Player injured in Big Bear game
By Louis Amestoy
Staff Writer
SAN JACINTO -- By the end of Friday night's game, the last thing on the mind of Big Bear coach Dave Griffiths and San Jacinto coach Bill Powell was the outcome of the game.
Late in the fourth quarter, a Big Bear player lost consciousness on the sidelines and had to be taken by ambulance to Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley.
When asked how the unnamed player was doing Griffiths was clearly emotional.
"I don't know,'' said the veteran coach before walking away to join his team.
On the field, the game ended in a 14-14 tie. The end was muted and neither coach was in a mood to talk. Instead, Powell and Griffiths, among the closest friends in the Inland Empire's coaching fraternity, embraced and walked away.
This has been one of the state's most hard fought small school rivalries. Big Bear had won four straight against the Tigers, including the 2006 CIF-Southern Section East Valley championship game.
However, the Tigers were the ones who took control of the game early when quarterback Travis Navarro connected with Jonathan Duarte on a 35-yard touchdown pass.
Other than that scoring play, this was a defensive battle with San Jacinto making a defensive stand at the end of the second quarter to stop a Big Bear scoring threat.
In the second half, Big Bear quarterback Jacob Sokolowski took a 15-yard bootleg in for a score.
With the score tied at 7-7, Sokolowski started to get the Bears moving and at the end of the third quarter he connected on a 68-year scoring pass to Willy Kelsey. The Bears were now rolling 14-7.
After trading turnovers, San Jacinto was able to mount its final scoring drive, and it was probably on this possession where the Big Bear player was injured. San Jacinto capped the 62-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Tony Austin.
San Jacinto had a chance to win the game but Wilfred Mondragon missed a 42-yard field goal.
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