HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK : Long-Running Football Series Set for Final Act

For generations, cries of “Get ‘em next year” have been as much a part of football season at Moorpark High as Hell Week and homecoming.

No longer.

After 63 years, 56 games, 11 U. S. presidents, four wars and a streak of dominance that might be unmatched in high school football, the storied rivalry between Carpinteria and Moorpark will end tonight in a Tri-Valley League finale at Moorpark High.

The rivalry began in 1928. After the 1934 season, the series was tied, 3-3.

Since then, Carpinteria has defeated Moorpark 50 consecutive times, making headlines in publications across the nation, including Sports Illustrated and USA Today.

Carpinteria administrators--citing small gate receipts from games involving the teams, too many miles of travel and, of course, the lopsided rivalry--said they wished to end the series after this season--over Moorpark’s objections.

“There is a lot of motivation on their side to keep playing,” Carpinteria Coach Ben Hallock said. “They want to keep playing until they beat us.”

This week, as the teams prepared for the final meeting, both coaches have spent as much time dealing with the media as they have conducting practice.

“I’ve gotten calls from papers everywhere,” Moorpark Coach Rob Dearborn said. “I don’t know how they pick up on it. One was from Minneapolis.”

Hallock spent most of Thursday juggling inquiries from television film crews and newspaper reporters.

“This isn’t necessarily the kind of motivation we want going into a game,” Hallock said. “But it’s here.”

For now.

Next season, Moorpark will move to the Frontier League, trading places with Fillmore, which will join the Tri-Valley League.

“The program will be reborn next year,” said Dearborn, in his fourth year at Moorpark. “Things are going to change. Hopefully, we can end it on a positive note.”

It will not be easy. Carpinteria (7-2, 2-1 in league play) needs a victory to earn a share of its sixth consecutive league title. Moorpark (1-8, 0-3) has been eliminated from postseason competition.

CHALK TALK RADIO

You say Hart blew that game? Think Canyon should have gone for two? Is Saugus the team to beat?

The phone lines are open at KBET (1220) in Canyon Country.

This season, KBET launched a sports call-in show that follows Kings hockey games that the station broadcasts.

Although the station broadcasts a weekly high school game involving Canyon, Hart or Saugus, most armchair fans call about the Kings, Lakers, Raiders and topics of national interest, according to Andy Sved, the show’s host.

But Sved says he is prepared to talk preps.

“We don’t push it enough when we do our (high school) broadcasts,” Sved said. “We’ve had a few calls but not too many. The ones we’ve had have been people saying things like: ‘Yeah! Canyon rules!’

“It’s not really your intellectual stuff.”

NOT SO FAST

When junior defensive back Darrell Lee showed up on the Hart practice field at mid-season, Coach Mike Herrington had to suppress the urge to immediately fit him for a helmet and shoulder pads.

Yes, Hart needed help in the secondary. But there was one detail that warranted investigation: Lee was a transfer from Canyon, Hart’s cross-town rival.

“With all the circumstances surrounding Canyon (and its legal battles) over the past few months, our administration wanted to check him out right away,” Hart assistant Dean Herrington said. “They weren’t about to let him slip through.”

Fortunately for Hart, Lee’s transfer met Southern Section regulations. Lee leads the Indians with two interceptions.

BACK AT YOU

When Poly Coach Fred Cuccia went public with his feeling about area football teams, he might have rankled a few more people than he realized.

Cuccia was quoted as saying that local media ranked teams too much on “past laurels,” and that, among others, Canyon Coach Harry Welch would be the first to say that this year’s Canyon team is not as good as Canyon teams past.

Just seconds after Canyon had held on to beat Saugus, 16-14, Friday, Welch found time to respond.

“If anybody knows how to get in touch with Fred Cuccia,” Welch said with a grin, “tell him I have three open dates next year. Heck, I’ll play him three times.”

And with that backhand return, the ball rests in Cuccia’s court.

INTO THE BLACK

Each Wednesday night, Crespi practices under the lights on campus--for no real reason other than pure novelty.

“It’s a change-up, something different,” Coach Tim Lins said.

The custom of nighttime practices started in earnest when Lins took over for Bill Redell three seasons ago. Although Redell used night practices on specific occasions, Lins uses it on a weekly basis.

“For some reason, we practice better under the lights,” Lins said.

Darkness, Lins concedes with a laugh, camouflages many mistakes on the practice field.

Yet there are other advantages. Players remain on campus in study hall until practice begins at 5:30. Practice ends at 8:30. “We keep them here,” Lins said. “It makes for a long day, but the kids kind of like it.”

Vince Kowalick and staff writers Steve Elling and Paige A. Leech contributed to this notebook.