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Barrick, Dunckel inducted into Palomar College Athletic Hall of Fame

The Palomar College Athletic Hall of Fame now includes 1987 Fallbrook High School graduates Scott Barrick and Bill Dunckel.

“I just thought it was a big honor, and I am very grateful to have at least one season to play under Coach Craft,” Barrick, who played football for the Comets in 1989 when Tom Craft was Palomar’s head coach, said.

“What an honor,” Dunckel, who was one of Palomar’s baseball players during the 1988 and 1989 seasons, said. “There are so many great athletes that have gone through that school. I just feel privileged. It’s a once in a lifetime deal, and I feel very blessed.”

Barrick and Dunckel were among 11 former Palomar College athletes honored at the

Jan. 27 induction ceremony which took place at the Twin Oaks Golf Course banquet facility.

“Very well done,” Dunckel said. “Had some big names.”

“They did a great job,” Barrick said. “There were a lot of inductees, a lot of nice people. I was pleasantly surprised how nice the whole evening was.”

Scott Cathcart has been Palomar’s athletic director since 2007 and initiated the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012.

“Really just a quality performance by the athletic director,” Dunckel said. “Scott did a very good job.”

Barrick was a quarterback at Palomar. The Comets won the Mission Conference Southern Division championship in 1989 and appeared in the postseason for the first time in the football program’s history.

“All my memories go back to Coach Craft,” Barrick said. “Just his personality made football so much fun.”

Palomar College won Pacific Coast Conference baseball championships in both 1988 and 1989. Bob Vetter was Palomar’s coach when Dunckel played.

“I give all the credit to him,” Dunckel said. “The program he ran back in his day was top notch. I learned a lot.”

Vetter was the Comets’ head coach from 1982 to 2005. Eleven years after he retired he returned to the Palomar baseball program as an assistant coach.

Barrick and Dunckel both moved to Fallbrook as teenagers. Barrick attended Hilltop High School as a freshman before moving to Fallbrook for his final three high school years. Dunckel was 13 when his family moved from Rancho Palos Verdes to Fallbrook.

“We were best friends growing up through high school,” Dunckel said. “To be inducted at the same time was a total blessing.”

Dunckel was associated with baseball during his college and professional career, and current Fallbrook High School softball players think of him as an opposing Valley League coach. He is most prominent in Fallbrook High School sports history; however, as a wide receiver, free safety and kicker on the Warriors’ 1986 football team which won the CIF Class 3A championship. Barrick was the quarterback on that team.

Fallbrook finished second in the 1985 Palomar League standings but lost a 20-17 match at Sweetwater in the first round of the CIF Class 3A playoffs. Dunckel was selected as the league’s kicker of the year. At the time, the CIF San Diego Section had four Class 3A leagues and four Class 2A leagues, and the top two teams in each league earned CIF playoff berths.

The CIF San Diego Section’s board of managers voted April 29, 1986, to expand the playoffs to 12 Class 3A teams and 12 Class 2A teams. One additional round of playoff competition was implemented with the league champions receiving first-round byes. One of the 1986 beneficiaries of the expanded playoffs was Fallbrook, which opened Palomar League play with losses to Vista High School and San Dieguito High School before the Warriors won their final five league and regular-season games. Although the Warriors were third in the Palomar League standings, their regular-season record was 7-2-1, and the CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting gave the Warriors a first-round home match against Madison High School, whose 4-1 Eastern League record placed the Warhawks second in the final league standings and whose 7-3 regular-season record included a 44-21 loss to Palomar League champion Vista High.

The Warriors and Warhawks faced each other, Nov. 21, 1986. Fallbrook accrued a 41-0 halftime lead with the first quarter including 52-yard and 51-yard touchdown passes from Barrick to Dunckel. Barrick also threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Gary Nelson in the third quarter which gave the Warriors a 48-0 lead. Fallbrook coach Tom Pack replaced Barrick with backup quarterback Mike Turiace, who threw the final touchdown pass in the Warriors’ 55-6 victory.

Barrick completed 14 of his 20 passing attempts for 336 yards. Dunckel caught six passes for 170 yards. His two touchdown receptions gave him 17 for the season, breaking the CIF San Diego Section record of 16 set by Mount Miguel High School’s Jerome Weatherspoon in 1978. Dunckel also tied Weatherspoon’s CIF record of 23 career touchdown catches. The win was also the first-ever playoff victory for a Fallbrook football team.

Sweetwater scored the first 10 points of the Nov. 28 quarterfinal in National City and held a 17-7 halftime lead. Fallbrook scored the first 24 points of the second half and advanced to the semifinal with a 31-23 victory over the Red Devils.

“Coming back to win that and go to the finals, that was awesome,” Dunckel said.

Fallbrook would need a semifinal win over Mount Miguel to reach the CIF championship game, but the comeback victory against Sweetwater kept the Warriors in the playoffs and Dunckel considers that along with the championship game to be his favorite high school memories.

“Those two games were definitely the highlight,” he said.

Robert Sherman caught a 65-yard touchdown pass from Barrick on third down for Fallbrook’s initial score which was followed by Dunckel’s conversion kick. Barrick opened the second-half scoring with a one-yard touchdown run and Fallbrook’s other two touchdowns were on carries by Ty Barksdale, so Dunckel would have to wait until the semifinal to break Weatherspoon’s career touchdown reception record.

Dunckel only waited until the first play of the game following the kickoff to set that record. The Dec. 6 game was played at Mira Mesa High School since CIF semifinals were held at neutral sites in 1986.

Events before the kickoff created apparent obstacles for Fallbrook. Mount Miguel had won the Grossmont 3A League championship. Barrick had a fever and flu the day before the game. A storm provided a muddy field for the Warriors and Matadors.

Mount Miguel’s biggest obstacle was two Fallbrook players who earned lines in the CIF record book, and that obstacle proved to be too much for the Matadors to overcome. The Warriors opened scoring with a 72-yard touchdown pass from Barrick to Dunckel, who followed his CIF record by kicking the extra point.

Fallbrook scored the game’s first 21 points and survived a Mount Miguel comeback attempt for a 34-27 victory. Barrick completed 10 passes during the game, including three for touchdowns - Nelson had the other two receptions for scores - and the completions gave Barrick 224 for the season to break the previous CIF San Diego Section record of 216 set by Grossmont High School quarterback Jeff Van Raaphorst in 1981.

Vista had taken a 48-21 victory at Fallbrook’s expense during league play. The CIF championship game, Dec. 13, ended the Panthers’ 25-game winning streak while giving the Warriors nine consecutive wins following their 2-2-1 start. The Warriors took a 28-0 lead with 9:40 remaining. The first Vista score occurred with 7:02 left on the clock, and the Panthers scored once again with 15 seconds remaining. The 28-14 victory gave Fallbrook an 11-2-1 record as well as the Warriors’ first CIF championship. Barrick completed 27 of 33 passes, including two for touchdowns, and his 345 passing yards gave him 3,503 yards for the season to break the 1981 San Diego Section record of 3,328 set by Helix High School quarterback Jim Plum.

Barrick shared CIF offensive player of the year honors, and Dunckel was also named to the all-CIF first team. Dunckel earned Palomar League first-team honors for baseball in both 1986 and 1987 and was on the all-CIF first team in 1986 and the all-CIF second team in 1987. Fallbrook was part of the very first boys’ volleyball season in 1987; the Warriors were in the Avocado League for that sport, and Barrick was not only a member of that initial team but also a first-team Avocado League selection.

Barrick was initially part of the San Diego State University football program. He utilized a redshirt season in 1987 and was on the scout team which during practice emulates the formations of the upcoming opponents. Barrick played for the Aztecs in 1988, but head coach Denny Stolz was reassigned after that season and Barrick transferred to Palomar. After a year at Palomar, he played at the NCAA Division I-AA level for Stephen F. Austin.

“I’m just very grateful for the opportunity,” Barrick said.

Barrick now owns a self-storage business. He had lived in La Quinta before purchasing a residence in Mexico, and he now splits time between Mexico and Chino.

Dunckel was a center fielder on Fallbrook’s baseball team and was also an outfielder at Palomar College and San Diego State University as well as during his two seasons of minor league baseball. He followed his two seasons at Palomar College with two years at San Diego State.

Dunckel was not drafted after his senior year at San Diego State but was offered a minor league contract by the California Angels. He was assigned to the Boise Hawks of the Northwest League and played 68 games during the 1992 season. He batted .263, was second on the team with 40 runs batted in and was third on the Hawks with 32 runs scored. He also hit the only two home runs of his minor league career in 1992. He was primarily an outfielder but played first base in three games.

The Angels assigned Dunckel to the Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Midwest League for 1993, but he only played 12 games. Dunckel played first base in eight of those games.

After his professional playing career was over Dunckel remained in baseball as a high school coach. He was the Poway High School head coach in 1994 and 1995 and the Orange Glen High School coach from 1996 through 1998.

Valley Center High School opened in 1998, and Dunckel has been a coach for the Jaguars ever since. He was the head baseball coach for the first 11 seasons and switched to softball in 2010 when his daughters began playing at the high school level. Dunckel is also the head coach of the Jaguars’ freshman football team.

Dunckel is a full-time physical education teacher at Valley Center High School as well as the Jaguars’ head baseball coach and freshman football coach.

“I love it. Love my job. Very blessed to be where I’m at,” he said. “God has truly, truly blessed me.”

Fallbrook joined the Valley League in 2014, providing Dunckel with two annual games against the school he attended.

“It’s neat to go and say ‘hi’ to everybody, but when you’re coaching it’s just another team you’re trying to beat,” he said.

Dunckel will bring his squad to Fallbrook, April 20, for a Valley League game.

“God has blessed my life,” Dunckel said.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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