Half Moon Bay High School Hall of fame 2015

CELEBrAtING HALF MOON BAY HIGH SCHOOL StudENt AtHLEtES

Half Moon Bay Review

CON G R AT U LAT I ON S TOT H E 2 0 1 5 I N D U C T E E S

Guido Santini Class of 1948 — Baseball Leland Francis Class of 1950 — BaseballNaomi Patridge Coached 1983-2010 — Coach, Softball Breen Hofmann, Class of 1985 — Football, Baseball, wrestlingGeorge Molina, Class of 1978 — wrestlingPete Petersen, Class of 1973 — Football, BaseballRachel Pacheco, Class of 2000 — Softball Gina Magagnini, Class of 2001— Basketball, VolleyballRicky Simms, Class of 2006 — Baseball, FootballJoey Wilson, Class of 2007 — wrestling 1977 Football Team “Cardiac Kids”team Captain: Grant walters

High School is a time for growth and maturity. In addition to the

rigors of academics and the challenges of social life, many Half Moon

Bay students spend hours outside of the classroom being part of a

sports team. While all of the athletes should be commended for their

efforts in competing with Cougar pride, there are some who truly stand

out and excel in their chosen disciplines. These are the athletes that

make up the Half Moon Bay High School Hall of Fame.

ACCOMpLISHEd AtHLEtES

HALL CELEBrAtES GLOrIOuS pAStn ABOut tHE HALL OF FAME

HALL CELEBrAtES GLOrIOuS pAStHALL CELEBrAtES GLOrIOuS pAStHALL CELEBrAtES GLOrIOuS pAStn ABOut tHE HALL OF FAMEABOut tHE HALL OF FAME

2015

The Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 2010 as a way to celebrate the great-

ness of Half Moon Bay High School sports over the years.

This year, nine athletes join for the 16 who were inducted with the fi rst two classes to make it in the hall. Softball coach Naomi Pat-ridge is the fourth coach to be inducted.

In addition, the 1977 football team, known as the Cardiac Kids, is the fi rst full team to be so honored.

Criteria is set for athletes, coaches and community members to be considered for induction. For athletes on recognized team sports of football, basketball, baseball, volley-ball, softball, soccer and water polo, the can-didate must meet at least three of the fi ve cri-teria. They include being a two-time fi rst-team all-league pick, a league MVP, a one-time San Mateo All-County fi rst-team, San Mateo County Player of the Year or a team record holder.

Coaches must have been at Half Moon Bay for at least 10 years, had a winning record, have been retired from the sport for at least three years, must be at least 55 and make signifi cant contributions to the sport and the Half Moon Bay program. No member of the committee is eligible unless approved by the committee.

The 11-person selection committee con-sists of Principal Ron Campana, Vice Princi-pal Albert Strong, Athletic Director Justin Fer-dinand, retired athletic director Neil McNevin, Patridge, graduate, teacher and softball coach Deanna Tower, graduate and hall of fame member Craig Branstrom, Half Moon Bay Re-view Sports Editor Mark Foyer, teacher, foot-ball coach and graduate Keith Holden, retired teacher, coach and athletic director at Gary Dil-ley and chairman Kris Hammerstrom.

The hall of fame works under the umbrella of the Half Moon Bay Cougar Boosters Club.

— Mark Foyer

A L L S tO r I E S B YM A r K F OY E rH A L F M O O N B AY r E V I E w

PAST INDUCTEES

2012 Athletestony Ackerman, 1994, BasketballCraig Branstrom, 1983, Football,

Basketball, track and Fieldjim Emery, 1970, Baseball, FootballSilas Moore, 1992, Footballjohn pepper, 1978, wrestlingBecky Schmidt, 1979, Cross-Country, track and FieldLaura terada, 1990, tennis, Basketball, SoftballKaren Villa, 1993, SoftballFausto Villegas, 1998, SoccerBrad walters, 1976, Football, wrestling, track and Field

2012 Coachesjack Coolidge, 1969-1994, Football, wrestling Luis Mintegui, 1973-2004, Soccer

2013 AthletesMathew Ballard, 1991, Football, wrestlingLorena Marie Ferreira Harrigan, 1985,

Cross-Country, Basketball, track and FieldSara Fulp-Allen, 2003, wrestlingjohn william parsons, 2002, BasketballKatrina Salia Ledgerwood, 1995, VolleyballMichael Seaton, 2006, Football, Basketball, Baseball

2013 Coachwalter richard dick Calvin, 1970-1997, Cross-Country

team Captain: Grant walters

H A L F M O O N B A Y H I G H S C H O O L • H A L L O F F A M E • 2 0 1 5

n FOOTBALL n BASEBALL n WRESTLING

Hofmann did it all1985 GRAd EARNEd ALL-LEAGuE hONORS, WRESTLING TITLE

Breen Hofmann participated in three sports when he attended Half Moon Bay High School because he loved playing those sports.

He had a special fondness for football, he says, be-cause it is the ultimate team sport.

He also loved playing baseball because, well, most of his team-mates were also football players.

And then there was wrestling. Unlike the other sports, there was something oh so special about wrestling.

“If you make a mistake in wrestling, it’s on you,” Hofmann said.

He left his mark on Half Moon Bay sports. The 1985 gradu-ate will be inducted into the Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Hofmann’s legacy includes football team MVP as well as all-league, all-county and all-Bay Area honors. He was also all-league in baseball and team captain. He was a league champion in wrestling. He finished sixth at the 1985 Central Coast Section championships.

The individual honors were all nice. But it was about being with the team and making memories.

One of his favorite memories is of the 1982 Homecoming game. Half Moon Bay defeated Jefferson. Jefferson featured one of the top running backs in San Mateo County history, Tyreese Knox. Knox took his football skills to the University of Nebras-ka.

“We were able to shut him down,” Hofmann said. “We were supposed to lose. It was a big upset.”

He felt, as a sophomore, the same feeling this year’s football team experienced when it rallied to beat Terra Nova in the final second.

His achievement in three sports was common back in those days. Lots of high school athletes went from a fall sport to win-ter sport to spring sport with ease.

Those days are long gone. Between the expansion of playoffs and the trend to specialize in one sport, athletes like Hofmann are gone.

“I’m not going to take away anything from it,” Hofmann said, resigned to the fact a three-sport athlete is history. “It’s sad with all the overlap (of the sports).”

You’ve always been a hit with us!

CongratulationsCongratulationsNaomi!

Thank you for inspiring so many Coastside girls and young women!

From all of us on the HMB Beautifi cation

CommitteeJerry Donovan

Cameron Palmer Kathy Llorente

Kris MasonBev AshcraftHeidi KuiperMel Mello Jr.

Joe Borges

2015 HMB HIGH SCHOOL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE

“IF yOu mAkE A

mISTAkE IN WRESTLING,

IT’S ON yOu.”

BREEN hOFmANN

BrEEN HOFMANN


n WRESTLING

Molina part of HMB wrestling historyhALL OF FAmER INTROducEd TO SpORT AT cuNhA

It was at the 1978 Central Coast Section wrestling championships that George Molina heard something that made everything worthwhile.

Wrestling has always been a challenging sport that requires a lot of preparation: running, dieting and being ready to hit the mat for the bout.

Molina left the championship meet with a third-place medal, the same spot as teammate John Pepper that day.

The placing qualified the two for the state meet.It was the first time two Half Moon Bay High School athletes qualified

for the state meet.“Other coaches were talking about Half Moon Bay,” Molina said. “They

said we made history. What we did was ground-breaking.”Molina’s accomplishments are now written for all to see, as he is a

member of the 2015 Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame class.

Pepper was inducted in 2012.Molina started wrestling in seventh grade. “When I started, I was a non-athlete,” Molina said.Molina’s career started with then high school wrestling coach Jack

Coolidge.“He brought a bunch of wrestlers from the high school to Cunha to get

a start on the high school program,” Molina said. For the next six years, Molina wrestled. And something more impor-

tant than wins piled up.“Wrestling gave me a lot of confidence and endurance,” Molina said. “It

also gave me a can-do attitude.”All the while, he had a good time participating in the sport. “It helped build a camaraderie with my teammates,” Molina said.

“When we were together, we trained hard.”Years later, the friendships are still intact.“I am still close to a lot of those guys,” Molina said. “I see some of the

guys.”It was under Coolidge that Half Moon Bay hosted its meets at night.“Those were big deals,” he said.When he stepped off the mat for the final time, he was third in wins

with 104. He’s now in a three-way tie for 10th. He was a league champion and two-time section placer.

When he graduated in 1978, he was inducted into that class’s hall of fame.

“It’s nice to be in with this group,” Molina said.

GEOrGEMOLINA

NAOMIpAtrIdGE

pEtEpEtErSON

n cOAchING

Sportsmanship crucial for PatridgeSOFTBALL cOAch LEd TEAm TO ccS TITLE

1973 GRAd hELpEd hmB WIN FIRST FOOTBALL LEAGuE TITLE

pete Peterson is a part of Half Moon Bay High School sports history.

He was the quarterback of the first team to win a league title, sharing the honor of the North Peninsula League title with Westmoor in 1972.

The Rams were one of the stronger teams in the league, along with South San Francisco, El Camino and Terra Nova. Those schools had greater populations than Half Moon Bay.

“That year, we were competitive with all those schools,” Peterson said.

He was an all-league and all-county pick in football and was also an all-league and all-county basketball player.

He is remembered more than 40 years after graduating from Half

Moon Bay and is being inducted into the Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Being on that championship team was special. Partly that is due to the relatively few students who went out for football. The Cougars would often go up against teams with twice as many players, and in some cases, those players only went one way.

“When we played Westmoor, they have about 90 kids ready to go,” Peterson said.

More than 20 years later, Westmoor dropped football.Peterson just loved to play sports. He faked many opponents, ap-

pearing to go one way, then going the other way. He did that in foot-ball and in basketball.

He was a good enough player that some say he could have been a top-notch player in both sports at any high school.

But he played at Half Moon Bay, where he is a Hall of Famer.“I am glad to be part of this,” he said.

n FOOTBALL n BASkETBALL

Peterson was a champ

There is a requirement that prior to every Central Coast Section playoff game, regardless of the sport, there must be a mandatory sportsmanship meeting.

The meeting is run by the site director and at-tended by team coaches and captains.

About one hour before Half Moon Bay High School played Notre Dame-Salinas in a softball playoff, one of the site officials stated the meeting wouldn’t be necessary.

“Both teams do sportsmanship better than we could ask of them,” one of the site administrators said at the time.

Naomi Patridge, the Half Moon Bay softball coach, has always been intent on the solid behav-ior of players.

“I don’t like the idea of even the disrespect to the umpires on calls,” Patridge said. “I benched a player for giving an ump a bad time. She nev-er did that again. As a coach, you have to be the guide for that.”

For all the accomplishments she helped the Cougars gain in softball — from league titles to constant appearances in CCS, highlighted by winning the 1988 CCS Division II title — she says it was all about the sportsmanship.

The success of her teams, both on and off the field, is why she is going into the Half Moon Bay

High School Sports Hall of Fame.Patridge is in the San Mateo County Sports

Hall of Fame. She earned the CCS Honor Coach for Softball.

She didn’t see herself going into the Half Moon Bay Sports Hall of Fame.

“I have been really fortunate that the girls have been successful,” Patridge said. “The program has been successful. We changed the culture there. It was about winning and winning with pride and stuff, and good sportsmanship. It means a lot to know that people value that.”

The success of the Half Moon Bay softball pro-gram can be attributed to the success of the Half Moon Bay Girls Softball League.

“A few girls wanted a program,” Patridge said. “They said they had nothing to do in the sum-mer. When it got going, it was the training ground for the high school program. Everything we did led to the girls going to high school and having that same kind of approach. It makes a big difference when you have that continuity.”

Sportsmanship lessons were included.“It’s not just about softball, it’s about learning

life skills,” Patridge said. “I really think softball teaches life skills.”


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n WRESTLING

Wilson is highest state wrestling placer hmB GRAd hOLdS 3 cAREER REcORdS

n SOFTBALL

Pacheco credits coach for softball successpITchER EARNEd SchOLARShIp TO VIRGINIA TEch

By the time she graduated from Half Moon Bay High School in 2000, Rachel Pacheco left her mark with the school’s softball program.

She was the 2000 Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division and San Mateo County Player of the Year.

She took her pitching and hitting skills to the College of San Mateo where they were refined by legendary coach Tom Martinez.

That led to a scholarship at Virginia Tech. While there, she earned all-Big East honors for her playing skills and made the Big East Academic All-Star team.

She’s currently a full-time faculty member at De Anza College, where she has coached softball for several years.

She received support from Martinez, Half Moon Bay High School’s softball coach Naomi Patridge and her family, including her father, Tom, who caught her every day.

As much as she appreciates the support she received from all the people mentioned above, there’s one person who she credits for all the success: Bob Gaines.

“Bob Gaines is everything to me,” Pacheco said.She credits Gaines for her induction into the Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall

of Fame. Pacheco started playing softball when she was 8, playing in the Minis Division in the

Half Moon Bay Girls Softball League.During her first five years of playing, Gaines noticed Pacheco had the talent to be a

very good softball player.He asked Pacheco if she was OK with being average or if she wanted to work hard to

be good, adding that the decision was up to her. She went with the latter.“If I had questions, I would go to him,” Pacheco said. “Bob made me the player that I

am.”She went to him whenever she needed some advice. “When I came home from Virginia Tech, I called up Bob, telling him that I was going

to pitch,” Pacheco said. “I asked him if he could come out and watch me.”When Pacheco made the decision to be good, Gaines gave her father drills to work on

with her. “We did them,” she said. “Bob Gaines started the fire. I couldn’t thank him enough for

what he has done. He made me the player that I am. If I needed him, he was there.”Gaines’ daughter Shelley was also there, providing the support and skills for Pacheco

to become the player she wanted to be.

A lot of credit for Joey Wilson’s success in wrestling, and entry into the Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame, can be attributed to gymnastics.

How does the grace of gymnastics lead to success in wrestling, where strength and en-durance are crucial?

For Wilson, gymnastics did something sig-nificant for him in his quest to be the best wrestler he could be.

“Gymnastics gave me good body awareness and good core strength,” Wilson said.

He knew it when he returned to wrestling at Cunha Intermediate School.

Prior to his run with gymnastics, Wilson participated in wrestling, though he had no idea what to do.

“I lost most of my matches,” he said.After gymnastics training, he knew he was

better, before he even got on the mat. The foundation he built with gymnastics

and wrestling in middle school carried over to Half Moon Bay High School.

He was a four-time league champion, a four-time Central Coast Section placer, in-cluding a CCS title in 2007, and the highest placer from Half Moon Bay in the state meet, taking third in 2007.

Wilson is the current school career record holder for most wins (150), most takedowns

(285) and most escapes (104). His 42 reversals in 2006 is a season record.

He is one of two wrestlers from Half Moon Bay to place at the state meet. The other was his coach, Matt Ballard, also a Half Moon Bay High School Hall of Famer.

Wilson said he probably wouldn’t have done gymnastics in high school if it had been offered. He had a good experience with it, but after four years it was time to do something else.

“Most of the people I know who were good wrestlers did gymnastics,” Wilson said. “That includes some of my college teammates.”

Wilson ended his career as a two-time All-American at the University of Nebraska, Ke-arney.

The CCS title is something Wilson cherish-es. He got it with a 3-0 win over Salinas’ Mar-co Orozco.

“It was a very competitive match,” Wilson said. “He was a strong dude.”

In the end, Wilson, who was the section’s top-ranked wrestler in his weight division, and fourth in state, prevailed. He finished sec-ond in his two previous trips to the finals.

“It was a good moment,” he said. “I remem-ber being very happy, celebrating with my teammates, my coaches, my buddies and my family.”

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n BASEBALL n FOOTBAL

Simms was key to teams’ successescOmpETITIVE 2-SpORT AThLETE FOuNd A WAy TO WIN

3-SpORT AThLETE ALSO STudIEd BALLET

There’s a banner in the Half Moon Bay High School gym celebrating the Cou-gars’ 2001 girls basketball team that won the San Mateo County Pub-lic Schools title. Since the tournament

started in 2000, that team is the only one in school history, boys or girls, to have won the tournament, prior to this year.

That was the culmination of a season in which Half Moon Bay went 10-0 in league play, won the league title, and gave eventual Central Coast Section champion Sacred Heart Cathedral a tough battle in the quarterfi nals before falling by seven.

Magagnini was also a standout volleyball player and a solid infi elder for the softball team.

Playing on three teams, she participated in seven different CCS playoffs.

The 2001 San Mateo County Girls Basketball player of the year, Magagnini is a recipient of this year’s Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame award.

Sports are a big part of her family’s life. Her older brother Dominic was a two-time all-league catch-er. Her father, Tony, coached baseball and was a P.E. teacher. Though retired, he still gives baseball lessons.

Gina Magagnini remains involved in sports, though she has mostly stopped playing on competi-tive teams. She’s the branch director of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Sacramento, overseeing 186 kids and a staff of 14.

She planned to be active while growing up, even if she didn’t participate in sports. She took ballet les-sons for 16 years.

But there must’ve been something special about sports, as Magagnini couldn’t stick with just one.

She enjoyed all the sports, and she encourages anyone she meets to try and play everything pos-sible.

That carried over to coaching. She has coached both youth basketball and youth softball.

When she visits the family, the TV will come on to watch a sporting event. And when she comes for the banquet, she will include a trip to the gym to view the banner. Her nameplate is now on the Hall of Fame list.

“I am surprised to be getting this,” Magagnini said.

rICKY SIMMS

GINAMAGAGNINI

R icky Simms made an instant impression with baseball coach Tony Magagnini in the third grade.

“Someday, I will be the best player you’ll ever coach,” Simms told Magagnini.

Nine years later, Simms was true to his word.

He was a two-time all-league baseball player and an all-league football player, Simms was as competitive an athlete as Magag-nini or former head football coach Matt Ballard could have asked for.

Simms earned the reputation for doing whatever it took to help his team win.

“He’s way more competitive than anyone I have ever been around,” said current football coach Keith Holden.

That explains why he’s going into the Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame, Sat-urday.

Magagnini taught for a long time in Pescadero, fi rst at the el-ementary school and then the

high school. He arrived at Half Moon Bay High a few years before Simms matriculated there.

Midway through his frosh-soph season, Simms was brought up to the varsity squad.

“I was just a new guy, going to a new school,” Simms said. “Going to the varsity was a very big step for me.”

He admits he was surprised when he got the opportunity to move up.

“I was doing pretty well at frosh-soph,” Simms said. “I fi g-ured I would stay down for the year. I thought I might have a chance to go to the varsity in my sophomore year.”

That’s not how both Magag-nini and his son Dominic saw it. Simms said Dominic approached him with the opportunity to move up.

A little hesitant at fi rst, Simms jumped at the opportunity.

“He had a skill to know what was going to happen before it happened,” Tony Magagnini said. “He was an amazing player.”

As a wide receiver, Simms was clutch for the Cougars, especially during the 2005 season. The sea-son ended with the Cougars win-ning the Central Coast Section ti-tle, the only one in school history.

Simms was named the league’s Receiver of the Year. His high-lights include catching the game-winning touchdown pass in the fi nal moments against Mon-terey, catching the go-ahead score against Monterey in the playoffs, and returning a punt to set up a score in the win over Capuchino. The latter resulted in the Cougars winning the league title.

“He’s one of the best players ever at this school in most sports,” Holden said.

n BASkETBALL n VOLLEyBALL

Magagnini helped HMB

win titles

“hE’S ONE OF ThE BEST pLAyERS EVER AT ThIS SchOOL IN mOST SpORTS.”

cOAch kEITh hOLdEN


CEF wishes tocongratulate our2015 Hall of Fame

inductees!The Cabrillo Education Foundation is committed to enriching

educational excellence in our local public schools throughfundraising and community outreach.

www.ceffund.org

hmB GRAd SIGNEd By ScOuT WhO SIGNEd WILLIE mAyS

Everyone knew who Leland Francis was.

Opposing baseball players liked him, as long as they didn’t have to face him when he was pitching.

He was that dominant.“He overpowered people,” said his catcher, Bru-

no Giusti. “I call fastball and fastball, and it would be two strikes. I would drop two fingers down for the third pitch

and that was it.”It was rare when his strikeout count

didn’t reach double figures in a game. In his senior year, he was 6-1 in league play, 17-3 overall, averaging 13 strike-outs per game.

Despite going to Half Moon Bay High School, with only about 100 stu-dents at the time, he was well-known to baseball scouts. He was easy to spot, as he stood 6-1.

A 1950 graduate, he played professional baseball in 1951 for the New York Giants D league team, the Lenoir Red Sox in the Western Carolina League.

It was the only year he played professional baseball.He is still highly regarded in Half Moon Bay High School

sports history. Francis, who died of a heart attack in 1991, is among the inductees into the Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame.

The scouts, one of whom was Eddie Montague who also

signed Willie Mays, came to Half Moon Bay to watch Fran-cis throw.

Giusti was asked by the principal to come and catch.“He said there were a few guys that wanted to warm up

Leland,” Giusti said. “I said fine.”He obviously brought his mitt. It wasn’t just opposing

batters that knew how hard Francis threw. “My hand would get so swollen that I couldn’t grip a bat,”

Giusti said.Francis made an impression and the New York Giants

drafted him.He played in Santa Maria and Eugene, Ore., before going

to Lenoir.“To get drafted by a sports team was a major accomplish-

ment,” Giusti said.He saw limited playing time, appearing in 10 games. He

didn’t get a hit in 15 at bats. According to Reference.Com, Francis didn’t pitch for the Red Sox, who went 40-70.

Prior to the 1952 season, he went into the Army. Accord-ing to his wife, in a letter written to the Hall of Fame com-mittee, he failed basic training when he fell off the bars. An exam showed he had a dislocated shoulder, suffered while playing football at Half Moon Bay. He was sent to special services, where he could play baseball. In July 1952, he re-ceived an honorable discharge. He declined to return to Lenoit, N.C., ending his professional baseball career.

He worked on the Coastside, where he remained for the rest of his life.

“He was a nice guy,” Giusti said. “He didn’t seem to have any problems.”

n BASEBALL

Santini made it look easy

Back in the 1940s, when getting to Half Moon Bay was a challenge and communications were not what they are to-day, the word still got out on the talent that Guido Santini had as a baseball player.

The 1948 graduate of Half Moon Bay High School was a three-time all-league selection in the Peninsula Athletic League when the league consisted of schools from Daly City to San Jose.

He oozed with talent, with raw speed and a quick bat. A catcher, he didn’t commit a defensive error.

The word got around about the young man from Half Moon Bay who could do it all.

He is still highly regarded as he is going to be inducted into the Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Also a talented basketball player, baseball is where he thrived. Though his primary position was catcher, he was so naturally talented that he could play anywhere on the field. He said he was better at center field. He also pitched when needed, but never that much. He also taught himself how to hit.

He made everything look easy.That’s why upon his graduation from Half Moon Bay, he

was drafted by the Boston Braves. He was offered $500 to play for the Braves.

“That was a big honor,” Santini said. “”There were more people playing baseball because there were more minor leagues.”

He went to a tryout and made the team.That’s as far as his professional career went.He didn’t think he was ready for a new lifestyle. He re-

turned to the Coastside and worked with his father on the farm.

In 2013, he was named the Coastside Famer of the Year.At the time, he was happy with the decision to give up

professional baseball, he says if he had to do over again, he’d take baseball. Those who saw him play said he would have been good at it.

“He could run like a deer,” said Bruno Guisti, a freshman in Santini’s senior year. “He was a left-handed hitter with that left-handed power. He had a lot of power.”

Though he gave up the professional career for a life on the farm, he still played for a Half Moon Bay semi-pro team, the Half Moon Bay Townies. He went 4-for-5 in the Town-ies’ final game in the 1955 season, finishing the season with a league-leading .434 average. He also led the league with 23 hits, 13 runs batted in and four doubles.

“He was somebody you could look up to,” Guisti said. “Other kids looked up to him.

He also played basketball for the Cougars. Though not very tall, he could jump, resulting in his playing either cen-ter or forward.

“I was a good shot,” he said. “Some days the shots would go in and some they wouldn’t.”

n FOOTBALL

‘Cardiac Kids’ never gave up1977 FOOTBALL TEAm WAS FIRST TO GO TO ccS

GuIdOSANtINI

high school sports coaches aren’t big on drama. They would rather lead a winning machine.

Sometimes, however, that isn’t the case.The 1977 Half Moon Bay High School foot-

ball team could give you a heart attack and fans wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Cougars won their second league title in school his-tory, then the North Peninsula League crown, before partici-pating in the Central Coast Section playoffs for the first time in school history.

The Cougars lost to eventual CCS champions St. Francis, 14-0, but the team left a large legacy.

It was a team that never wilted under the pressure. At times, when folks could easily lose their minds, the 25-mem-ber Cougars team kept its collective head.

Thanks to the success, the 1977 Half Moon Bay High School football squad is being inducted as a team into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame.

The Cougars won their nine games by 90 points. However, seven of those nine wins were by single digits, ranging from two one-point wins (20-19 over Gunn, and 21-20 over Ser-

ramonte) to a 14-6 decision over Jefferson. The tensest victory was a 23-17 win against Terra Nova. It

appeared the Cougars had the game won when Terra Nova quarterback Mike Diaz was tackled for no gain, in bounds. Since the Tigers had no timeouts, it appeared Half Moon Bay would win. But with an injured Half Moon Bay play-er on the field, the clock was stopped, giving the Tigers one more play.

Diaz couldn’t find an open receiver and attempted to run for the score. He was tackled inches short of the end zone by Jim Edwards.

“That’s one play we all remember,” said Grant Walters, an all-league linebacker.

The key for Half Moon Bay was that it never panicked when the game got tight. Half Moon Bay was prepared for anything, thanks to the conditioning it did prior to the sea-son.

Forget the wind sprints. Half Moon Bay ran cross-country courses, with the full gear on.

“We played both ways,” Walters said. “But at the end of the game, we were fresher than our opponents.”

Pitcher Francis dominated opponents

We are dedicated to HMB High School sports.

At the Half Moon Bay Review, we are proud to spotlight our community’s young student athletes every week, and we tip our

cap to all those that strive to do their best.Congratulations to all the Hall of Fame Athletes!

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n BASEBALL

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