Aztec Bowl as Sweetwater edged Escondido, 14-13, in a battle of old Metropolitan League antagonists.

The game may have turned on a decision by Escondido coach Chick Embrey, whose team, having just gone ahead, 12-8, with 1:30 left in the third quarter, opted for a one-point conversion.

“I couldn’t believe it,”admitted Sweetwater coach Dave Lay.  “I couldn’t figure it out.”

The Cougars became more vulnerable with only a five-point lead, which finally vanished when Brown scored from one yard with 6:47 left in the game.

“I blew it,” Embrey told Jack Williams of the Evening Tribune.  “I wasn’t thinking. I guess my mind is getting old and clogged up.”

RUDY AND LEROY, AGAIN

Nanquil rushed for 187 yards and Brown for 136 on a soggy field as Sweetwater won its first championship  by defeating Lincoln , 22-12, before 11,088 at San Diego Stadium.

Lincoln punted only once but lost three fumbles and had one pass intercepted.

“I was just happy as hell when I read in the papers  at the beginning of the season we weren’t supposed to be good, “ said Lay, “because I really thought we could have a helluva team.”

The coach said the emergence of sophomore quarterback Ron Schraeder was key.  “When he played super in a scrimmage against Oceanside I knew we could be good, but I never thought about 12-0.”

RED DEVILS READY

From the outset, Lay had positioned the Red Devils for their championship run.

“If we come through in certain areas, this could be our best team ever,” Lay told Will Watson on the eve of the season opener with Bonita Vista.

The Red Devils returned seven defensive starters, five offensive starters, and 19 players who started at least one game in 1971. They did it with speed and toughness, despite a defensive line that averaged only 168 pounds.

HORNETS BACK IN  BUSINESS

Lincoln, picked fourth in the preseason, won its first Eastern League championship since 1965.

Wally Henry, who transferred from San Diego as a sophomore, scored 21 touchdowns in leading coach Earl Faison’s team to the finals.

Henry had touchdown runs of 80, 71, 67, 58, 57, 50, 65, and 38 yards, during the Hornets’ 9-3 season.

WALLY’S WORLD

Wally Henry’s exploits were followed by an outstanding career and a game-changing touchdown for UCLA in the 1976 Rose Bowl against Ohio State.

Henry played six seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL and earned a Pro Bowl invitation as a kick returner in 1979.

A throwback to the great running backs of decades past at San Diego High,  Henry was destined to be selected to the all-time, all-San Diego prep team in 2012.

Faison was the American Football League’s rookie of the year in 1961  and was all-AFL from 1961-66.  He was head coach at Lincoln from 1969-73 and then left coaching and had a long career in school administration.

SIX GOOD MEN

Francis Parker, La Jolla Country Day, and San Miguel moved  from eight-man to six-man football.

The San Diego schools competed in their own league and played several other 6-man schools from a similar league in the CIF Southern Section.

The locals played each other twice and at least two of the Los Angeles-area schools.

WHERE’S OFFENSE?

A capacity crowd of 15,000 at Aztec Bowl went home scratching its head after the 12^th annual Grossmont League carnival ended with a 3-0 score.

Santana’s Wes Hancock kicked a 24-yard field goal against Monte Vista with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.  Santana was joined by Granite Hills, Grossmont, and El Capitan on the winning East.

The West was comprised of Helix, Mount Miguel, El Cajon Valley, and Monte Vista.

El Cajon Valley almost stole the show, controlling the ball for more than 11 minutes and 17 plays before short-circuiting with an interception on El Capitan’s 11-yard line.

MENOTTI MIFFED

Jack Menotti’s Madison Warhawks were the No. 1-ranked team in the County with an 8-0-1 record on the field but 6-2-1 legislatively.

A transfer from Kearny had played in two games in the middle of the season but was found to be scholastically ineligible.

Menotti self-reported his program’s “dreaded administrative glitch,” but the Warhawks still hoped to make the playoffs in a title-deciding Western League showdown against Kearny.

Kearny, trailing, 15-0, finally caught the Warhawks at 15-15, after Kearny coach Birt Slater opted for a one-point conversion instead of a two-point attempt and victory.

Tom Barnett was a first-year assistant coach at Kearny. He had replaced Menotti, who had gotten his coaching start at Kearny under Slater.

“Jack was livid after the game and told Birt that he couldn’t believe Birt kicked and didn’t go for two points,” said Barnett.  “But Don Wadsworth told Birt that a tie was  as good as a win for Kearny.”

ASSISTANT COVERED BASES FOR BIRT

Wadsworth was an assistant coach and valuable presence on the Kearny sideline, monitoring downs and distances, number of available time outs, clock management, and often calming the  emotional Slater.

“Birt wasn’t too happy about going for the tie either,” said Barnett.

But kicking for the tie was the safe decision, giving Kearny a final, 4-1-1 league record.

Had Kearny gone for two and failed, Madison would have finished 4-1-1 in the league and gotten into the postseason. The Warhawks instead were 3-2-1 and fourth.

“All we needed was a tie,” said Slater.  “If we had needed to win, who’s to say we wouldn’t have (tried for the more difficult two point conversion)?”

Kearny claimed its seventh successive Western League championship, but was knocked out of the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year, bowing at Vista, 13-12.

SLATER FIRES BACK

The Kearny coach was in a foul mood.

Slater thought game officials made two egregious calls against the Komets and that Vista coach Dick Haines was cracking wise after the Komets’ playoff loss.

Haines’s remarks were to the effect that North County coaches always shake hands after a game, but that San Diego coaches go around with their heads between their legs when they lose.

”I tried to find Haines after the game,” Slater told Jack Williams of the Evening Tribune.  “Hell, he won the game.  Why didn’t he look me up?  He’s a bleep if he thinks I had my head between my legs.”

CIF TO MADISON:  DROP DEAD

Madison still had hope before the playoffs, but the school in northeast Clairemont was doomed.

“All I can say a great injustice has been done,” said Menotti after the CIF board of managers rejected the No. 1-ranked Warhawks’ final appeal to be part of the eight-team eliminations.

Menotti lamented to Bill Finley of the Evening Tribune:  “What they’ve shown is it doesn’t pay to be honest. I’ve cost these kids a once-in-a-lifetime chance.  It’s my fault all this happened.”

“I think we need to take a look at our rules,” said Madison athletic director John Hannon.  “This is 1972.”

Madison’s plea was based on “an inadvertent” error (dreaded administrative glitch) by an admissions secretary.

When the ineligible player transferred to Madison and turned out for football his transcript was mixed up with that of another student with the same last name, according to Hannon.

HE’D KICK FOR  CRITTERS

La Jolla’s Rolf Benirschke was one of the Western  League’s top scorers with 36 points, including eight field goals, more than any other kicker, but Bernirschke became better known as a San Diego Chargers icon.

Benirschke was a 12th-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders out of the University of California at Davis and was claimed on waivers by the San Diego Chargers.

After a battle with ulcerative colitis that saw the entire community rally behind him with a record-breaking blood drive, Benirschke went on to finish an outstanding  career with the Chargers.

Every field goal and point after kicked by Benirschke  included a matching donation by Rolf  to his charity, which he called “Kicks for Critters,” benefiting  research at the San Diego Zoo.

QUICK KICKS

Kearny’s streak of 33 Western League games without a loss and 29 league wins in a row came to end in a 13-12, league opener defeat to University… Leroy Brown’s 171 points was 23 points shy of the County record of 194 by Oceanside’s C.R. Roberts in 1953…after losing its first 18 games, Montgomery won its first three in the school’s third season…the Aztecs finished with a 4-5 record…Escondido quarterback Dan Embrey is son of head coach Bob (Chick) Embrey…Herb Meyer of Oceanside also had a quarterback son, Dave Meyer…two seasons after 0-9, Mount Miguel posted a 7-2 regular-season record and made its first playoff appearance since 1961…compliments of Greg (Stats) Durrant:  Castle Park, Granite Hills, and Oceanside each was 7-2 but failed to make the playoffs and each was led by a player destined for post-high school excellence…Castle’s John  Fox eventually became a respected NFL head coach…Joe Roth of Granite Hills was an all-America quarterback at California-Berkeley before being struck down by cancer…Oceanside’s Joe Paopao quarterbacked more than 15 years in the Canadian League…all three played at area junior colleges, Fox at Mesa, Roth at Grossmont, and Paopao at Palomar…trailing Vista with 1:53 remaining,  Lincoln marched 72 yards to score with 39 seconds left and edge the Panthers, 18-16, in a semifinals playoff before about 8,000 in Aztec Bowl,…Wally Henry made 13 yards by himself  on a 17-yard pass play, spinning and breaking tackles, to get the Hornets to the three-yard line…Henry scored the winning touchdown two plays later….