Football Title Game Tiebreaker Applauded

Jerry Jaso, Long Beach Poly’s football coach, was among those who applauded the Southern Section council’s recent decision to institute a tiebreaker system for all section championship football games.

Long Beach Poly won a share of its second Division I title in three years when the Jackrabbits tied Santa Ana Mater Dei, 21-21, on Dec. 11 at Edison Field.

“I think [overtime] is a great idea,” Jaso said. “A game of that magnitude should have a winner.”

The section’s no-overtime rule was adopted after the 1981 season. In that year’s Southern Conference title game, Foothill and El Modena were tied at the end of regulation. Both coaches were ready to walk off the field and accept the tie, but the rules stipulated that the teams keep playing, and Foothill eventually won in overtime, 35-28.

At a subsequent meeting of the Southern Section council, made up of representatives from each league, the rule was changed. The next season, Rosemead and Pomona Garey tied, 19-19, in the Southeastern Conference title game.

The last major-division tie before the 1999 final came in 1985, when Poly and Huntington Beach Edison played to a 14-14 draw.

The new rule incorporates the 25-yard tiebreaker system already in place in most leagues.

The council also adopted a rule that forbids move-ups in enrollment-based playoff divisions, beginning with 2000 fall playoffs.

Also, swimming and diving playoff brackets were expanded from three to four divisions.

At its next meeting, April 13, the council will vote on whether to allow practices and competitions on Christmas, provided it does not fall on a Sunday.

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Porchea Carroll of Oxnard Rio Mesa was named girls’ athlete of the meet at last weekend’s Pasadena Games after winning the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump.

Carroll, a junior, clocked 11.67 seconds in the 100--the best outdoor time in the state this year--24.15 seconds in the 200 and leaped 18 feet 2 1/2 inches in the long jump.