Football Blasts From The Past

For the next few weeks, we’ll go back in time to approximately the same weekend of the California high school football season from five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 years ago. At the end of what would have normally been the end of each of those seasons, we may go back even further. For this first look back, we highlight the 200th win for Corona Centennial head coach Matt Logan, one of the best offense, defense and special teams outings we’ve ever written about and the end of Concord De La Salle’s 308-game scoring streak. Go inside as well to see what current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy did in his junior season debut at Bishop Amat.

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We hope you enjoy this free post on CalHiSports.com. All of our annual preseason all-section, all-county and all-region football teams are being delayed in getting done until late November at the earliest. Once done, all of those posts will be for Gold Club members only as well, but we’ll still have plenty of free content to check out. Not to mention, we’ve just put all of our football state records onto the site for Gold Club members. You can now join for one-month rate of just $3.99. For subscription info, CLICK HERE.

5 YEARS AGO (2015)
*Head coach Matt Logan of state No. 2 Corona Centennial won the 200th game of his career when the Huskies defeated state No. 20 Orange Lutheran 35-14. Centennial (3-0) was powered by Javon McKinley with 10 receptions for 213 yards and two TDs. J.J. Taylor rushed for 135 yards and three scores.
*Six-foot-1, 215-pound senior linebacker Hunter Cabral got to know the Riverdale quarterbacks very well in a 41-14 victory by Sierra Pacific of Hanford over the Cowboys. Cabral charged up through the gaps in the Riverdale offense and posted a single-game state record 10 sacks. Cabral’s total was witnessed by Hanford Sentinel reporter Josh Butters, who e-mailed us wondering about the state record. It did indeed break the previous record of 8.5 set two years ago (in 2013) by Clayton Hanly of Santa Ynez.
*Ever heard of someone rushing for 278 yards and four TDs with an interception on defense and kicking a 51-yard field goal on special teams? It happened on a September night in 2015 courtesy of Elk Grove’s Ryan Robards. He did it in a 41-14 triumph by the Thundering Herd against Lincoln of Stockton.

10 YEARS AGO (2010)
*California’s two winningest football schools opened the season against each other at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach with host Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits getting past the Bakersfield Drillers 42-28. In his first start, junior QB Chaiyse Hales hit for 314 yards and five TDs for Poly. He connected with junior Richard Smith on the team’s first offensive play for his first score and later threw two other TD passes to Smith.
*In a matchup between the CIF D1 and D2 state champions from 2009, Servite of Anaheim rolled past Oceanside 31-7. The Friars (1-0 and ranked No. 3 in the state) displayed a ferocious defense. Senior defensive end Jody Thomas came up with two interceptions and had a sack with a fumble recovery that he returned nine yards for a touchdown.

15 YEARS AGO (2005)
*One year after opening the season and having its national record 151-game winning streak snapped in a loss to Bellevue, Wash., De La Salle of Concord opened the season and had its national record 308-game streak for scoring in a game snapped in a 7-0 loss by Clovis West of Fresno. The 0-0 tie was broken with 10:24 left in the contest on a 43-yard TD run by fullback Chris Lewis. He also was dominant playing outside linebacker. Since then, De La Salle’s state consecutive games scoring streak has been broken by Los Alamitos, which is ongoing at more than 400 games entering the 2020-21 season.
*Future NFL kicker Kai Forbath began his senior season at Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks by booting one of the longest field goals in state history. Forbath nailed a 57-yarder and also converted one from 42 yards out in a 27-22 win vs. defending CIF L.A. City Section champion Birmingham of Lake Balboa. It was the longest reported field goal in the since 2002.

20 YEARS AGO (2000)
*The state’s second longest winning streak, held by Dos Palos, came to an end in a 14-7 loss to Hilmar. The Broncos had won 39 straight games, which is still one of the longest in CIF Central Section history. Hilmar’s Eric Habit rushed for 196 yards and two TDs for the Yellowjackets and only passed the ball four times, using its running game to dominate the clock. Another Central Section team, Buchanan of Clovis, gave state No. 1 De La Salle a closer game than expected in a 30-24 decision. The Spartans won their 101st consecutive game.
*In a matchup of two CIF Southern Section title teams from 1999, St. Bonaventure of Ventura crushed Paraclete of Lancaster 51-0. The contest also featured two of the best running backs in the state, Lorenzo Booker (St. Bonaventure) and Curtis Brown (Paraclete). Booker had 17 carries for 112 yards and three TDs. Sophomore Whitney Lewis, later named Mr. Football for the state as a senior, had 177 yards receiving and two TD catches.

25 YEARS AGO (1995)
*Future Major League Baseball player Jack Wilson of Thousand Oaks displayed his versatility by booting a 51-yard field goal to help the Lancers defeat Crescenta Valley of La Crescenta 22-6. Wilson was the head coach of the Thousand Oaks baseball team last spring.
*Junior QB Dave Parrish from Esperanza of Anaheim, son of MLB player Lance Parrish, showed a strong arm in his first varsity start with 372 yards passing in leading the Aztecs past Indio 32-0. Parrish connected on 19 of 26 passes and two TDs with most of his throws going toward teammate Pat Swanson. He caught eight passes for 254 yards.

30 YEARS AGO (1990)
*Leading quarterbacks in the state were John Walsh of Carson, Rob Johnson from El Toro of Lake Forest and Tony Solliday from Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo. Morse of San Diego also had one of the most dynamic option QBs in section history with Teddy Lawrence.

35 YEARS AGO (1985)
*Junior running back Eric Bieniemy piled up 198 yards on 25 carries and scored three as Bishop Amat of La Puente opened the season by beating Rubidoux of Riverside 31-0. It was the first game at Amat for new head coach Don Markham (who was at Pierce College the previous season). The Lancers moved up to No. 6 in the Class AAAA state rankings after the win.
*Playing in his first varsity game, junior QB Scott Barrick of Fallbrook nearly set the San Diego Section passing record. Barrick hit on 22 of 41 passes for 420 yards and three TDs in a 26-14 win by the Warriors over Mt. Miguel of Spring Valley. Barrick was just 10 yards short of the section record at the time of 430 set in 1981 by Jim Plum of Helix.

40 YEARS AGO (1980)
*The first state record of the season was tied in the first week on a 99-yard TD run by Lincoln’s Scott Wiltermood. He led the Fighting Zebras to a 19-0 victory vs. Folsom by also rushing for 283 yards on 22 carries.
*Dennis DeSoto of Santa Rosa, who finished fourth in the shot put in the 1979 state track meet, scored four touchdowns and rushed for 132 yards on 14 carries in a 36-13 victory over Analy of Sebastopol.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports