After the Rumbling, Santa Barbara, Hart Search for the Fault

Rick Scott stood in the end zone, his clothes splattered with mud and his face red and marked, trying to catch his breath.

He looked as if he had been in a fight, or possibly a hockey game.

Scott, the Hart High football coach, in fact had just emerged from two tough battles.

Hart had just defeated Santa Barbara, 24-17, in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section’s Coastal Conference playoffs.

The Indians escaped with the victory when quarterback Jim Bonds sneaked in for a touchdown from two yards out with 40 seconds left in the game.

End of battle No. 1.

After the final gun, a more violent fight took place.

Players, coaches and fans from both sides squared off in a five-minute brawl that stretched half the length of the muddy football field at College of the Canyons.

The teams and fans were finally separated by members of the sheriff’s department and those members of both coaching staffs who weren’t throwing punches.

A lot of boxing and wrestling went on, but there were no arrests.

After the game, verbal jabs were still being thrown.

Both sides, of course, insinuate that the other was at fault.

“I told the officials two or three times during the game that they had better start calling some penalties or the game was going to get out of hand,” Scott said. “There was a lot of talking going on and some face-mask penalties that weren’t being called.”

Scott said he was attacked during the brawl and kicked in the face by a Santa Barbara player. Santa Barbara Coach Lito Garcia said Scott was throwing punches at Santa Barbara players. Scott denied hitting any players.

Both said the situation was made worse by the number of fans on the field.

“The coaching staffs should have been able to control their players,” Scott said in a phone interview on Saturday. “It should have been a one-minute scuffle. But there were some crazy people down there. I don’t know who’s side some of them were on. On the films, it looked like they were just out there swinging at whoever was close. I saw one person slam another person on the head with a Thermos.”

Said Garcia: “I thought our coaches had our players under control, but there were so many people out on the field, things just got out of hand.”

Garcia said he knew that his team was frustrated and angry about the ejection of Santa Barbara’s best player, Kevin Bolden, in the first half.

Bolden, a receiver and defensive back, was ejected after an altercation with Hart’s Ralph Elliot on a kickoff return in the second quarter. Elliot, who plays only on the special teams, was also ejected.

“We have a rule about fighting,” Scott said. “Players who fight get to do some running after practice. We’re gonna have a whole lot of players doing a whole lot of running on Monday.”

The sign had hung as a reminder on the locker room wall for nine weeks.

“52-0, chew on it a while,” it read.

The sign was hung by Templeton Coach Jerry Reynolds after his team had been humiliated by Faith Baptist, 52-0, in a nonleague game earlier this season.

Templeton and Faith Baptist met again Friday night with the Southern Section’s Eight-Man Conference football championship on the line.

Templeton won, 26-7.

And how did the Eagles celebrate after the game?

By eating the sign, of course.

At the same time, a few doors down, Faith Baptist players munched on a post-game dinner.

It’s a good bet Templeton players came away more satisfied.

Fans arriving late for the Santa Maria High home game against Canyon on Friday night must have been shocked if they glanced at the scoreboard while driving down Stowell Street, which is adjacent to the playing field.

Because of an electronic malfunction, the scoreboard read: Home 50, Visitor 00.

And the game hadn’t even started.

Said Canyon Coach Harry Welch: “Geez, you call that hospitality?”

But by the start of the fourth quarter, Canyon was feeling right at home with a 35-7 lead and Welch was looking for another foe to conquer.

The statistics may not show it, but Ontario Christian finally devised a way to stop Montclair Prep running back Riche Swinton, who gained 218 yards Friday night in a 35-0 win.

Since Ontario Christian was having little luck slowing Swinton with 11 men, it tried sending a few extra players on the field on at least four occasions.

It worked once.

Midway through the second quarter, Swinton appeared to be on his way to breaking a long touchdown run when he was stopped by Ontario Christian’s James Noonan.

Noonan came off the bench to make the tackle.

Ontario Christian was penalized 15 yards for illegal participation, and Swinton broke away on the next play for 24 yards to set up a seven-yard touchdown run by Luthern Williams.

Swinton rushed for 208 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and returned an interception 22 yards for another score, so Noonan’s frustration was understandable.

On two other occasions, Ontario Christian was penalized for having 12 men on the field. Another time, the Knights were called for having 14 players lined up.

Now that’s an example of really stacking your linebackers.