This Friday, Oak Grove High School will pay tribute to the first of its five Central Coast Section championship teams under former coach and current athletic director Ed Buller.
The Eagles are hosting Granite Bay this week, led by Oak Grove alum Jeff Evans, and the school will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1986 Division I-3A championship team, which defeated Wilcox in the final at Spartan Stadium, 28-14.
“People always ask me how a team is going to be, and I always say to wait 10 or 15 years,” Buller said. “These guys have gone on to do tremendous things in life, and it shows what kind of group it was. It’s going to be great to see all of them.”
The 1986 season did not start off looking like it would be a championship campaign. Early-season losses to St. Francis, Bellarmine, Live Oak, and even Yerba Buena left the Eagles in the position of underdog heading into the playoffs. That mattered little to the mindset of the players, however.
“Our senior leaders that year, we told the team that we could only control what was in front of us,” said team captain Bill Rainey, who started both ways and went on to become a four-year starter at Santa Clara University. “We decided to focus on our goal, which was to go win the whole thing.”
That lofty goal came from years of cultivation, and an expectation, surrounding the Oak Grove program.
“I still tell my Pop Warner kids now, we expected to win every game from the youth level through high school as members of the Oak Grove program,” Rainey said. “People didn’t expect as much from us (in 1986), but we battled in every game and became the only (Oak Grove) team to win a section title in the 80’s. It will be great to see everyone again this Friday.”
Recent losses to graduation were part of a tempered set of expectations from outside the Eagles’ program. Standout two-way lineman Tim Ryan had graduated after the 1985 season, and was a starter as a true freshman on the defensive line at the University of Southern California. A quarterfinal loss to Monta Vista in 1985, on the heels of a semifinal loss to Bellarmine in 1984, while the Eagles were the top-ranked team in the state, did little to make the 1986 team a favorite for a section title.
Despite entering the playoffs with a 6-4 record, the Eagles started their run through the 3A bracket by blanking Branham, 21-0. The semifinals were held on a wet night at Independence High, and Leland posed a stiff test. Due to the conditions, Rainey played quarterback most of the night, as Oak Grove edged the Chargers, 13-10.
In the championship game, sophomore Brent Evans took most of the snaps, enabling Rainey to be a force at receiver and safety. The Eagles scored on their first three possessions, and cruised to the title over Wilcox.
The late Evans threw a touchdown pass to Lejon Guillory to open the scoring, and added another scoring pass to Rainey. Rainey scored twice, also hauling in a pass from Ted Robinson, as part of a banner night for the senior captain. He would finish the night with five catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns, while also completing all five of his pass attempts for 67 yards. And future San Jose State running back Leon Hawthorne did plenty of damage on the ground, running for 135 yards on 21 carries.
Many in the program attribute the success of that team to the overall culture of the program, now passed down through decades of Oak Grove student-athletes. Buller was a primary figure in creating that culture, compiling a 23-year head coaching record of 214-39-3, with 18 league titles, and five section championships. Before Buller was Phil Stearns, who guided one of the greatest teams in state history, the 1978 Eagles which featured Marty Mornhinweg as a three-year starter at quarterback and dismantled St. Francis, 52-7, for the section title. And after Buller has been Jay Braun, who led the Eagles to the CCS Open Division II title last season.
“It’s an honor to be at a school like Oak Grove for coaches and players alike, carrying the torch and following in the footsteps of those before you, at the same time,” Braun said. “I am honored to be a part of this tradition, and to be connected with all the great people who have also been a part of this tradition.”
Current Tennyson head coach Terry Smith was a sophomore on the 1986 team, and he would go on to play college football for Cal State Hayward (now CSU East Bay). He was quick to recall the lessons he learned as an Eagle, and how he tries to now create that same atmosphere for his Lancers.
“It is an amazing culture, a true family atmosphere,” Smith said. “We were pushed harder in practice on a daily basis than almost any game. You knew the guy behind you was good enough to take your job, and working hard to do it.”
Jeff Evans, the current Granite Bay coach, needs a win for his program after two tough losses against Jesuit and Whitney to open the season. But it will be mixed emotions for him on Friday night, taking his Grizzlies for the trek down to San Jose, but also being there with his family to represent his brother Brent, who passed away of a brain tumor at the age of 28. His brother’s jersey number 13 was retired in 1998. Brent was the league’s Most Valuable Player for the 1988 season.
“I still have a lot of friends at Oak Grove, including Uncle Eddie (Buller),” Evans said. “The community there has been a huge part of my life, and I even met my wife through those connections. This Friday night will be surreal, a very strange and emotional night for me.”
Evans’ dad, Lee, will also be on the opposing sidelines, now entering his 49th year of coaching. He was the offensive line coach for the Eagles during that 1986 season, and even served as head coach during the years in the early 1990’s when Buller had a stint as an assistant coach at San Jose State. Brent’s wife and his son, Ryan, will also be present to take part in the ceremony. Jeff’s son is named after his late brother.
“From the football side of things, we really need to get a win after a couple of tough losses,” Evans said. “But this is also going to be a whole family reunion, and I’m glad we get to be there.”
The success of the teams through the 1970’s and 1980’s has carried into every class of Oak Grove football players since that time, as explained by former Eagle James Hodgins, who would go on to play for San Jose State and win a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams, as part of his nine-year stint in the National Football League.
“It is a program built on hard work, and rich in talent. Winning (CCS) is expected every year, and it’s almost like the ghosts of the past are pushing you to greatness from the murals on the wall,” Hodgins said. “Tim Ryan would frequently come back to challenge us, and at times it almost seemed like a scene from a Texas high school movie. The coaching staff always showed you how much they loved football, and wanted to help young men succeed.”
Succeed they did – and this Friday one of Oak Grove’s greatest success stories will be recognized on that field once again, another group from the past pushing the current Eagles to greatness.
