PREP FOOTBALL : No. 1 Westminster and No. 10 Valencia Battle to Deadlock, 14-14

There are three seconds left in Friday night’s game between Westminster and Valencia high schools, the score is tied, 14-14, and the Tigers have the ball on the 50-yard line for one last play and a desperation shot at the victory.

Valencia linebacker Kevin Barton, meanwhile, is roaming the sidelines, calling for . . . Jack Dempsey.

That’s right.

“C’mon, go for the field goal!” Barton was yelling to anyone who would listen. “Put in Jack Dempsey for a 64-yarder!”

No one had the nerve to tell him. Jack Dempsey wouldn’t have done the Tigers any good in that situation. But then, neither would Tom Dempsey, who once kicked a National Football League-record 64-yard field goal for the New Orleans Saints.

There was no one near Placentia’s Bradford Stadium who could kick a field goal of such magnitude. So, Valencia opted for the Doug Flutie method.

Tiger quarterback Chris DeRisio dropped back for the game’s last play, hoping to complete a long pass, but he was promptly sacked by Lion defensive end Jim Rubalcava, and the nonleague game ended in a 14-14 tie.

Barton should be forgiven. History of New Orleans Saints football is not one of the required courses at Valencia.

Besides, Friday night’s game, played in front of 3,500 fans, was one of those emotionally exhausting and extremely exasperating affairs--the kind of game that could be taxing on a player’s short-term memory.

Both the top-ranked Lions and the 10th-ranked Tigers blew easy scoring chances in the final 4:55, as the momentum swung back and forth. When it was over, both teams walked away disappointed.

After DeRisio hit Mike Edwards with a four-yard touchdown pass and Paul Rivera added his second PAT to tie the score, 14-14, early in the fourth period, Rubalcava returned the ensuing kickoff 33 yards to the Tiger 41-yard line.

The Lions drove to the nine, where quarterback Mike Austin rolled to his right and was intercepted by Tony Goulet with 4:55 left to play.

The Tigers started at their eight, but they were soon within striking distance. Dorian Estes’ 55-yard run gave Valencia a first down on the Westminster 15. Three plays later, Estes, who led all rushers with 154 yards on 17 carries, fumbled, and Jerry Gillespie recovered with 1:34 left.

“It looked like neither one of us wanted it in the end,” Lion co-Coach Jack Bowman said. “We were disappointed, but it’s typical for a Westminster football team not to play well in the first game.”

It isn’t typical of a Valencia team to make two crucial mistakes. Estes also fumbled in the third period after the Tigers had driven from their 29 to the Westminster 21.

“I don’t consider a tie a victory,” Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo said. “We made some very big mistakes against a good team, and you can’t afford to do that. Our tradition has been to run the ball with success, but we don’t have a tradition of making all those errors.”

The Tigers did run well against one of Orange County’s most respected defense, racking up 253 yards rushing, including 93 by fullback Goulet. Still, Westminster appeared in control at halftime.

The Lions took a 14-7 lead when Austin, on a first and goal from the Valencia 10-yard line, went back to pass but found no one open on the left side. The right side was clear, though, and the quarterback scrambled into the end zone for a touchdown with 1:45 remaining in the second quarter.

That completed a five-play, 60-yard drive, which Austin began with a 21-yard run and then threw perfectly timed passes to Dean Eddy on the left sideline for 11 yards and Benny Mendoza on the right sideline for 17.

The Westminster offense ran only eight plays in the first quarter--two of them were punts--but still entered the second quarter in a 7-7 tie, thanks to Eddy’s 69-yard punt return for a touchdown with 5:01 left in the first.

The Tigers came right back with a 69-yard drive of their own, which featured runs of 18 and 13 yards by Estes and 15 and 11 yards by Goulet and ended with DeRisio’s one-yard plunge into the end zone with 1:29 remaining in the first quarter.