ORANGE COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL : Empire League : Esperanza Scores 13-13 Tie With Cypress

Cypress and Esperanza high schools played to a 13-13 tie in the Empire League opener for each team Thursday in Bradford Stadium at Placentia.

Cypress’ record coming into the game--0-5--would seem to indicate that it was lucky. But it was Esperanza (3-2-1) that had to scramble for a 20-yard field goal by Kevin Leon with 30 seconds left to come away with the tie.

The kick had been set up on quarterback Jason Moler’s 42-yard pass to Craig O’Connor that gave the Aztecs the ball on the Cypress 9 with 1:30 left. Two pass plays and one rush got Esperanza no farther, and Leon came in to kick the field goal.

Cypress had taken the lead with 2:28 left on Lee Milton’s 20-yard field goal.

The Centurions had been set up for the score when Esperanza’s Lance Brown fumbled on his 21. Cypress drove to the eight, but quarterback Pete Dopulos’ 8-yard touchdown pass to Mike Gee was called back on an illegal-motion penalty.

Three plays later, Milton kicked the 20-yarder.

It was Milton’s second field goal of the game. His 44-yard kick with 1:12 remaining in the third quarter had tied the score at 10-10.

Esperanza scored first. Doug Saunders’ 40-yard punt return to the Cypress 48 set up the drive. On the next play, Mike Finley ran 38 yards to the Esperanza 10. Two plays later, Rick Pressel scored on a two-yard run. Leon’s conversion kick made it 7-0 with 6:29 left in the first quarter.

Cypress came back later in the quarter, scoring on a 34-yard by J.T. Barrington. The kick tied the score at 7-7.

Esperanza had won every meeting between the teams since the series began in 1981. In 1984, Esperanza had pounded Cypress, 59-0.