COSTA MESA — The game that almost wasn’t was pretty good.
The Orange County all-star football game was played for the 58th consecutive year Friday night. The South defeated the North, 28-6, at Orange Coast College.
The hitting was crisp. The offensive execution was not. Players coming from a variety of offensive styles are not going to fit together very well after only a handful of practices.
So there were ragged moments, as there will be, too, for the high school season openers in August.
In the first quarter, the North set up for a field goal. It had only eight players lined up. Additional players raced in … but only two, so there were only 10 North players on the field for the kick that was blocked.
The players had matching jerseys. As in past county all-star games, continuing the Civil War theme, the North wore blue and the South wore red.
The pants did not all match. There were plenty of white pants, but a gold pair here, a navy blue pair there.
The tradition of getting school logo stickers from teammates continued. Tustin lineman Shaquille Alapati had so many stickers from other schools – El Modena, Kennedy, Santa Ana and more — that the Tustin Tillers “double-T” was covered on the right side of his helmet.
An organizer for the game, which was called the Orange County All-Star Classic this year, said attendance needed to be 5,000 for the game to break even. Approximately 3,000 were at the game.
That the game even happened required plenty of hustle, quick thinking and determination.
To keep it going, and perhaps even growing, the date for the game should be changed.
Frank Albers of Costa Mesa United, a non-profit group that replaced the Brea Lions Club as the game’s organizer this year, said moving the contest to January will be discussed. A January date has been the ignored advice from sportswriters to the Brea Lions Club for a few years.
Few college-bound players have participated in the county all-star game in the past 12 years or so. That has hurt interest in the game and the game’s attendance.
College coaches convince the players they should avoid the game. But if players are not committed to a college, which is the case for many of Orange County’s top players in January, there is no college coach who can give such a suggestion.
The Brea Lions Club organized and managed the game through its first 57 years. The Lions announced in April that this year’s game had been canceled because they were unable to secure a date and venue.
Costa Mesa United, an organization that assists high school and youth sports and activities in the city, decided to see if it could salvage the game.
Costa Mesa United board member Ron Amburgey heard that the game was nixed and contacted other board members. Phil Anton, for decades the lead Lion in running the game, was asked for advice and contacts.
“Then we put together a budget,” Amburgey said, “and we took it from there.”
The Los Angeles Chargers, looking to establish themselves in the L.A. and Orange County communities, had contacted the Brea Lions to see how they could be involved in the game. Once it revived the game, Costa Mesa United reached out to the Chargers. The Chargers had been involved in a San Diego County all-star football game, the Alex Spanos Classic, for many years.
“Our budget for the game was $25,000 without the TV costs,” Amburgey said. “The Chargers decided to pay for the TV costs which are $10,000.”
The game was streamed live at chargers.com and taped broadcasts will be on KDOC/6 and on south county cable system Cox3.
Chargers general manager Tom Telesco presented one of those huge, fake checks to Costa Mesa United before the game. Two Chargers players served as honorary captains; one of them being former Santa Margarita and USC lineman Max Tuerk. The Chargers had a football-throw game booth on the stadium concourse.
Newport Rib Co. provided the food at the game’s banquet last week. The CARE Ambulance service was donated for the contest. Volunteers were plentiful.
Until several months ago, Anton had been the leader of the game’s management and organization, as game chairman or game coordinator, even when he did not have any sort of title. The game was Anton’s pride and joy for decades.
So Anton, of course, was unhappy the Brea Lions did not run this year’s game and almost certainly won’t in the future. Albers said it is Costa Mesa United’s intention to remain in charge.
“One guy blew it,” said Anton, declining to provide a name. “He had one thing to do, and that was get the stadium. He waited too long.”
Costa Mesa didn’t wait. The group resuscitated the game.
With a couple of changes, including moving the game to January, it just might thrive again.
