El Camino Catches Fire After Slow Burn : Warriors’ Convincing 24-6 Win Over Taft Earns Them a No. 1 Ranking

It was one of those little things that few people noticed, but it meant a lot at the time to the El Camino College Warriors.

Taunted, haunted and verbally abused as they exited their own field two weeks ago following a season-ending win over Golden West College, the Warriors marched into LeBard Stadium in Costa Mesa on Saturday night with the sole purpose of taking a convincing win over Taft College in the Orange County PONY Bowl.

They quietly agreed as a team before the game to do so, and they didn’t disappoint the 4,000 or so fans who witnessed their 24-6 win.

And when two weeks of practices were grinding down to a halt, Coach John Featherstone reflected on a possible upset win with a smile.

“As we have practiced all year, so have we played,” he said. “We’ve had two really good weeks of practice and I think we’re going to play a good game.”

It was a great game. The victory for El Camino assured the school top ranking in the nation when the final J. C. Grid Wire poll is published Tuesday, according to founder Hank Ives. Earlier in the week there was some controversy involving the rankings, when Taft dropped a notch on the Grid Wire report, while El Camino moved up one. Was Ives trying to hype the game with the move? Ives remained silent about the rankings, but in the press box Saturday night he indicated that a convincing El Camino win would mean a No. 1 ranking for the Warriors.

El Camino apparently did not disappoint Ives. He waited a few minutes as El Camino accepted its championship trophy at midfield, then had the public address system announce that he would rank the Warriors No. 1.

The El Camino win set a school record for most games won in a season. El Camino, to say the least, finished a perfect season (11-0) with a near-perfect performance.

And Warrior fans took it all in stride, By the time they began to chant “We Are No. 1,” Taft could do little to save its season.

Perhaps the Cougars should have thought about that two weeks ago after the Golden West-El Camino affair. Members of the Taft College football team were in attendance at El Camino’s game with Golden West and after it ended, a handful of them ventured down near the field, where they jawed with several of the Warriors.

“Our guys were peeved,” Featherstone said a few days after the incident took place.

After the game Featherstone said: “Our guys have been a slow burn for two weeks now. They were itching to get at Taft.’

Indeed they were, and they took their frustration out on the Cougars, who entered the game with a 9-0 record and--depending on which poll you believe--were ranked either No. 1 or 2 in the country.

“They said we were girls,” said Warrior defensive lineman Mark Van Buren. “We ate them alive.” The Warriors set a PONY Bowl record for most yards passing in the game, and the school’s on-again, off-again rushing attack helped bolster its air game. Quarterback Danny Speltz already had 207 yards in the air at the conclusion of the first half. The old PONY Bowl record was 208. He finished with 347 yards in the air.

“We were able to run our patterns and move the ball,” Speltz said. For his efforts, he earned the Offensive Player of the Game award. Earlier in the year he had been named the Most Valuable Offensive Player in the South Coast conference.

Receiver Dwight Pickens hooked up with Speltz for two touchdowns, both long passes that the pair had hooked up on many times this season. Pickens finished the season with 15 TD receptions.

But early this morning the Warriors were wondering if they would be able to run their patterns at all. The field at LeBard Stadium, on the campus of Orange Coast College, played host to a Southern Section playoff game Friday night in a deluge of rain.

And because the field had been used for another community college bowl game earlier in the day, the conditions were less than optimum for receivers and passers alike.

“We were worried,” Speltz said. “The field looked so bad.”

Taft entered the game without its starting quarterback, Rodney Fletcher. Fletcher was suspended from the team for disciplinary reasons earlier in the week, and that could have hampered the Taft offense, which averaged 320 yards a game coming into the contest. The Cougars, with backup Dwayne Calloway at the helm, never got on track offensively, as the Warriors marched to a 15-0 half-time lead. Taft managed just 280 yards in total offense.

Much of the credit for Taft’s inability to move the ball effectively, however, should go to the El Camino defensive line. Led by defensive player of the game Ken Sale, the Warriors forced two Taft fumbles and held their own against an opponent that held a hefty size advantage.

“This is a pretty fearless group,” Featherstone said.

And winners, too.