7: Victory and Defeat

A true phenomenon of the last decade, Ventura College men’s basketball soared to uncommon heights--winning back-to-back state championships in ’95 and ’96 and reaching deep into the emotional core of the broader community.

But the dynasty that Philip Mathews built by importing troubled players from the nation’s four corners evaporated in March when the college fired Mathews’ successor, Virgil Watson, for recruiting violations and other purported sins.

The program’s collapse accelerated in September when it was banned from post-season play for violating state rules, including providing players with money and free meals. By fall, another coach had fled and the 1997-98 season was canceled altogether.

“I feel like they stuck a dagger in my heart and cut off my head,” forward Danny Herrera said.

On the flip side in county sports was the small town of Moorpark, which is gaining a big-time reputation. After participating in the Little League World Series in 1996, the town rallied in 1997 behind a varsity football team that erased 62 years of humiliation by defeating rival Carpinteria after 51 straight losses.

Then it won a Southern Section championship impressively.

“We shocked the world tonight,” coach Ron Wilford told his team. Next year they move up to a tougher league.