Bittner Harvest : JC football: Trick play called by Moorpark coach planted the seed that helped the Raiders grow into a Southern California powerhouse.

The most memorable play in Jim Bittner’s 16 seasons as the Moorpark College football coach not only helped revive his stagnant program, it got Bittner a street named after him.

Not bad for a guy who seemed headed for the unemployment line after his first six years on the job.

A decade ago, Bittner was the not-so-proud owner of a 19-39-1 record at Moorpark. But a trick play in the 1985 opener--the first game on the Moorpark campus--signaled the start of a new era at the school. It also so impressed a prominent developer that in a housing tract near the school there is now a Bittner Place.

Bittner’s name fits easier on a street sign than Lutz-to-Davis-to-Russell. It was a 61-yard touchdown on a double pass from Ken Lutz to Paul Davis to Dan Russell on the first play from scrimmage that christened Griffin Stadium on Sept. 14, 1985.

Moorpark rolled to a 31-3 victory over Los Angeles Harbor that day and the Raiders have been rolling ever since.

As Moorpark begins its second decade at Griffin Stadium, playing host to Ventura tonight at 7, the Raiders are riding a string of seven consecutive bowl appearances. They also have accumulated an 83-22-1 record in the past 10 years, raising Bittner’s career record to 102-61-2.

“It feels great and we have a lot to live up to,” Bittner said. “I didn’t know we were going to be as successful as we have.”

There are ample reasons to explain Moorpark’s success. The long answer includes a discussion of coaching continuity, increased talent level, the two-year cancellation of Pierce College’s program and the development of a freeway system in the northwest Valley. But Bittner, 60, traces the program’s U-turn back to that trick play in ’85.

And to make sure no one missed it, the coach set the stage.

“With the opening of the stadium, I thought we should do something special,” he said. “So I told the kids about it the day before.”

He also told Paul Griffin Jr., the CEO of Griffin Industries, a major home developer in Southern California. Griffin is a longtime UCLA football fan who started the West Valley Bruin booster club. He also was the primary contributor to Moorpark’s stadium fund.

Griffin was the guest of honor at pregame opening ceremonies, receiving a hat and T-shirt from Bittner. The coach also showed him the play Moorpark would run to celebrate its new stadium.

For years, Griffin was good-naturedly pestering UCLA Coach Terry Donahue, trying to get him to run a gadget play after Griffin won a drawing at a Bruin auction.

“I won the auction to give the coaches a play to use,” Griffin said. “I waited all season for Donahue to run a halfback pass and he never did. He told me my play was ugly.”

Griffin teased Donahue at Bruin gatherings, feigning outrage that the coach refused to use his play.

“It was a running gag between me and Donahue,” he said. “After the Moorpark game, don’t you think I didn’t call Donahue right after the game and told him a coach used a trick play.”

At the stadium named in his honor, Griffin watched the Moorpark offense take the field after returning the opening kickoff to the 39-yard line. In practice, the play worked less than one time in four, but Lutz, Davis and Russell were sophomores who played together at Royal High, so Bittner liked the play’s chances. So much so, he cued a cameraman to make sure he started filming at the snap of the ball.

The play failed to surprise many fans in the Moorpark rooting section. Russell’s brother Butch knew about the play and spread the word throughout the crowd.

“He was telling everybody, ‘Watch this, we’re gonna score,’ ” Dan Russell said.

Bittner hoped that Harbor Coach George Swade was watching, too. The year before, in a 33-25 Moorpark victory, the Seahawks victimized the Raiders on a halfback pass for a touchdown, also on the first play from scrimmage.

“He caught us completely by surprise,” Bittner said. “I thought, ‘That son of a gun, I’m going to get that sucker back.’ ”

Talk about getting suckered. Russell can still hear a Harbor defensive back curse himself as Russell streaked by him. The play started on a quick count with Lutz taking a short drop and firing the ball behind him. Davis, who had taken two steps backward just before the snap, caught the ball and momentarily pretended to run a screen. Russell was blocking at the line of scrimmage, then released and dashed downfield.

“When Paul caught the ball, my guy went flying by me,” Russell said. “All I heard was him say to himself, ‘Oh . . .’ He slammed on his brakes and started chasing after me, but it was too late.”

Russell caught two more touchdown passes by halftime and finished the game with nine catches for 198 yards. Lutz completed eight of 12 passes for 176 yards. The two former Royal teammates still own most of Moorpark’s passing and receiving records.

Lutz is the school’s single-season (1,703) and career (3,194) passing yardage leader, and his 33 touchdown passes are a career mark. Russell has the most receptions in a game (11), season (55) and career (100), and his 1,729 career receiving yards are a school record. The longest Moorpark pass play is an 87-yarder between the two.

Moorpark remains a high-water mark for both players. Russell, 29, played two minor league seasons as a third baseman in the Brewers’ organization, missing football the entire time. He works for a Valley pharmaceutical company and a delivery company and lives in Simi Valley.

After leaving Moorpark, Davis played two seasons at New Mexico Highlands, an NAIA school in Las Vegas, N.M. Davis, 29, is a flight attendant based in Parker, Colo.

Lutz, 29, had the most success after Moorpark, playing quarterback and punter at San Jose State. He played Arena Football for two seasons before suffering a career-ending knee injury. He is a department-store detective in Tucson and remembers the 1985 season as one of the highlights of his career.

And it all started with the trick play.

“I thought that play was a statement for the whole team, like we’re going to use every weapon we’ve got,” he said. “For the first time in my career, I realized I didn’t have to be the only one that was creating the winning. That year I didn’t put up the best numbers of my career, but we won a championship.”

Moorpark won the 1985 Western State Conference title, the first of six in the past 10 years. And Bittner acknowledges more than chicanery is behind the success. Offensive coordinator Will Thurston has been with Bittner since Day One. And so had defensive coordinator Gil Mendoza until his retirement last year.

Moorpark also has benefited from an influx of more and better players. When Pierce dropped football in 1986 and ‘87, some players from the Valley turned to Moorpark, which seemed closer after the Simi Valley Freeway was completed in 1983.

“That let people in the Valley know we were here,” Bittner said.

Jamal Anderson found his way to Moorpark. The running back who played at El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills was Moorpark’s co-most valuable player in 1991 and plays for the Atlanta Falcons.

“It seemed that when I first got here we were struggling to get players,” Bittner said. “Everyone was a little bit ahead of us. You have to have depth in football. Just by getting a few extra players from the Valley and the better players we got from Ventura County, that put us over the top.”

The Raiders are expected to challenge for the WSC title again even if they fall short of Bittner’s ultimate goal--an 11-0 season. Moorpark is a heavy favorite against Ventura tonight, but Bittner still might pull some tricks out of his playbook.

“We have a history of pulling something on the other guy,” he said. “We expect a big turnout for this game, so we might try something to light up the crowd.”