For the most part, Saturday evening’s 41st Annual 605 All Star Football Classic that ended in a 15-15 tie was an enjoyable experience, with several area players, most notibly La Habra QB Chris Morales, Santa Fe DB Keith Gaines, St. Paul DL Ryan Rosenthal and La Serna P/K Morris Keseloff contributing impressively among the 25 locals who participated.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is the disappointing tie, a frustration magnified by the way it happened.
They played four overtimes, using the California tie breaker in
which each team begins its series of downs on the 25-yard line. What
followed put a damper on the game for many of the onlookers.
East place kicker Jonathan Heinze and West place kicker Brian Covey each
missed four field goal attempts, one at the end of each OT period.
Heinze, who had kicked three field goals earlier, also had missed a last-ditch, 51 yard attempt on the final play of regulation time.
It is ironic that even though it was obvious Heinze was
feeling the pressure (prehaps enhanced because the defense was not
allowed to rush on FG attempts), East head coach Raul Lara and special teams coach Carlos Lara apparently chose to ignore one of the
southland’s best kickers, La Habra’s Petey Puga, who waited on the
sideline. Puga admitted later he was frustrated after telling members of the East
coaching staff he could kick but they had no response.
“A lot of the other players were telling me I should tell them,” Puga said. “Oh, yeah, I told them I could kick numerous times. I don’t know what was going on in their heads, but (Heinze) is their kicker during the season. I know it was an all-star game and all that, but we also wanted to win.” Puga said he that while he practiced puntiing as a backup to Keseloff during workouts, he hadn’t kicked field goals.
During the regular season, Puga made five of six attempts, the longest from 45 yards, for the Southeast Division champion Highlanders. His only miss (“from about 35 yards”) was against Buena Park right after the disastrious southland fires and he hadn’t practiced kicking for two weeks.
Heinze was seven for 11, with a long of 47 yards during the season.
