Moorpark Wins the Right Fight, Claims WSC Title

It is common to see football players climbing all over each other after a team wins a championship, but the Moorpark College players had some company at the end of Saturday’s game and it was certainly no celebration.

A bench-clearing brawl erupted immediately after the final play of a 14-10 Moorpark victory over Santa Monica at Griffin Stadium that clinched the Raiders’ first Western State Conference title since 1970.

The win also earned Moorpark, ranked 16th in the state, an appearance in the Brahma Bowl on Dec. 7 at Pierce College. The Raiders will face the winner of next week’s Southern California Conference title game between Pierce and Valley.

The fight began when Moorpark quarterback Mike Gottsch fell on the ball to end the game. Santa Monica linebacker Tim Darby apparently slapped Raider guard Loren McCray on the side of the helmet, and quickly players from both sides had poured onto the field, swinging helmets and kicking one another.

“When I looked up, there were people everywhere, knocking the hell out of each other,” McCray said.

Moorpark Coach Jim Bittner believes the melee could have been avoided.

“I don’t think there was any need for a brawl,” he said. “If the officials had blown a quicker whistle on that last play, I don’t think any of this would have happened. On the last two plays, all we were doing was dropping on the football. By the end, Santa Monica was tackling our linemen.

“Our guys didn’t want to fight,” Bittner said. “Everyone I ran toward was ready to quit. They’d see me running over to break it up and they’d just say, ‘All right, coach.’ ”

Bittner may have been right if he had referred to the first three quarters when it seemed as if the Raiders were dodging a fight.

Running back Eddie Palmer scored from one yard on the second play of the second quarter to give Moorpark (8-2 overall, 6-1 in the WSC) a 7-3 lead. But the Raiders’ response was less than enthusiastic.

“There was a lot of pressure on us to win this game,” Bittner said. “Different players respond differently under pressure. No one really knew what to say or do. I wish I had a good joke to tell them, but I couldn’t think of one.”

It was just as well.

The Raiders were in no mood for jokes after Santa Monica quarterback Kevin Bray hit receiver Troy Banks with a 27-yard scoring pass to give the Corsairs (4-5, 4-3) a 10-7 lead with 5:43 left in the third quarter.

It took an unexpected hero to rally Moorpark.

Gottsch, a sophomore quarterback who hadn’t started a game since 1979 when he was attending high school in Nebraska, started in place of injured All-WSC quarterback Ken Lutz. Gottsch completed 11 of 27 passes for 180 yards, but it was his poise in the fourth quarter that carried the Raiders 71 yards to set up Jim Bittner Jr.’s one-yard dive for the winning score with 9:48 left. Bittner, who leads the WSC in rushing with 887 yards, ran for 127 yards on 28 carries.

Despite steady pressure from the Santa Monica defense, Gottsch held his ground in the pocket and completed 4 of 5 passes for 47 yards during the drive.

“When we needed the drive, Mike got it done,” Coach Bittner said. “He’s just a quality person and a quality player. Five years from now, he’ll probably be the president of a company, buying and selling guys like me.”

Santa Monica mounted a comeback late in the game, taking Moorpark’s kickoff and marching 68 yards to the Raiders’ 10. The threat was ended when defensive back Jeff Ebert intercepted a Bray pass at the Moorpark goal line with 4:54 remaining.

Bray, who completed 26 of 47 for 328 yards, said that the play of Moorpark defensive back Darrin McLeish set up the interception.

“It was a timing play and, just as I was releasing the pass for the inside, he moved Eddie (Fletcher) outside,” Bray said. “It was a great play on his part. If I had a chance to do it again, I wouldn’t throw it.”

The Moorpark victory eclipsed the school record of seven, set in 1971.