Carpinteria Ends Football Series With Moorpark

The football series between Moorpark and Carpinteria highs, which dates to the 1920s and is perhaps one of the most one-sided in the nation, apparently will end after the 1991 season.

Surprisingly, Carpinteria, which has beaten Moorpark 50 times in a row and holds a 53-3 advantage, will not renew the series, much to the disappointment of Moorpark Coach Rob Dearborn.

“Even though we’re on the bad end of the tradition, why should we let this tradition die?” Dearborn said Tuesday. “This is a great game for us. It’s kind of sad to see it end.”

Moorpark (5-6 last season) ends the regular season next fall at home against Carpinteria (6-4-1 last season) in the Musketeers’ final game in the Tri-Valley League. Moorpark will move to the Frontier League for a two-year period beginning in the fall of 1992, switching places with Fillmore.

Dearborn called Carpinteria Athletic Director Jim Bashore on Tuesday to arrange a nonleague game between the schools in 1992 only to learn that Carpinteria had no room for the Musketeers. Along with its four Tri-Valley league games in 1992, Carpinteria intends to play Cabrillo, Paso Robles, Santa Paula, Santa Ynez, Santa Clara and Nordhoff, all of which are currently on Carpinteria’s schedule.

To make room for Moorpark, Carpinteria would have to drop one of those games, a move that Bashore is unwilling to make.

“It isn’t that we don’t want to play Moorpark, but we’ve got a darn good schedule,” he said. “It’s very presumptuous (of Moorpark) that we should drop one of our teams to play them. It’s not like we’re afraid to play them.”

Bashore cites financial considerations and Moorpark’s burgeoning enrollment as reasons for ending the series. Bashore said Moorpark brings few fans to games at Carpinteria, claiming that the Moorpark game in 1988 was the school’s least profitable game of the season and that the 1986 and 1990 games were the second worst of their respective seasons. “For our last three home games with them, we were about $700 below our average gate,” he said. “They’re not one of our big rivals.”

In addition, Bashore complains about Moorpark’s size. Carpinteria has an enrollment of 710 and Moorpark has grown to 1,100 and is projected for continued growth. “Eventually, it’s not a question of if but when we’re not going to play Moorpark because they have outgrown us,” he said. “When they’re at 3,000 (enrollment), are we still expected to play them?”

Dearborn disputes few of Bashore’s contentions but offers another possibility for the cancellation of the series: Carpinteria fears its dominance is about to end. During the 50-game losing streak, Moorpark was outscored, 1,700-270, and shut out 27 times. Carpinteria won last year, 34-20.

“I think that’s part of it,” Dearborn said. “Their athletic director would like to see that record end on a positive note. Last year was the first time in a while that we felt competitive. We knew it wasn’t going to be a blowout. I’m not angry, but I have a responsibility to the community to keep this game going.”