Sitting on pins ‘n’ needles

ROGER CARLSON

The fact the 2003 high school football season has gone down to the

final night with berths in the CIF Southern Section very much in

doubt, a potential for no Newport-Mesa teams to be vying in the

eliminations, brings to mind the time the Daily Pilot sports

department was faced with the fact it had no teams in the playoffs at

all, with still some two weeks before the basketball season was to

begin.

It was in 1969 when the Pilot’s circulation was such that we

covered Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa, Estancia,

Huntington Beach, Marina, Edison, Fountain Valley, Westminster, Mater

Dei and Laguna Beach.

These were the days when the playoffs were for champions, and once

in a while, a wild-card berth if there was room. The eight-team

brackets usually had room for seven league champs and a co-champ to

fill out the bracket.

A good example of how tough it was to earn a bid to the playoffs

was in 1964 when Mater Dei, with an eight-game regular season, shut

out seven foes, but lost to Servite in an Angelus League showdown,

13-0, and finished 7-1. A co-champion filled out the bracket and

Mater Dei missed the playoffs.

So in 1969, when we had seen our teams shut out, the sports editor

came up with the dubious idea of “covering” other Orange County teams

in the playoffs with the twisted assumption Pilot readers would be

interested.

I still recall staffing the Fullerton-South Pasadena game in the

second round of the playoffs, wondering “what the heck am I doing

here?”

At that time our usual custom at the Pilot was to present a story

on the “visiting team,” with comments and lineups on Wednesday, the

same format for the home team on Thursday, a big preview on game day

and, of course, the game story for Saturday’s edition.

Thus Pilot readers were reading about South Pasadena and how the

Tigers were getting ready for Fullerton on Wednesday ... which to

this day still leaves me shaking my head in disbelief.

Another of our staff members at the time, Craig Sheff, was

“staffing” a game on Friday night in Barstow.

He was on the way to Las Vegas to be married, but his bride to be,

Marsha, had to cool her heels in Barstow that evening while Craig

busied himself with the game and report before starting their

weekend.

It was something like “Rancho Alamitos vs. Barstow,” an item all

our readers were surely on the edge of their chairs awaiting the

results.

Needless to say, as a staff we were delighted to see Fullerton and

Rancho Alamitos fall by the wayside, among others.

This was an era when the Pilot staff did a lot of things which

didn’t actually relate to a “home town” paper. A couple of years

earlier I was staffing the CIF 4-A title game at Anaheim Stadium when

Clare Van Hoorebeke’s Colonists defeated the Santa Ana Saints, 27-6,

coached by a fiery sort named Tom Baldwin.

I still recall wandering into the Saints’ locker room afterward

and Baldwin was alone in an adjoining office, busily drawing out

plays and schemes for the following year, perhaps an attempt to

relieve his frustration. His team had beaten Anaheim in league play

and won the Sunset League championship, but Anaheim got a wild-card

bid to the playoffs and didn’t let the opportunity slip away. Van

Hoorebeke’s staff was years ahead of its time. Perhaps a decade.

It was Baldwin’s habit of leading the charge before the game at

the head of the pack as his team took the field, and another, Mater

Dei’s Dick Coury, also did it. Eventually Baldwin would wind up at

Costa Mesa and become the head coach. He’s presently a longtime

assistant coach for the Mustangs.

Costa Mesa’s Dave Perkins employed the same tactic this season,

but the Mustangs’ coach is going to have to beef up his workout

schedule if he is going to really duplicate Baldwin’s charge, which

began from behind the end zone with a flat-out sprint to midfield

leading the charge from start to finish.

Also needed to really get the flavor of the sprint by Baldwin is

9,400 more fans in the stands. The Saints, as well as Mater Dei,

played to a packed Santa Ana Bowl in those days.

Costa Mesa’s recent “showdown” with Westminster at Newport Harbor

pulled in a paltry 600 fans, and 200 were on Westminster’s side.

Don’t be misled, the complaint is not with the faithful, but with the

no-shows.

The pregame sprint to midfield does not compare to the scene I

witnessed in 1960, which in many ways, cemented my own philosophy to

this game of high school football.

At the time I was a loyal fan of Monrovia High and motored in from

San Bernardino to see the Wildcats duel Arcadia in the regular-season

finale. Monrovia was 8-0, Arcadia 7-0, the champion went to the

playoffs, the loser stayed home.

Arcadia had never beaten Monrovia in seven starts, but on that

night proved superior, 26-13, to clinch the league championship.

At game’s conclusion the two teams met at midfield, then, Monrovia

players left the field, marching in single file with their helmets on

and their heads up, under the goal posts and on to the dressing

quarters, some 150 yards away at Arcadia High.

Monrovia’s first-year coach was a fellow named Dick Robbins and

for the first time, I found myself realizing there could be two

winners in a game. It was a stirring sight.

As for the present, Newport Harbor, Corona del Mar and Costa Mesa

were in the hunt on Friday night, but needed help. Harbor (7-3)

provided its own “help” with a big win over Woodbridge and appears to

be a lock for an invitation to the CIF Division VI playoffs, with an

away game at a seeded foe.

The CIF selection committee is very reticent to challenge the

sheer numbers of the win-loss ratio.

Corona del Mar (5-4-1) is up against a choice of Sunny Hills

(6-4), so the Sea Kings have a shot.

University High Coach Mark Cunningham predicted CdM would get the

nod, and that’s encouraging, because Cunningham’s opinion carries a

lot of weight at CIF.

Costa Mesa (5-5) has the horses, but Santa Ana has an identical

record (5-5, 2-4) and beat Mesa. Worse yet, La Serna is 7-3.

So now we sit on pins and needles as the playoffs schedule is

unveiled today and we find out, indeed, if we’re still playing, or if

we must take that single-file march to the goal post and beyond.

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

[email protected]