THE FOUNTAIN VALLEY-EDISON FOOTBALL RIVALRY WAS BORN
Rivalries are born of perceived injustices in sporting
events. The Fountain Valley-Edison
rivalry was born for exactly that reason.
While most rivalries revolve strictly around two opponents, the story of
this rivalry involves a third school—the Loara Saxons.
In the spring of 1969, Fountain Valley’s football coach,
Bruce Pickford, divided the freshmen in his athletic P.E. class into two
groups. One group of players, the ones
that would be staying at Fountain Valley, stayed in the P.E. class. The other freshmen, the ones who would be
moving to the new high school, were removed from the class. This left a bad taste in their mouth and they
never forgot it.
In the fall of 1969, the still relatively new Fountain
Valley was on its way to having the best football team in its young
history. The second to last game of the
season was against the Irvine League football power and defending CIF Champion,
Loara Saxons. They entered the game with
a 20-game winning streak, and were tied with Fountain Valley for first
place. Whoever won the game would remain
in contention for the CIF play-offs.
(This was in the era when only one
team from each league went to the play-offs.)
Late in the fourth quarter, Loara had a 21-13 lead and
seemed to have the game won. But
Fountain Valley drove down to the Saxon’s goalline. With 26 seconds left, quarterback John
Svoboda threw a pass to Rick Power for the TD to slice the lead to 21-19. The stage was set for the most important play
of the season. Going for two, Svoboda fired a pass to Brady Moore. The game ended in a tie, keeping Fountain
Valley in a tie for first place in the league standings. After the game ended, Loara walked off the
field with their heads down—their 20-game winning streak ended. The Barons left the field exuberant. The only thing standing between Fountain
Valley and the league championship and a CIF play-off berth was a struggling, senior-less
team from a new school down the road.
The two teams would meet the following week.
The Sophomore football game between Fountain Valley and
Edison was played the afternoon before the first ever varsity game. The participants on both sides in this game
had been freshmen teammates the previous year at FVHS. In the heated competition of the game, Fountain
Valley Head Sophomore Coach, Wayne Michaelian turned to his assistant coach,
Ken Friess and said, “This is going to be some kind of rivalry.” He couldn’t have been more prophetic. Several hours later at the conclusion of the
varsity game the final score was…
EDISON 21
FVHS 20
The injustice of a young, upstart Edison team defeating
the best team in Fountain Valley history was too much to comprehend. And the long nightmare would continue for
three more years.
Finally, in 1973, Fountain Valley was leading 28-24 late
in the fourth quarter in front of a sell-out crowd at Orange Coast
College. (The Costa Mesa Fire Department
had closed the gates to the stadium an hour before game time because the
stadium was packed with fans and people were sitting in the ivy that surrounded
the game field) Edison had the ball and
was moving methodically down the field for the go-ahead touchdown to steal
another victory from the Barons. Fountain
Valley cheerleaders were actually crying in anticipation of another
heartbreaking loss. With the Chargers on
the Baron’s goalline, their quarterback handed off to runningback Bill Rutherford,
who fumbled and Baron linebacker, Dave Mackley pounced on the loose ball to
preserve the victory. Bedlam erupted and
the Fountain Valley fans poured onto the field to celebrate with their team.
Finally, vengeance was won and the greatest rivalry in
Orange County was galvanized into sports history. The Rivalry or the Bell Game (The victor
claims the Bell Trophy presented to the winner of the game) proved too much for
almost any venue in the county and for many years the game was played at
Anaheim Stadium.
For both schools, no victory is sweeter and no defeat is
more heartbreaking. But no matter the
outcome, the Fountain Valley-Edison game touches players from both sides as no
other game.
By Guy A. Carrozzo (FVHS ’72)
Go Barons! Beat
Edison!
