1970: Musty Beginning for Vista Coach Haines
Dick Haines embarked on a 25-year career as head coach at Vista and North County football would not be the same, but Haines, taking over an 0-9 team, had a rush of buyer’s remorse.
The regular-season final game in 1969, a 21-0 loss to Oceanside, had been played in the rain, according to Tom Shanahan of The San Diego Union.
Haines was taken aback when he began inventory in anticipation of his first season. The equipment room was unusually dank and moist.
“The muddied uniforms from that loss to Oceanside in coach Gary Schulz’s final game had been packed away unwashed,” wrote Shanahan.
“I almost turned around and went back to Ohio,” Haines said when he retired in 1995 after 13 league championships, three San Diego Section titles, and acclamation as having the No. 1 team in the state in 1985.
With clean uniforms and solid coaching, Vista went from winless to 4-5 this season and would rise to 10-1 the following season and its first Avocado League championship since 1960.
SAINTS POETIC
“Neither rain nor sleet nor snow can keep the Saints from twelve and oh.”
That prophecy, as reported by Bill Center of The San Diego Union, was scrawled on a chalkboard in a pregame meeting room under the Aztec Bowl stands before St. Augustine’s playoff against Escondido.
The week before, running backs Frankie George and Jesse Ochoa, playing as a tandem for one of the few times in the season, rushed for a combined 254 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 38-7, opening round win over Madison.
The Saints were confident and should have been.
They dispatched Escondido, 21-0, in the semifinal game on a soggy gridiron and prompted Cougars coach Chick Embrey to remark, “It would have been worse if the field was dry.”
The championship game against Grossmont, before a San Diego Section record crowd of 18,827, would have had more cachet if quarterback Matt Fahl were not sidelined by a sprained knee early in the Foothillers’ 26-20 win over Sweetwater.
The Saints’ defense carried the day in a 13-8 victory and coach Joe DiTomaso, after coming up short in the finals in 1967, in the semifinals in 1969, and missing out on the postseason despite a 7-2 record in 1968, became the second coach of a 12-0 team in San Diego County history, matching the San Diego Hilltoppers of 1916.
The Saints’ Greg Ricks hit Grossmont quarterback Mike Rundle as he delivered a pass that Robert George intercepted and returned 43 yards to set up a touchdown by Frankie George, who had 16 unassisted tackles on defense. Robert also ran 67 yards for a touchdown with a recovered fumble for a score.
WITHOUT FAHL
Grossmont outgained St. Augustine, 257-226, and had 16 first downs to 11. Rundle completed 7 of 12 passes for 78 yards and two interceptions.
Rundle took over for the injured Fahl the week before in a 26-20 semifinal, leading the ‘Hillers on a 51-yard touchdown drive to the come-from-behind, winning touchdown with 40 seconds to play that overcame a 20-0 deficit manufactured by Sweetwater quarterback Mike Riiff and running back Mike Ruiz.
CASTLE’S GREAT STRETCH RUN
Castle Park coach Gil Warren, whose team averaged 40 points and won its last seven games, was on the outside looking in when playoff brackets were announced.
The Trojans finished the season with a 7-2 record after losing to Sweetwater, 20-13, and Granite Hills, 14-12, in their first two games.,
So inexperienced were the Trojans at the start of the season, they were penalized three times versus Granite Hills when players exited the field to the wrong sideline.
“I think we’re the hottest team in the CIF now and we’ve got results to prove it,” said Warren.
Warren had a compelling argument:
“The committee voted San Diego into the playoffs (as a higher seed than St. Augustine in 1969), because San Diego was the hottest team in the (Eastern) league at the end of the regular season.”
Warren lost the argument. That defeat to Granite Hills allowed the Grossmont League’s Santana, 6-3 overall and 5-2 in loop play, to squeeze in. The Sultans had a 26-13 victory over Granite Hills.
CHICK’S CENTURY MARK
Escondido’s Chick Embrey passed a milestone achieved only once in the first 79 seasons of games played by teams in San Diego County.
Embrey, in his 15th season as the Cougars’ coach, won his 100th career game, becoming the second area mentor to achieve that number.
Grossmont’s Jack Mashin was the first, winning 125 games in a career that stretched from 1923-47.
Embrey reached triple digits in his 138th game, Mashin in his 164th, a 21-6 victory over Oceanside in 1941.
Embrey began the season with 98 victories. No. 100 did not come easily.
The Cougars dropped a 13-12 decision at San Luis Obispo in the opening game after a six-hour bus ride.
The loss was followed by win No. 99, a 22-0 shutout of Poway, but that was a met by another loss, 8-7 to Carlsbad. Escondido finally put Embrey over the hump with a 41-6 triumph against Vista.
MALEY, PERRY CAME CLOSE
Two prominent coaches from other eras had outstanding records but retired a few wins short.
San Diego’s Duane Maley was 97-19-3 from 1948-59. John Perry was 92-45-11 from 1920-26 at San Diego and from 1930-39 at Hoover.
Perry stepped aside from coaching and was in charge of the physical education department at San Diego from 1927-29.
DISNEY DISSAPPOINTED
Twenty Orange Glen players came down with viral meningitis and the Patriots were forced to forfeit their Avocado League game to San Marcos.
“The cancelation of the game was no fault of the players or schools, so I don’t think either should be punished,” said coach Dick Disney, petitioning for a rescheduled game.
Disney told Bill Center that a game could be played the Monday or Tuesday after the regular season.
“If they say play, we’ll play,” said San Marcos coach Bob Woodhouse, “You know we don’t like winning games that way, but on the other hand it’s hard to prepare for a game with only 3 days at most in between,”
San Diego Section commissioner Don Clarkson, who would take such a request to the CIF board of managers, encouraged Disney. “The board might approve such a game,” said Clarkson. “It is not something the school could have stopped or had any control over.”
The issue went up the administrative ladder. “I don’t know what use it would serve,” said Guilford (Bud) Quade, the Escondido School District superintendent.
“The game still would be a forfeit,” Quade added. “We’d try to help, but there would be a lot in the way of a game after the season.”
Quade was being charitable. His message quickly reached the ears of Orange Glen principal Pat Ross, who spoke with Center a few days later:
“Any discussions we had are over and it’s a closed issue now,” said Ross.
Disney started the Orange Glen program from scratch, built it into an 11-0 juggernaut in 1969 and was 39-39-3 when he stepped down after the 1971 campaign.
He always remembered the losing game his team never played.
WALLY’S WORLD
A burgeoning superstar was sophomore Wally Henry of San Diego.
“He’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to Cleveland Jones,” said Cavers coach Allan (Scotty) Harris, who coached the legendary Jones when both were at the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot.
“Wally’s not that fast, but he has tremendous balance and quickness. He doesn’t fumble, he doesn’t drop a pass. It takes an army to knock him down.”
Henry got his chance to play when starter Elijah Turner was hurt. “I wanted to bring him along slowly,” said Harris. “Now we can’t get him out of there.”
As Jerry Powell had done four years before, Henry transferred from San Diego to Lincoln, where former Chargers star Earl Faison replaced Shan Deniston as head coach. Scotty Harris retired at San Diego and Deniston replaced Harris.
WALTONS MOVE ON
UCLA’s gain was Helix’ loss. The Highlanders took a 49-game winning streak into the opening game of the 1970-71 basketball season, but, sans Bill and Bruce Walton, the Highlanders were denied No. 50, losing, 63-61, to Kearny.
Bruce was a starting forward on the 29-2, 1968-69 club. Bill was the architect of that season’s success and a 33-0 campaign the following season.
Bruce already was on the Bruins’ football varsity when freshman Bill showed up for basketball.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
San Diegans may be driving to El Centro to catch planes for Chicago and Boston or Washington in another 15 years, according to the top story in The San Diego Union local section.
A federal committee said it may be necessary for San Diegans to use the El Centro Naval Air Facility as a second airport unless an alternate site for Lindbergh Field is developed before then.
Hmm, uh-huh.
SAINTS ASSISTANT GETS PROPS
St. Augustine coach Joe DiTomaso saluted the effectiveness of the 4-4-3 defense installed by assistant Larry Shepard, who made his bones as a quarterback at Kearny in 1963.
Saints linebackers Larry Mascari, Frankie, and Robert George, augmented by cornerback Monte Jackson and several other defenders, were standouts in a group that held 12 opponents to a touchdown a game.
Mascari was from a family that had produced St. Augustine players since 1948. Jackson played at San Diego State and was the first selection in the second round of the 1975 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams.
Jackson led the NFL with 10 pass interceptions in 1978 and played nine seasons.
Monte’s younger, freshman brother Terry was a fifth-round draft choice of the New York Giants out of San Diego State in 1978 and played eight seasons.
TOUGH, IN LEAGUE
Kearny annually was knocked out of the playoffs, this year for the fourth consecutive time, but the Komets owned the Western League. They were in the midst of a 28-game league winning streak that started in 1967 and would not be broken until 1972.
TICKETS AVAILABLE, BUT…
It was a yearly complaint. The CIF once again appeared inadequately prepared for the playoff game between St. Augustine and Grossmont, two programs known for large followings.
Kickoff was delayed 10 minutes to accommodate the crowd, which flocked to the three ticket booths at Aztec Bowl.
CIF RESPONDS
Commissioner Don Clarkson, after complaints in 1969, arranged for playoff dates so that there were two games each on Friday and Saturday in the first-round, quarterfinals and one game each on Friday and Saturday in the semifinals.
The playoffs were expanded to eight teams and had the authenticity of an upper and lower bracket. A legitimate and workable thirty-three per cent of the Section’s large schools earned postseason bids.
The CIF, in its 11th season, finally had come up with a playoff format that satisfied everyone.
QUICK KICKS
University of San Diego High became coed for the first time…many students from Cathedral High for girls in downtown San Diego enrolled at Uni…Sweetwater’s Mike Ruiz scored 99 points in the regular season, three touchdowns and four PAT behind the 121 of Castle Park’s George Ohnessorgen, but Ruiz knocked down 40 points in two playoff games to earn the County scoring touchdown with 139…Joe DiTomaso, a 1954 graduate of St. Augustine, left after the 1970-71 school year and became coach at Santana…with a growing family, the move was easier with pay definitely higher in the Grossmont School District and the hours shorter…Clairemont defeated Hoover, 47-44, after scoring only 42 points in the first six games…Bill Center estimated that 13,000 persons attended the annual city bragging rights game between Escondido and Orange Glen…”The stands overflowed, there was standing room only, and the banks on both end zones were full,” said The San Diego Union correspondent…Center also estimated that 13,000 overflowed Aztec Bowl for the Grossmont-Sweetwater playoff…Grossmont coach Pat Roberts’ philosophy on defense: “Fight as hard as you can, get to the ball, and get there as ugly as you can”…Santana defensive back Steve West had the pedigree…dad Harry West was head coach at San Diego City College, played in the Rose Bowl as a collegian for the University of California, and teamed with Cosimo Cutri to form the “Touchdown Twins” at San Diego in 1945…
