Oceanside and La Costa Canyon set a record when they played four overtime periods last week.
Somewhere Bennie Edens was smiling.
The late coach at Point Loma was instrumental in the city schools’ adopting overtime sessions as a way to solve the inconvenience of tie games in 1975.
The entire San Diego Section agreed in 1976 to use the state’s California Tie-breaker for the postseason.
Eventually regular-season games went into overtime along with other tweeks to the system used today.
Oceanside outlasted La Costa Canyon, 19-13, in the longest ever San Diego Section game.
RECORD WAS THREE
There had been three, three-overtime games, all in this century.
*Vista defeated Torrey Pines, 36-28, in a semifinal playoff in 2002.
*Cathedral topped San Pasqual, 37-31, for the San Diego Section Division I championship in 2013.
*Mira Mesa won, 36-28, over Escondido in a regular-season game in 2014.
There have been 129 regular and postseason games of at least one overtime since Edens got his colleagues in the city to vote 8-2 in favor of extra playing time.
The city’s pre-1976 overtime rules rewarded the team with the most yards gained after four downs.
As a headline in The San Diego Union stated, “Edens feels Sting of Own Prep Project.”
Madison was credited with a 1-0 victory when the Warhawks advanced the ball further in the first use of the so-called Edens tie-breaker in Week 8.
The California tie-breaker was introduced here the next year but not without some false starts.
BRAND CRITICAL
Part of my narrative for the season (search “1976: “Birt’s Legacy….”) included much of Steve Brand’s account of the semifinals game between Morse and El Camino.
“History-making events are supposed to be heralded with sounding trumpets and helium balloons,” noted The San Diego Union scribe.
But the writer said the 6-6 tie resulted in “disappointment and confusion”.
A long delay had taken place as game honchos sorted things out.
“A twenty minute discussion between officials, coaches, and statisticians over first downs, penetrations inside the 20-yard line, and a mysterious stopping of the clock before the (regulation) game ended,” Brand complained (he was on a morning newspaper deadline).
The teams tied in regulation play with 7 first downs each and both had made two penetrations inside their opponents’ 20-yard line.
When play resumed after the delay, Morse lost the coin toss and had first possession, which resulted in a two-yard loss after four plays and a 15-yard penalty. El Camino took over, according to Brand, “and essentially fell on the ball for four consecutive plays.’
The Wildcats were declared winners.
La Costa Canyon and Oceanside tied, 6-6, in regulation play, matched scores in the second overtime and again in the fourth before Oceanside put across one more touchdown in the fourth on Kavika Tua’s 25-yard run that ended the game.
The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 5 poll:
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
First-place votes in parenthesis. NR–Not ranked.
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
| 1. | Helix | 3-1 | 310 | 1 |
| 2. | Cathedral | 4-1 | 272 | 3 |
| 3. | St. Augustine | 4-1 | 252 | 2 |
| 4. | Carlsbad | 4-1 | 212 | 4 |
| 5. | Steele Canyon | 4-0 | 185 | 5 |
| 6. | Grossmont | 4-0 | 122 | 8 |
| 7. | Lincoln | 3-1 | 105 | 7 |
| 8. | Oceaside | 3-1 | 91 | NR |
| 9. | Mission Hills | 3-2 | 60 | 9 |
| 10. | Torrey Pines | 3-2 | 50 | 6 |
Others receiving votes: La Costa Canyon (3-2, 15Â points), Vista (4-1, 11), Poway (4-1, 11), Madison (2-3, 10), El Camino (2-2, 8), Granite Hills (3-1, 6), Scripps Ranch (5-0).
Voting panel of 31 sportswriters, sportscasters, various County football honchos:
- John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune
- Jim Lindgren, Rick Hoff, Terry Monahan, Don Norcross, Thomas Gutierrez, freelance contributors.
- Paul Rudy, Brandon Stone,Ted Mendenhall, KUSI Chl. 51
- Adam Paul, ECpreps.com
- Ramon Scott, EastCountySports.com
- Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com
- Taylor Quellman, The Mighty 1090
- Steve Brand, San Diego Hall of Champions
- Troy Hirsch, Kaylyn McMakin, Tabitha Lipkin, Fox 5, San Diego
- Rick Smith, PartletonSports.com
- Jerry Schniepp, John Labeta, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section
- Joe Heinz, Coordinator, Athletics, Sweetwater School District
- Raymond Brown, sdfootball.net
- Bob Petinak, free lance.
- John Kentera, Brandon Suprenant, 97.3 FM The Fan
- Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM
- Mike Dolan, John Carroll, San Diego Section Tournament Directors.
- Christian Pederson, SoCal Prep Insider.
- Joe Heinz, Athletics Director, Sweetwater School District.
- Eric Williams, WBK Sports/San Diego Friday Night Lights Magazine.
AS OTHERS IN CALIFORNIA SEE SAN DIEGO’S TOP 10
| TEAM | RECORD | CAL PREPS.COM | MAX PREPS | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| Helix | 3-1 | 55.1 | 13 | 10 |
| St. Augustine | 4-1 | 47.5 | 23 | 22 |
| Cathedral | 4-1 | 67.7 | 5 | 18 |
| Carlsbad | 4-1 | 37.5 | 37 | 42 |
| Steele Canyon | 4-0 | 34.6 | 49 | On bubble |
| Grossmont | 4-0 | 26.8 | 80 | NR |
| Lincoln | 3-1 | 29.6 | 68 | On bubble |
| Oceanside | 3-1 | 30.9 | 65 | On Bubble |
| Mission Hills | 3-2 | 26.3 | 83 | NR |
| Torrey Pines | 3-2 | 24.9 | 92 | NR |
Cal Preps.com and Max Preps ratings are based on computer algorithms. Cal-Hi Sports ratings are product of publisher Mark Tennis’ eye test and information from Tennis’ correspondents throughout the state..
