Gut-wrenching losses becoming all too familiar at AHS

From the Bambino to Bartman, so-called curses have long been a part of sports lore.

Whether real or conceived, any mention of a curse often draws ire from coaches and can strike fear into the most loyal of fans.

Agoura has seen its share of bad luck in big games over the past year and a half, but players and coaches at the school say it's simply been a case of not getting the breaks-rather than any type of curse.

Last Saturday night's CIF-SS Division I baseball championship at Angel Stadium in Anaheim saw the Chargers take the field in the bottom of the seventh inning up 1-0. Lakewood, however, strung together three consecutive hits to win the game, 2-1.

"It's amazing how the game of baseball works," AHS head coach Scott Deck said. "There were a couple of balls that could've gone foul and a bunt that was half a foot to the wrong side."

Saturday's game was just the latest example in a string of tough losses for the school.

There was also the controversial kickoff return by Westlake in October 2004, a game-winning touchdown so improbable it was broadcast several times on ESPN's SportsCenter.

Two months after the Westlake game, the Chargers were driving for the winning score against Ventura in the CIFSS Division IV semifinals.

Inside the Ventura 5-yard line with the game clock winding down, Agoura fumbled the football and Ventura recovered. Final score: Ventura 10, Agoura 9.

One year later in the first round of the playoffs, the Charg

ers scored the go-ahead touchdown on the road against Camarillo with less than a minute to play in the fourth quarter.

Camarillo quickly drove down the field in the waning seconds, but was forced to attempt a 49-yard field goal for the win.

Scorpion place kicker Jorge Vazquez drilled the kick right between the uprights and Camarillo stunned Agoura, 1614.

As a starter on the football and baseball teams, AHS senior J.T. Wright played in each of the aforementioned games.

"It's really difficult," said Wright while on the steps of the Angel Stadium dugout following Saturday's defeat.

"Losing to Ventura junior year in the semifinals for football and then last year to Camarillo, and then there's this (baseball) game," he said. "It's hard. It's heartbreaking."

The defeat wasn't the first time Agoura was on the cusp of a CIF championship this year and saw the opportunity slip away.

In February, the AHS girls' water polo team, which had been ranked No. 1 for much of the season, staked itself to a 4-0 lead against Santa Barbara in the Division IV title match.

Santa Barbara came back, and with the match tied late, the Dons scored with 18 seconds remaining on the clock to win the championship.

Still, Agoura head football coach Charlie Wegher doesn't buy in to any conspiracy theories.

Wegher believes there's a silver lining in the defeats, and by advancing to playoff and championship games, he said, Agoura has proven it can succeed in a variety of sports. "As a coach, if you make a big

deal out of that, it would be the worst thing in the world you could do," Wegher said. "It's not real productive.

"We've got programs that are doing the right things and they're in big games," he said. "That's all that matters. You've just have to keep plugging away until it all goes your way, and eventually it will."

Any talk of a curse is a waste of time, the coach said.

"When you're cursed it means you can't win a football game or a basketball game or a baseball game," Wegher said. "When you're in big games and your kids are working hard and playing hard, that's all that really matters."

"I certainly don't think there's enough evidence to say there's any kind of a curse," he said. "There are a lot of good things going on, too."