How Happiness Can Be Only a Big Play Away : High schools: Consistency is an admirable quality, to be sure, but the seasons of several area football teams have turned on a single play.

One game, or even one play, does not a season make or break.

Who says?

Had Chula Vista High come up with just one more key play on offense or defense in last year’s 3-A semifinal football loss to Morse, Chula Vista would have played Orange Glen the next week for the county title. The Tigers would have been spared of answering, “Was this the best team of all-time?”

Speculation?

Of course.

One big play, or one key game, can help turn around an entire season and make a good year great or a great year merely good.

With that, heading into the first round of the playoffs, here is a look at some important games and plays that helped shape the 1991 regular season.

OH MY!

Start with the most stunning: Lincoln’s Shaun Greene hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Akili Smith with no time remaining to give the Hornets a 34-28 victory over Morse on Oct. 5.

Greene’s grab not only capped a terrific comeback for Lincoln, which trailed by 14 with four minutes left in the third quarter, but it came at a time when the Hornets had lost two in a row, 37-6 to USDHS and 16-7 to Southwest, and nine of 14 over the past two seasons.

Lincoln (7-3) has won five in a row and has outscored its opponents, 183-10 during that stretch.

OOPS

Clairemont was 2-5 and staring at 2-6 on the evening of Nov. 1 against Coronado. The Chieftains tied the game and then won it, 9-7, on a safety on the final play.

With the ball at the 16 and operating out of the shotgun, Coronado (5-1-1 at the time) watched the center snap fly into and out of the end zone. It gave the Chiefs the unlikely victory.

Clairemont, which won only one game in the two previous seasons, went on to upset Christian (5-2-1 at the time) and made the playoffs by finishing second in the City Harbor League.

THE COMEBACK

Trailing 21-0 with 5:33 left in its Sept. 27 game against El Capitan, Grossmont managed to pull off a 22-21 victory.

After Vinny Curran scored to make it 21-7, Grossmont recovered an onside kick and Tom Karlo hit Jason Eskridge on a 24-yard scoring pass with 3:26 left. Grossmont recovered another onside kick and Eskridge scored on a five-yard run with 52 seconds left to make it 21-20.

Eskridge’s two-point conversion run helped Grossmont (9-0-1) remain unbeaten during the regular season for the second time in three years.

Eskridge, the county’s leading rusher with 1,875 yards, has a chance to become only the sixth player to rush for more than 2,000 in a season. Given that he has a streak of five consecutive 200-yard games, he would appear likely to do it.

AND AFTER THAT . . .

With the stunning loss to Grossmont, El Capitan had lost or tied all but two games over the past three seasons.

The Vaqueros, perhaps inspired by the notion that they could actually compete with a team like Grossmont, embarked on a seven-game winning streak.

Over those seven games, El Capitan averaged 37 points, more than double its average in its first three games.

WHEN IN DOUBT, PUNT

Rancho Buena Vista Coach Craig Bell was not in doubt on Oct. 18 against Vista. That was his problem. Hindsight tells him he should have punted on a fourth-and-one from the RBV 31-yard line with two minutes left in the first half of an eventual 24-21 Vista victory.

Vista had scored 1 1/2 minutes earlier to pull within 14-7, and RBV handed the Panthers another opportunity when it failed on the fourth-down carry. Vista did score, but it wasn’t through for the half. After RBV fumbled on its ensuing possession, Vista got a 38-yard field goal from Pon Manithip with one second left and went up 17-14.

Said Bell at the time: “I decided to take the chance, which I hadn’t done before. And now I know why. In hindsight, it stunk.”

Actually, RBV retook the lead early in the third quarter, but turned the ball over three more times in the fourth quarter.

BIG RED IS BACK

Vista, one of the great football programs in the late 1970s and early ‘80s under Coach Dick Haines, rose to the top once again in 1991 after finishing 0-10 only four years ago.

The key for Vista was probably its 21-7 victory on Sept. 27 over then-No. 1 Morse, which was riding a 17-game winning streak.

Vista’s victory eventually proved to be one of six for the Panthers over an opponent ranked in The Times’ top 10. They finished the regular season 10-0.

THE PANE OF IT ALL

A factor for Morse in that loss to Vista had to be the fact that regular quarterback Cary Taylor missed the game because of an injury to his throwing hand. Taylor suffered the injury earlier in the week while trying to break into his locked house through a window.

Taylor wound up missing three games . . . and Morse lost two of them.

SPECIAL TEAMS

If Torrey Pines’ Falcons could have eliminated the first 12 seconds of the season, they would have been undefeated going into the Vista game. As it was, USDHS’s David Cesena ran back the opening kickoff of the opening game 92 yards for a touchdown.

USDHS won that game, 7-6.

Torrey Pines played 432 minutes of football before losing to Vista on Friday.

Still, it was a wonderful year for Torrey Pines’ Ed Burke, one of the most respected coaches in the county. In his first year at Torrey Pines after moving over from San Dieguito, Burke did a fine job of blending personnel to squeeze more out of the hand than he had been dealt.

As for USDHS, which was 4-6 last year, the Dons started with six consecutive victories before losing 24-20 to La Jolla and finished 9-1.

SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA

With just over a minute to play, Mira Mesa held a 19-12 advantage over undefeated La Jolla on Oct. 25. The Marauders, however, facing a fourth down deep in their own territory, elected to have punter Chad Davis intentionally step out of the end zone for a safety.

Surrendering two points, the theory went, was better than giving La Jolla good field position.

La Jolla’s E.J. Watson spoiled that plan, returning the ensuing free kick all the way to the Marauder 10-yard line. Two plays later, Viking quarterback Andy Anello hit tight end Trenell Bento to give La Jolla the 20-19 victory.

La Jolla then went on to defeat USDHS, University City and Kearny to close out a perfect regular season.

RALLY CAPS

It was an up-and-down season for Oceanside, which had six games decided by seven or fewer points and a quarterback who was blindsided by a car less than an hour before one kickoff. Fortunately for the Pirates, a few of those close games went their way.

The first, an 18-17 squeaker over Castle Park on Sept. 20, might have been the key to the 6-4 year, which was good enough for an at-large playoff berth.

John Portugal, the quarterback, capped a game-winning, 60-yard drive with 35 seconds left by connecting with Carl Mathis on a 31-yard touchdown pass to pull the Pirates within one. Portugal then found Brian McGehee in the end zone on the two-point conversion attempt.

CARDIAC KIDS

After starting the season 1-3, Escondido got on the winning track with a 26-24 victory over Rancho Bernardo on Oct. 11.

The big play came when quarterback Garland Copeland hit Mike Frank on a 90-yard scoring pass with 2:30 left.

In its next two games, Escondido won 10-8 over Carlsbad and 13-6 over Oceanside. Frank made the difference once again in the Oceanside game, kicking field goals of 49 and 27 yards.

Finishing out of the top two in the Avocado League, Escondido (5-5) needed every one of its victories to make the playoffs as an at-large team.