Five Moments to Remember and Five More for Good Measure : THEY COULD HAVE PLAYED ALL NIGHT (AND ALMOST DID)

When El Modena took a 14-0 first-quarter lead over Foothill in the 1981 Southern Division championship game, it didn’t appear as if the Knights could hang with the Vanguards. But sometime around midnight that evening, Foothill caught and passed El Modena to win one of the longest championship games in section history.

It took three overtimes, but when Foothill quarterback Davy Joe Long completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mike Monarch, the Knights finally secured a 31-24 victory that changed the shape of title games forever.

“At the end of two overtimes, Bob (Lester, El Modena coach) and Ted (Mullen, Foothill coach) refused to put the teams back out there,” said Bill Backstrom, El Modena’s current coach who was an assistant then. “Somebody from the (Southern Section) came out on the field and said ‘You have to get out there.’ But it was only at their insistence.”

The following season, the section decided it wouldn’t play all night to determine a champion. From then on, teams could be declared co-champions if they were tied at the end of regulation.

A crowd of 16,113 in Anaheim Stadium watched El Modena and Foothill trade tough hit-for-tough hit and score-for-score. El Modena running back Jim Torok scored on runs of one and four yards. Foothill running back Mark Templeton matched Torok with scoring runs of one and 43 yards, the latter forcing overtime.

The teams traded field goals, then Steve Ladesma put El Modena ahead on a four-yard touchdown run. Foothill came back to tie on Templeton’s two-yard run.

Finally, Long found Monarch for the winning score, putting an end to one of the most emotional battles in championship history.

When the teams met in a Century League game a year later, they played to a 13-13 tie. When asked if he wanted to settle things with an overtime, Lester said, “No. When you’ve been in as many tie-breakers as I’ve been in, you try to stay as far away from them as you can.”

Lester retired a few years later, and his wit and wisdom were missed by all.

Mullen is now an assistant coach at Palm Desert.

Templeton went on to have a standout career at Cal State Long Beach, setting an NCAA record for pass receptions in a career. His mark of 262 catches has since been broken by one, by Terance Mathis of New Mexico.