El Dorado Meets Valencia for Rights to Placentia : Younger Golden Hawks and Tigers Look to Revive Their Cross-Town Rivalry

On the periphery, El Dorado High School’s football game against Valencia had all the trimmings of a great cross-town rivalry when the teams met in the old Orange League during the 1970s and early ‘80s.

Jim Hawn, an El Dorado offensive guard who graduated in 1979, recalled the days when he and his teammates used to hang stuffed tigers--the Valencia mascot--at pregame pep rallies. At Valencia, Steve Garten, a Tiger offensive guard who graduated in 1982, said he and his teammates used to drag stuffed hawks--the El Dorado mascot--or rubber chickens, or any ornithological object they could find, around school as an anti-El Dorado demonstration before the game.

This is what you expected when Placentia’s two high schools got together to play football. Many of the schools’ students were not fond of each other, and they performed their share of pregame pranks.

But it was different on the field, where El Dorado turned the rivalry into a one-sided affair. The Golden Hawks won the last seven games (from 1974-1980) of the series before moving to the Empire League in 1981.

Though the El Dorado players participated in the pregame antics, it really wasn’t an important week as far as football was concerned.

“When we played them, it was like, we’d practice, show up for the game and win,” said Hawn, who played four years at Arizona State and was recently cut by the San Diego Chargers. “In those years, they’d have maybe 20 or 25 players, and I always went against a kid who was about 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds (Hawn is 6-4, 255 today). We usually shut them out.”

Hawn’s fondest memories of the Valencia rivalry? “Just winning and watching their coach (Norm Parker at the time) yell at his players.”

Garten, a junior reserve guard at Nevada Las Vegas, only played against El Dorado once, in 1980. But even though it was the battle for Placentia’s bragging rights, there wasn’t much to look forward to come game night.

“It was a big rivalry, but El Dorado always beat us,” he said. “They were the big-time school in the area, and that was back when we used to go 3-8 every year. They were always bigger than us, and a lot of our guys actually worried about playing them.”

That was five years ago.

Times have changed, especially for Valencia. The Tigers, who have a 22-3-1 record over the past two years and have advanced to the Central Conference semifinals twice, can no longer be classified among Placentia’s pitiful.

They have 41 players on their roster, 10 of them weighing more than 200 pounds. They have one of Orange County’s best running backs in Ray Pallares, who ranks third on the all-time county rushing list.

Under fifth-year Coach Mike Marrujo, they’ve risen to prominence in the county, where they currently rank ninth in the Sportswriters Assn. poll.

Valencia will attempt to reverse its fortunes against eighth-ranked El Dorado tonight at Bradford Stadium, where the Tigers play the Golden Hawks for the first time in five years.

And two of the characters playing roles are the younger brothers of Hawn and Garten--El Dorado’s Chris Hawn and Valencia’s Joe Garten. Both are offensive guards who will get their first taste of the rivalry their older brothers experienced.

“It has always been us against Esperanza, but I think this will be a bigger rivalry,” said Chris Hawn, a 5-11, 230-pound senior. “We’re two Placentia schools and we both use the same stadium (Bradford) for a home field.”

Bradford Stadium seems to be the focal point of the rivalry. Each team considers it home, and each sees the other team as invading its turf.

“It’s a sense of pride, owning Placentia and the stadium,” Jim Hawn said. “We owned that stadium. No one could beat us on that field.”

But other than the field and the proximity of the schools, there really isn’t much to fuel this rivalry today. Since the break in the series, some of the bad feelings between the schools has dissipated.

El Dorado has moved on to the Empire League, where it often battles Esperanza for league championships, and Valencia has been busy holding off Brea-Olinda and Western for its last two Orange League titles.

Asked if he really sensed a rivalry between the schools, Joe Garten said, “Well, sort of. I guess El Dorado used to be our rival.”

Chris Hawn did his part to revitalize things, though. Told that a reporter would be speaking to the Gartens later that night, he said: “You tell him when you get there that we’re after them. We’re 2-0 now, and all I know is that one team is going to be 3-0 after this week.”

Seeing as Valencia has already lost, that would mean the Golden Hawks would have to win tonight for Hawn’s prophesy to be fulfilled.

To Hawn’s remark, Joe Garten, a 6-3, 235-pounder, simply replied: “We’ll be out there hitting. It should be a real physical game.”

If Garten is anything like his older brother, Steve, he’ll do his fair share. Joe describes Steve as a “mean player, on and off the field.” The best advice the elder Garten, who is 6-3, 270, can give Joe is to hit hard.

“I tell him to just really put it in their face,” Steve Garten said. “The tough guy, the guy who hits harder, usually wins.”

Though he seems like an easy going, likeable kind of guy, Jim Hawn says there’s another side to Chris that people don’t see. “He can really get mad and hit somebody,” he said.

Jim Hawn, who got in his share of knocks in high school where he was an CIF All-Southern Section and All-County selection for two years, can take credit for that.

He played on the special teams for three years at Arizona State before becoming a starting guard on a 10-2 team in 1982. He spent last year on the Chargers’ injured reserve list but was cut in August.

Jim has spent hours with Chris, teaching him about blocking form and technique. Many of his lessons were held right on the living room floor of the family’s home.

“I’m surprised we don’t have any holes in the walls,” Jim Hawn said.

The Big Game

Valencia vs.El Dorado

The records--Valencia (1-1), El Dorado (2-0).

The site--Bradford Stadium

Key to the game--The Golden Hawks have rebounded from last year’s 3-7 season on the strength of a balanced offense and a mobile and active defense, which didn’t allow Troy a first down in the second half last week. Quarterback Dan Sutherland is Orange County’s eighth-rated passer, having completed 23 of 35 attempts for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns. Six different players have scored for El Dorado. Offensively, Valencia is predominantly a running team behind Ray Pallares (266 yards) and Tony Goulet (160 yards). The Tigers defense, behind linebackers Andy Ruscitto and Robert Rangel, has allowed but seven points this year. The Golden Hawks must slow the running game and force quarterback Jeff Martinez to pass, while Valencia’s line must clear the way for the Tigers’ running backs.

Consensus--It should be a low-scoring game, but Valencia, which has several starters back from last year’s 12-1 team, will have an edge in experience and on the offensive line with guard Joe Garten (6-3, 255) and tackles Xavier Hicks (6-1, 230) and Mark Williams (6-5, 250).