CARMEL VALLEY ---- As Escondido High lined up in kicking formation without hesitation after a touchdown with 1 minute, 19 seconds to play Friday, one thing was immediately clear ---- when faced with a choice between a loss and a tie midway through an undefeated season, the latter is infinitely more palatable.
The sheen may be off Escondido's spectacular season after its 21-21 tie with Torrey Pines in both teams' Avocado League opener, but all isn't lost in the Cougars' quest for a league title and a run deep into the postseason.
"We're really, really upset with a tie," said receiver/linebacker Bubba Novis, who caught the touchdown pass, that, followed by Sammy Altimirano's extra point, tied the game. "We should have beat these guys by a lot."
Still, the Cougars (5-0-1, 0-0-1) found a way to escape when they clearly weren't playing their best. Despite running 28 first-half offensive plays to Torrey Pines' 16, more than doubling the Falcons' total yardage before the break and starting three of their five first-half drives at midfield, the Cougars couldn't find their way into the end zone.
Torrey Pines (2-3-1, 0-0-1) limited star running back Ricky Seale to 36 yards on 10 carries in the first half, and Cougars' drives were routinely derailed by penalties.
A dull first half, though, only made the second half more heart-racing.
Escondido scored on its first possession, as Cruz Navarro's 1-yard quarterback keeper broke a scoreless tie.
Torrey Pines' John Wilson raced 72 yards up the middle for a score on the very next play from scrimmage, and after Escondido went three-and-out, the teams traded touchdowns on the next two drives ---- Torrey Pines on a 14-yard Joe Driscoll run and Escondido on a 60-yard sprint from Seale.
Torrey Pines put the pressure on by going ahead on Kevin Cuff's 1-yard run less than a minute into the fourth quarter and then stopping Escondido on the next drive.
The Cougars weren't about to suffer a blemish to their record without putting up a fight, though. They pieced together a 12-play, 65-yard scoring drive capped by Novis' 35-yard touchdown reception from Navarro with 1:19 left. Navarro leapt over a defender near the 12-yard line just inside the left sideline, spun as he came down and raced into the end zone.
After the Cougars didn't hesitate in asking Altimirano to convert the game-tying kick, Torrey Pines called two short running plays and two medium-length passes, both teams seemingly preferring to accept a tie rather than risk defeat.
"Any time you tie, it's bittersweet," Torrey Pines coach Scott Ashby said, "but that does not diminish how proud I am of these guys."
