Five Moments to Remember and Five More for Good Measure : THE COMEBACK

In 1979, Loara Coach Herb Hill was trying to rally his team with an emotional halftime talk. It was a tough sell.

The Saxons trailed Canyon, 17-0, in the Southern Conference championship game. To make matters worse, Loara had lost its star quarterback.

Bob Caffrey, who had thrown 31 touchdown passes entering the game, had suffered a back injury when he was sacked by Mark Kricfaluse on the last play of the first quarter.

Without him, the Saxons’ chances seemed slim.

“I was trying to get the guys inspired,” Hill said. “I was telling them, ‘We’re going to stop them. We’re going to move the ball. We’re going to score.’ The doctor and trainer were working on Bob’s back in the corner. Every time I said something, Bob would scream, ‘Ooooooooh.’ I was trying to tell everyone how wonderful things were going to be and Bob sounded like he was dying.”

As it turned out, everything was wonderful. It was Canyon that died.

The Comanches scored on their first possession of the second half to take a 23-0 lead. The Saxons whittled it to 23-14 by the end of the third quarter.

As the final quarter began, Hill felt someone tap his shoulder. It was Caffrey.

“I turn around and this curly redheaded kid is telling me, ‘Any time you need me, Coach,’ ” Hill said. “Just then, we threw an interception. I said, ‘It’s all yours.’ ”

On his first play back into the game, Caffrey scrambled 17 yards and Loara was on the rebound.

Caffrey threw a three-yard touchdown pass to John Gallo to get the Saxons close. He then drove them for the victory. John Fishel scored on a six-yard run and Loara held on for a 28-23 victory.

“When Bob came into the game, it just electrified things,” Hill said. “It got the kids excited. I remember (tight end) Billy Smith standing on the field, waving his arms to the crowd, trying to get them on their feet. It was the greatest comeback I had ever seen.”

Some, though, didn’t see it.

“The next day, we had to convince a few people we had won,” Hill said. “They had left at halftime.”

THE DRIVE

There came a moment when Capistrano Valley Coach Eric Patton let fate take over. Well, fate and quarterback Tony Solliday.

The Cougars trailed Paramount, 15-14, in the 1990 Division II championship game. They were facing a third-and-six play at the Paramount 36 with 55 seconds left. It was stress city.

“Ray Panici, one of my assistants, and I were trying to come up with something,” Patton said. “We thought we had done a professional job in going through the decision process. Then Tony comes to the sideline and said, ‘Coach, we’re going to throw deep, it’s going to work and we’re all going to go home happy.’ I said, ‘OK.’ ”

The next play, Solliday threw deep to Scott Patton, who was bumped. The pass interference penalty gave the Cougars a first down and led to a 22-yard field goal by Tomek Mikler that gave them the title.

It was a victory that was created by Solliday, who had guided the Cougars 81 yards and into field-goal range.

“I love those situations,” said Solliday, who now plays at Navy. “Whatever you say goes out there when you’re running the two-minute drill. Those situations are why you play quarterback.”

It was the second time that Solliday had been in that situation against Paramount. In the 1989 Division III semifinals, he drove the Cougars 63 yards in the final two minutes for a tying touchdown.

However, the Cougars lost that game in overtime, 36-35.

When Capistrano Valley took possession on its 12 with 2:11 left the next season, Patton was remembering the past.

“You couldn’t help but have a deja vu feeling,” he said. “Tony had done it before, he could do it again.”

He did.

Solliday completed three of five passes for 44 yards on the drive. He also scrambled twice for 11 yards.

“I don’t recall any one play that was great,” Patton said. “Tony just moved us down the field.”

In the end, it rested on Solliday’s hands and Mikler’s toe. One held and one kicked.

“I watched the ball sail through the uprights and it was kind of nice,” Solliday said. “It made up for the previous year. It was over and we had won.”

Said Patton: “And we all went home happy.”