Moments That Helped Shape the Prep Sports Year : A Quiet Moment

As graduating seniors across Orange County prepare to toss their mortarboards and face the future, it’s time to take a look back at the people, events and issues that helped make 1994-95 a remarkable year in county high school sports.

Few prep sports fans are likely to forget the accomplishments of Mater Dei in football and boys’ and girls’ basketball. The Monarchs won Southern Section titles in each sport, won the boys’ Division I State championship in basketball and came within three points of winning the girls’ Division I State title.

The football team finished 14-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Or the Woodbridge girls’ basketball team, which returned to Oakland and avenged a 71-38 drubbing last year by beating Sacramento El Camino, 55-40, to win the Division II State championship.

Or Misty May, the most sought-after volleyball recruit in the nation, leading Newport Harbor to its first Division I State title. Or the girls’ soccer team at Marina, extending its unbeaten streak to 61 matches in winning its third consecutive Division I championship.

Or the county record-breaking feats of track and field youngsters Bryan Harrison (Dana Hills sophomore, 100 meters) and Ashley Bethel (Mission Viejo freshman, 100 hurdles). Or Esperanza senior Courtney Pugmire’s shattering of the 3,200-meter record by nearly 14 seconds.

Or the playoff success of the county’s baseball teams, winners of four of six section titles. La Quinta and Fountain Valley became the first county teams to win back-to-back championships, on the same day at Anaheim Stadium. Or Marina and Woodbridge’s victories in the Division I and II softball title games.

Or the continued domination of county schools in swimming and diving, with Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills earning Division I and II boys’ championships.

Or Garden Grove breaking Alhambra Keppel’s 115-match winning streak in badminton. The Argonauts ended Keppel’s five-year reign as section champions with a 10-9 victory in the Division I title game.

County schools won 29 section titles and three State titles.

Members of The Times Orange County prep sports staff share their memories about the people, events and issues that made the greatest impression on them in the last 10 months.

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A Quiet Moment

Championship moments in sports usually leave the most vivid impressions. But sometimes, the most memorable moments happen after the games are over.

Don’t get me wrong. There were plenty of top-notch displays of Orange County high school athleticism this season.

The Newport Harbor girls’ volleyball team boasted the nation’s top recruit (Long Beach State-bound Misty May), the Southern Section’s best middle blocker (Colorado-bound Melissa Schutz) and had arguably the finest team in county history. The Sailors won the section championship, posting the most-lopsided title match victory in section history, then finished 33-1 with a convincing three-game victory in the State title match.

In boys’ volleyball, everyone talked about the great potential of San Clemente’s Gabe Gardner and Brandon Taliaferro. But they were pretty good this season, leading San Clemente’s memorable and improbable run to its first Division I final in 14 years.

And it will be hard to forget Los Alamitos quarterback Kevin Feterik tossing football after football to Brad Melsby, Tony Hartley and Stan Guyness. The Griffins’ madcap aerial circus posted the season’s wildest comebacks while stretching the section-record unbeaten string to 47.

Players, coaches, fans and members of the media easily can get caught up in the on-field results of sports. Sure, it’s important who won, who had the game-winning hit, what was the difference between victory and defeat.

But that’s not the whole story. It’s not even close.

Case in point: the Division I championship football game, Dec. 10, 1994.

An hour had passed since Mater Dei had defeated La Puente Bishop Amat, 28-21. Most of the 26,000 spectators already were gone and up in the press box, the writers had filed all of their copy. End of story right?

Nope. That’s when I noticed two Mater Dei players wandering out onto the dark, empty, playing field. Starting running backs Joey Trampush and Steve Bodnar were going to savor the moment.

In the silent stadium, one jogged the length of the field. The other put his helmet down, then simply laid down, to gaze at the stars.

It wasn’t nearly as thrilling as watching the Monarchs’ title-winning victory or the Mater Dei rally in a wild, 28-24 victory over Los Alamitos at Anaheim Stadium only a week before.

But seeing those players gather with some teammates for a quick prayer before bounding off the Big A turf, that was the snapshot worth saving.