Isn’t amazing how we can often remember things that happened 10, 20 or more years ago but you can remember 10, 20 or more minutes ago?
As a former sports reporter, I have those moments as well. One high school football game that I have thought of repeatedly over the years is a mid-September 2005 matchup between the Kelseyville Indians (before they became the Knights) and the St. Helena Saints for a Week 2 contest in St. Helena.
Setting the stage: The Saints entered that game 0-1 after getting demolished one week earlier by the Salesian (Richmond) Chieftans 31-7. That Salesian team was led by running back Jahvid Best, who later went on to play college football at the University of California and in the NFL for the Detroit Lions. St. Helena was entering its second season under then head coach Ian MacMillan. The Saints struggled in the previous four seasons before MacMillan took over in 2004, going 12-29 from 2000-2003 under Kyle Schuh and Bryan Powell. The 2002-2003 teams had players that enjoyed enormous JV success, including a 9-1 season in 2000. Unfortunately, that success at the younger levels did not translate into varsity success.
In May 2004, Powell resigned and MacMillan took over two months later after going 38-12 in five years as Justin-Siena’s head coach including a 26-game winning streak. When MacMillan was hired, there was skepticism about his age (25 at the time) and coming from Justin. At that time, St. Helena and Justin still had elements of a rivalry because of their days in the now defunct Superior California Athletic League from 1986-2000.
MacMillan brought a young and dynamic coaching staff with him that included Mike McNamara and Chris Yepson. MacMillan also brought with him the Houston Split Back veer that Rich Cotruvo brought to Justin beginning in 1997 along with the 3-4 defense that he learned from Braves defensive coordinator Steve Vargus. In 2004, the Saints went 9-2 including a 21-18 win at Middletown.
That St. Helena team was very senior heavy and the next season the roster would turn over very heavily but was led by twins Luke and Eddie McMullen. I will always remember that duo because while they may not have been the most talented players they had great intangibles highlighted by their work ethic.
Thumbnail sketch of that game: You hear the term “the tale of two halves” often but this game truly epitomized it. The first half was a nightmare as Kelseyville scored a touchdown and two-point conversion as time expired in the first half to go ahead 34-7 at halftime. The start of the second half was not any better. When Kelseyville’s Kyle Polini scored on a 37-yard run to put his team up 40-7 early in the third quarter, the game looked hopeless for the Saints.
St. Helena, however, scored 32 unanswered points to pull within 40-39 on Eddie McMullen’s 32-yard touchdown run. Moments earlier, Kevin DePina recovered an onside kick. McMullen, who earlier had a 97-yard touchdown run, was stopped short on the two-point conversion. One other factor to bear in mind is that at the time, the North Central League I was divided into North and South divisions. The Saints were in the South, the Indians were in the North. Also, high school football games in California only had overtime for league games and playoff games. To that end, MacMillan opted to go for two points instead of kicking the PAT with potential tie and overtime to follow.
What it meant: Though there are no moral victories, this game was the closest I had seen where the losing team felt like the winner more so than the team that won. The Saints learned many lessons in character development. That game also epitomized that no matter how hopeless a game might seem at the time, the game is not over until the clock reads 0:00. Kelseyville went on to win the NCL I North that season. The Saints were in a position to win the NCL I South before losing 20-0 to St. Vincent in the season finale to finish 5-5.
How would the season have played out had St. Helena lost say 52-7? Hard to say if it would have been different because the Saints five wins came against teams with a combined record of 10-39 while the five losses were against teams with a combined mark of 48-11. Two of St. Helena’s losses came against teams that won CIF North Coast Section titles (St. Vincent and Salesian).
To this day, however, I think that game reflected a competitive mindset that served them well the remainder of 2005 and on into 2006, when the Saints won the NCL I South title, their first league championship since 1977.
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ReplyDeleteRan into Bill Foltmer (HC at Middletown) the next day while scouting St. Vincents. I won't forget he said, "I heard you guys almost pulled off the greatest comeback in school history." Thank you captain obvious! We played Middletown tough that year. I think he was still mad about us beating them in 2004 when nobody said we would.
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