Like a Broken Record : Football Marks Tumble, but Are New Ones Legitimate?

Paul Caffrey’s record-setting rushing performance on Oct. 18 may be reason to celebrate at tiny Heritage Christian, but not everyone holds the record in such high regard.

“I read the article and saw that he scored in the fourth quarter with a 50-point lead [actually 42] and I just laughed to myself,” Edison football Coach Dave White said.

“Ethically, you don’t try to break records with kids in the fourth quarter when you’re up by four, five, six touchdowns.”

Caffrey broke the 18-year-old Orange County rushing record of Dana Hills running back Jim Gleed in Heritage Christian’s 70-21 victory over winless Sherman Oaks Buckley.

Caffrey’s 422 yards in 20 carries topped Gleed’s 418.

“It means a lot to me and to break it is amazing to me,” said Caffrey, a senior. “I’m still pretty struck by it.”

An examination of recent records such as Caffrey’s leads one through varied coaching philosophies and the struggle between sportsmanship and loyalty to one’s players. Ultimately, it leads to the question of the legitimacy of the records themselves.

In the last two years:

* Western’s Trevell Jackson scored his county-record seventh touchdown in a game this season after re-entering the lineup after the second-string offensive unit drove to the four-yard line in a 54-7 victory.

* Anaheim’s Luis Gomez threw four second-half touchdowns in a record 504-yard passing performance as the Colonists broke open a 24-21 lead for a 51-27 victory last season over Cypress in a game between 0-3 teams.

* Bolsa Grande’s Doug Baughman (569 yards passing) and Ramon Nevarez (380 yards receiving) were still playing catch in the fourth quarter of a 1996 game the Matadors led, 47-7, in the fourth quarter and eventually won, 53-23.

* Servite’s Steve Ward caught seven touchdown passes in the first half of a 1996 game the Friars won, 76-0, over Santa Ana. Ward stayed in the game in the second half to set the school record for yards receiving (205).

Whether a record is legitimate typically depends on the person looking at it.

El Toro football Coach Mike Milner said, “I don’t think you, as a journalist, can say he got 422 yards but it was against so-and-so. You can only say that it’s a record.”

But in the next breath, Milner said the first thing he looks at when he sees a huge performance is the opponent to try to measure its credibility.

Laguna Hills Coach Steve Bresnahan, who has determined senior Michael Jones’ playing time, watched his star running back recently set the county record for career rushing yardage despite missing 28 quarters of play in 2 1/2 seasons because Laguna Hills had already wrapped up a victory. That’s the equivalent of missing seven games.

“When this whole record thing came up, we said it was going to be done with the intent to win football games, not break a record,” Bresnahan said. “We didn’t want to look back and say this was cheapened by the fact that he had gained yards in a game we had already won.”

When someone suggested Jones had a chance to break the state rushing record if he played from start to finish in each of his games this year, Bresnahan held true to his convictions: “Only if it’s in the pursuit of winning a game.”

While Jones’ record came over the long haul--many games over the span of three seasons--others are seized when the opportunity exists, a one-game chance for fame.

Gleed’s record, for example, was set under similar circumstances to Caffrey’s.

In 1979, Gleed was a junior at Dana Hills, where he had rushed for only 465 yards in eight previous games. Dana Hills was 0-7-1 at the time and Laguna Hills was a struggling second-year varsity program that finished 1-9. Gleed was pulled in the fourth quarter with 324 yards--two short of the county record set in 1971 by Rick Curry of La Quinta. Gleed asked then-coach Don DeGroote to go in for one more play. DeGroote agreed.

Gleed broke off a 94-yard run.

Dana Hills won, 54-13.

The record stood for 18 years, until Caffrey, a fullback playing tailback for the first time at a school with 95 students, came up against winless Buckley in its first varsity season.

He had 250 yards at halftime, and that’s when his brother, Jon, an assistant coach at Heritage Christian, first mentioned the record to him. Caffrey, who said he was “exhausted,” also said he protested after overhearing coaches say he should “call it a day” late in the game.

“I told them that I thought I had one more big play in me,” Caffrey said.

He was right.

In fairness to Heritage Christian, it outscored Buckley only 22-15 in the second half. And Caffrey’s record-breaking run was hardly by design--it was a 60-yarder. Coach Tom Caffrey, Paul’s father, said the Patriots ran only running plays between the tackles in the second half. The question his detractors ask is, “Why was he carrying the ball instead of a teammate?”

“He only carried the ball seven times in the second half,” Tom Caffrey said.

“I thought the performance was outstanding. He wasn’t running behind a great line--we start four sophomores and one freshman. I think it sort of equals out.”

Scott McRitchie, coach at Buckley, is convinced Heritage Christian intentionally ran up the score and Caffrey got his yards against a watered-down product, thereby creating a tainted record.

“We’re a far stretch from varsity football as I know it,” said McRitchie, who worked previously on staffs at Dana Hills, Orange and Los Angeles Fremont. “We’re a football program that hasn’t even been afforded one off-season in the weight room.”

Problems--and hard feelings--arise in one-sided contests, and record performances and blowouts often go hand-in-hand.

Baughman and Nevarez set state records at Bolsa Grande (4-5-1) with their big games against La Quinta, a team that finished 2-8. Quarterback Baughman’s 569-yard total was fourth-best nationally, and Nevarez’s 380-yard total was third, though a spokesman at the Kansas City-based National Federation of High School Sports Assn. said neither has been received for inclusion in the national record book.

Nevarez’s fourth touchdown reception ended the scoring (Bolsa Grande led going into the fourth quarter, 47-7) and precipitated an ugly game-ending fight among players on the ensuing kickoff with 3:16 left to play.

Of the county’s six individual records set in the last two seasons, all came in games decided by four or more touchdowns, and only Anaheim’s Gomez, with a big second-half passing effort against Cypress, came in a game that seemed competitive. Gomez’s 504-yard passing record lasted only five weeks.

“We would be naive to think [running up the score] does not occur,” said John Gillis, an assistant director at the National Federation and editor of its national record book. “It’s the opposite of what we try to expound in our statement [on sportsmanship, of which the final line reads: “Running up scores or embarrassing an opponent for the primary purpose of inclusion in the Record Book is not consistent with the ideals of good sportsmanship”]

“But it’s impossible to determine intent. You can’t not accept [a record] on that basis.”

And besides, any coach worth his whistle can spin his player’s performance so that it makes sense. That’s why there’s such a gray area. It makes perfect sense despite the final score.

Consider Western running back Jackson’s seven-touchdown performance against Santa Ana Valley this season.

Second-year Coach Toby Howell, who has been on the losing end of some lopsided games, put Jackson back into the game at the request of an assistant who was aware the county’s record for rushing touchdowns was six. So, after the second string drove to the four, Howell gave Jackson one play to score. A penalty moved the ball to the nine, and from there, Jackson put the finishing touch on a 54-7 victory.

“I said [to the assistant], ‘I don’t want to put our starters back in and run up the score,’ but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Howell, who has a victory-first, records-second attitude. “If a guy has a chance and it’s not going to disrupt what we’re trying to do as a team, you go for it. But I’ve never been in that situation before.”

Laguna Hills’ Brendan McGraw (1994), Costa Mesa’s Binh Tran (1992), Dana Hills’ Marcus Jenkins (1991), Southern California Christian’s Mike Jacot (1991) and Gleed (1979) all had rushed for six touchdowns in a game.

But they were pushed to second best after Jackson’s record performance. And if Jackson had not done it, Caffrey would have a week later.

Though he has not admonished schools for running up scores, Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley (also an NCAA football referee) said the scoring of some teams--he mentioned Bloomington’s unabashed pursuit of 100 points in a 94-0 victory over Paloma Valley three weeks ago as an example--will have him championing a 45-point mercy rule in football to the section’s governing body, which could prevent some records from falling.

He also said the section probably should look into having separate sets of records for schools with fewer than 1,000 students because of the vast differences in levels of competition.

But not all of today’s best efforts are set under dubious conditions. A review of some of the outstanding single-game performances shows some of the best marks in county history were set under fairly competitive circumstances.

Some say small-school records and those involving teams that are not of a high caliber are questionable. Kennedy Coach Mitch Olson, who starred for the Fighting Irish as a player, said the key to legitimacy is equal competition.

“Just because it’s a small school versus a small school doesn’t make it any less,” he said. “But it’s like they should put the score of the game next to the record.”

Take former Servite receiver Ward, now a freshman at Villanova, who saw both sides of the legitimacy issue. His seven touchdown receptions in a game for Servite tied a national record in 1996.

Servite’s coaching staff went into the Santa Ana game last year with the intent of Ward breaking the school’s single-game record for receiving yards (188) set by Rick Garretson, Servite’s receivers coach.

Ward got the record (205 yards) but the seven touchdowns were an unfortunate byproduct, said Larry Toner, the Friars’ head coach. Ward’s touchdowns came in the first half of a 76-0 victory, but he needed three second-half receptions to get the school record. As a result, Ward was still catching passes in the third quarter with a 56-0 lead.

Servite eventually reached the section semifinals and Santa Ana finished 0-10.

Days later, after having a chance to think about it, Ward admitted the records were hollow because of the level of competition.

But in a 47-34 quarterfinal victory over El Toro, Ward caught nine passes for 282 yards--fourth-best in county history. He saved his gloves from that game because it meant so much to him; he saved nothing from the Santa Ana game.

“Do it against quality opponents,” said Edison’s White. “If you break it in the fourth quarter against someone you beat by a lot, what does that prove?”

Western’s Howell answered that question.

“It proves that the first three quarters he did enough to tie or break the record, and it’s four quarters of football. Whatever you do between the opening whistle and the last gun, it’s all part of the game.

“I think there is a responsibility to the kid at that point,” Howell said. “If a kid can do something like that, you owe it to him. He’s worked hard, and if he can set a record, I don’t want to take a chance away from a kid.”

It’s all well-intentioned. But some recent records could have been broken if some coaches and players had been so inclined.

Tustin’s DeShaun Foster, the county’s career scoring leader, has rushed for five touchdowns in a game three times this season. Only once in those games did he score in the fourth quarter, and that was in a 28-14 game the Tillers eventually won, 35-20. There’s no doubt he could have scored seven or more touchdowns three times this season, easy, if he were allowed to do so.

But he doesn’t begrudge anyone his moment in the spotlight.

“Everybody else on the team should get their shot too,” Foster said. “I know that when the game is on the line, I’m going to be playing.”

The county single-game record for touchdown passes is seven; the section record is eight and the national record is 10. Santa Margarita’s Carson Palmer threw for five touchdowns against Corona del Mar, then left the game with 16 seconds left in the first half.

“I wouldn’t want anyone breaking records on us in a game like that,” said Jim Hartigan, Santa Margarita’s coach, adding that the higher level of play, the more impressive the record. “When it’s said and done, everyone will know Carson Palmer’s a great quarterback.”

And no one will hold it against him if he never sets a county record.

Willie Gittens (Fountain Valley, 1977) and Kerwin Bell (Edison, 1979) never rushed for 300 yards or scored more than four touchdowns in a game, said El Toro’s Milner, but their stature in county history will never be questioned.

“Records are records,” Olson said, “and that’s just what they are.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Legitimate Records?

A look at recent Orange County record breakers and circumstances surrounding the leading marks.

Rushing Yards/Game

Yards: 422

Name (School): Paul Caffrey (Heritage Christian)

Opponent, Year: Sherman Oaks Buckley, 1997

Comment: Twenty carries against winless first-year program in 70-21 rout.

*

Yards: 418

Name (School): Jim Gleed (Dana Hills)

Opponent, Year: Laguna Hills, 1979

Comment: Rushed for 465 yards in eight previous games.

*

Yards: 414

Name (School): Charles Chatman (Costa Mesa)

Opponent, Year: Aliso Niguel, 1994

Comment: Carried 43 times (three fumbles) against first-year varsity program.

*

Rushing Touchdowns/Game

TDs: 7

Name (School): Paul Caffrey (Heritage Christian)

Opponent, Year: Sherman Oaks Buckley, 1997

Comment: Led 48-6 at halftime, scored three second-half TDs, including final score in 70-21 victory.

*

TDs: 7

Name (School): Trevell Jackson (Western)

Opponent, Year: Santa Ana Valley, 1997

Comment: Scored on runs of five, 93, one, five, 13, one and nine yards--the last two in fourth quarter--of 54-7 victory.

Passing Yards/Game

Yards: 569

Name (School): Doug Baughman (Bolsa Grande)

Opponent, Year: La Quinta, 1996

Comment: Set state record in 21-of-42 performance. Still throwing in fourth quarter, the last a 54-yard TD pass in 53-23 victory.

*

Yards: 504

Name (School): Luis Gomez (Anaheim)

Opponent, Year: Cypress, 1996

Comment: Both teams were 0-3. Anaheim led at halftime, 24-21. Gomez completed 22 of 32 with one interception in 51-27 victory.

Researched by Martin Henderson, Times staff writer