Valley Blows Lead, Settles for 25-25 Tie in Western State Bowl

The Western State Bowl is the Rodney Dangerfield of junior college bowl games: It doesn’t get any respect.

Unbeaten Bakersfield College declined an invitation, claiming it had bigger spuds to fry in the Shrine Potato Bowl.

Western State Conference Northern Division champion Moorpark responded with a polite “no thank you,” opting instead for the Orange County Bowl.

Ventura and L. A. Southwest, WSC also-rans, both passed on the Western State affair and attended other bowl games.

So perhaps it was fitting that Southern Division runner-up Valley and Santa Barbara, which tied for third in the Northern Division, played Saturday to an unspectacular 25-25 tie in the second Western State Bowl at Valley College.

“It’s kind of like kissing your sister,” said a smiling Valley Coach Chuck Ferrero as he hugged his Santa Barbara counterpart, Rich Cook, after the game.

Ferrero attempted to coerce the officials into staying for an overtime period, which both teams seemed agreeable to. But, according to Cook, state bylaws forbid overtime periods.

“It’s stupid to have a bowl game and not be able to go overtime,” Ferrero said. “I guess the officials didn’t want to work anymore.”

An overtime period might not have been necessary if not for an unusual bit of strategy by Ferrero.

With his team leading, 25-17, after a six-yard touchdown run by fullback LaMonte Simmons late in the third period, Ferrero opted to go for a two-point conversion when one point would have forced Santa Barbara to score twice to win.

Tailback Cliff Robinson, who led all rushers with 112 yards in 19 carries, was stopped short of the end zone on the ensuing two-point try.

“It’s a questionable call. Maybe (Ferrero) couldn’t read the scoreboard,” said Cook, referring to the difficulty one had in reading the scoreboard in the sun’s glare.

Santa Barbara eventually tied the score, 25-25, early in the fourth period when John Pyle scored on a one-yard run and Ted Robison hit a diving Walter Brooks for a two-point conversion.

Valley (5-5-1) drove to the Vaquero 33 on its next series, but quarterback Trendell Williams was stopped a half-yard short on a fourth-and-three play. Valley had converted four earlier fourth-down attempts.

The Monarchs got another shot late in the quarter, driving to the Vaquero 16, but Jim Harper’s 34-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Ken Kahahawai with 40 seconds to play.

The Valley defense, ranked first against the pass in the WSC, throttled Robison, the WSC’s top passer, most of the game. The Monarchs sacked Robison six times, intercepted one of his 28 passes and limited him to 176 yards and one touchdown on 13 completions.

Valley, which had won its only three previous postseason games, scored on its first three possessions. The Monarchs opened the scoring on Williams’ 26-yard touchdown pass to Larry Avery and added Harper field goals of 30 and 41 yards to build a 13-0 advantage.

Valley took a 19-0 lead in the second quarter when Sam Edwards intercepted a Robison pass and returned the ball 75 yards. The Monarchs missed what would later become a crucial conversion, however, when Harper faked a kick and pitched poorly to Sean Brown, who kicked the ball out of bounds.

Santa Barbara (6-4-1) came back on Robison’s one-yard touchdown sneak and trailed, 19-7, at halftime. The Vaqueros, who are 1-8-1 in postseason games, cut Valley’s lead to 19-10 on Patrik Schmidle’s 23-yard field goal on the opening series of the third quarter, then moved to within 19-17 on Robison’s nine-yard touchdown pass to Brooks.