Carpinteria football coach Ben Hallock offered an apology to game officials during his presentation at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.
Hallock criticized officials in the press following his Warriors’ 34-24 loss at Nordhoff on Friday that cost them an ouright Tri-Valley League championship.
Nordhoff scored the go-ahead touchdown in the last two minutes. On the drive, Carpinteria appeared to recover an errant snap, but the officials ruled the ball had not yet been put in play and the Rangers kept possession and were penalized for delay of game. Two plays later, a pass interference penalty was called against the Warriors, who argued the ball was tipped at the line.
Nordhoff got the ball at the 12 and scored the go-ahead touchdown one play later on a pass.
“In all my years of coaching, I have never criticized the officials,” Hallock told reporters after the game, “but tonight was unbelievably bad. A continuous series of missed calls and misapplied calls literally influenced the outcome of the game.”
On Monday, Hallock said he was extremely frustrated about things that happened at the end of the game and criticized the officials.
“I gave a critical review of the officials in a public way in the paper. I want to apologize for that,” Hallock said. “I don’t think it was the right thing to do. I should not have done that.
“The officials are out there working, they’re part of the game. They have to make all their calls in real time, just like we do. Most of the time they’re right, some of the times they’re not, but it’s part of the game and you have to roll with it. If I implied that they were culpable in our loss, I was wrong to do that. We had a chance to win it and we didn’t do it.
“I want to apologize publicly to those officials.”
Hallock said the Warriors need to move on and put their attention on rival Bishop Diego, who they play Friday night at La Playa Stadium.
“It’s a big game, not a whole lot needs to be said. We’ll get after it. Hopefully, we’ll put this thing behind us and focus on Bishop.”
Bishop Diego coach Tom Crawford said playing a talented team like Carpinteria is good preparation for the playoffs.
“As Ben said, there’s not much to be said. It will be an intense, fun game for the guys.”
Crawford will have starting quarterback Nolan Tisdale playing in this year’s game. He missed last year’s game after breaking his collar bone the previous week.
“I brought Nolan (to the luncheon) today so I can monitor him 24 hours a day until Friday,” Crawford quipped.
Other highlights:
—Dos Pueblos football coach Jeff Uyesaka said Thursday night’s game against Goleta Valley rival San Marcos will be a tribute to coach Jeff Hesselmeyer, who passed away in July. Hesselmeyer coached at both schools.
“I’ve been coaching 15 years and this is the first season I’m not either coaching with him, for him against, or calling him for a lot of guidance and X’s and O’s.
Longtime friends and coaching colleagues of Hesselmeyer will participate in the coin toss, and the outstanding player of the game will receive the Jeff Hesselmeyer MVP Trophy.
A Dos Pueblos win would clinch second place in the Channel League a CIF playoff berth, and give the Chargers the City Championship.
San Marcos will be fighting for a three-way tie for the city title.
—Laguna Blanca cross country coach Frazier Haslet offered an inspiring story of one of his runners, Patrick Gainey.
Six weeks before the start of last season, Gainey broke two vertebrae. He continued coming to practice, offering support to his teammates.
“This year, with two healed vertebrae, he ran and he ran his legs off,” Haslet said. “He PR’d in one league meet and he ran 18:55 at the Mt. SAC Invitational on a much, much tougher course.”
The Owls boys team earned a spot at this Saturday’s CIF Prelims and girls team member Marla Bonser qualified as an individual.
—San Marcos cross country coach Lawrence Stehmeier said he used the speech on the the cheetah chasing the gazelle to inspire his runners to finish third at the final Channel League meet and earn CIF berths. In the girls race, the Royals edged DP by one point.
“The gazelle is running for its life and the cheetah is running for dinner,” Stehmeier said. “We came out there knowing that was our life we were running for and both teams did a great job finished third.”
While its girls team came up short, Dos Pueblos will be sending sophomore Addi Zerrenner and freshman Elaine McClure to the CIF Prelims. Zerrenner is the county and Channel League champion and McClure is the fastest freshman in the county and the league.
League and county champion Bryan Fernandez leads the DP boys teams to CIF.
—Westmont’s cross country teams earned at-large berths at the NAIA national championships, the first time in about a decade, said Athletic Director Dave Odell.
—Bishop Diego volleyball coach Jason Donnelly summed up the feelings of the other coaches in attendance: “Symbolically for me, coming to the Round Table in November meant one thing for a volleyball coach: You’re in the playoffs.”
