Nearly 20 years ago, when San Lorenzo Valley and Harbor High football teams squared off to decide the league championship under the lights at the Harbor field in Santa Cruz, there were cheering fans, missed opportunities, fumbles and lots of rain and mud.
The game ended in a 14-14 tie.
Fast forward to Saturday, July 30, the players were the same, as were the bleachers filled with cheering fans, missed opportunities and fumbles. This time, there was bright sun and blue skies, a dry artificial turf field at SLV, and the game also ended regulation play in a tie, at 0-0.
This time, there was an overtime period, and SLV scored an unanswered touchdown to win 6-0.
SLV end Joe Noce and quarterback Dusty Dixon provided the final heroics of the day when Noce leaped high in the end zone at the start of an overtime period to grab a Dixon pass for a touchdown from the 5-yard line.
When Harbor got its chance to punch it in from the 10-yard line, it fumbled the ball on the third plan, assuring a Cougar victory.
There was as much a feeling of relief as there was elation among the exhausted players – all 37- and 38-year-olds – when the game ended.
What began as idle Facebook chatter among former competitors grew this summer into a full-fledged 20-year reunion of football opponents, many of whom had become friends in the intervening decades.
The ending of Saturday’s game in overtime was perhaps fitting, because it gave Harbor quarterback Wali Razaqi a chance to reverse a decision he made in 1996 and agree to decide the game in overtime. This summer he said in a video his company produced that he regretted that decision – for two decades.
There were plenty heroics before that, in the nearly three-hour game.
The Harbor coach flew in from Washington for an encore performance. SLV coaching legend Doug Morris, who was on the sidelines 20 years ago, was at a wedding and unable to attend the game. The new SLV high school principal, Jeff Calden, filled in as the SLV sideline coach.
Harbor started the game with just three substitutes, and injuries sidelined two of these, which mean they had to play both ways the entire game. The Cougars were able to platoon somewhat, with 19 players.
Miraculously, there were few injuries, other than plenty of bruises and sore muscles in gritty, hard-hitting defensive battle.
Despite being short-handed, Harbor made three red-zone stands, the last occurring with less than a minute to go, when SLV missed a 32-yard field goal.
The more than 400 fans yelled cheers and chants from their high school days, and their entrance fees were split between the athletic programs of each school.
The complete team of 1996 Cougars that returned for the rematch with Harbor: Nate Beck, Tony Vela, J.P. Campari, Jeff Groves, Dusty Dixon, Joe Noce, Jeff Jones, Justin Andrews, Augie Rose, Josh Nicolas, Jonny Agnone, Danny Gilbert, Dave Grant, Ben Bright, Ryan Smith, Justin Manson, Mike Stuman, Jason Koeneg, and Greg Forbes.
