By Rick Anderson

For the Grays Harbor News Group

This year marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most memorable games in Grays Harbor football history, the 1999 Aberdeen-Hoquiam tie.

All sorts of strange things happened during regulation play that year, which ended with the Bobcats and Grizzlies deadlocked at 6-6. Then the officials ran off the field, forgoing overtime and leaving participants, spectators and the media utterly bewildered.

As it developed, the refs were merely following a state policy. In non-league games, overtime periods are supposedly implemented only if both teams agree in advance.

Those who remembered that game almost experienced deja vu at Stewart Field last Friday, when Aberdeen and Elma were locked in a 20-all standoff when regulation time expired in their non-league contest.

This time, however, the officials huddled for a few minutes before deciding to go ahead with overtime. The underdog Bobcats eventually prevailed, 32-26, on Ethan Morrill’s 13-yard touchdown run in the second extra period.

Aberdeen coach Todd Bridge admitted he was pleasantly surprised by the decision to play the game to a conclusion.

“There was no discussion,” Bridge said. “I thought (the officials) were going to walk off. Maybe they talked to Ron (Elma coach Ron Clark), I don’t know.”

Having covered Clark’s teams in Elma and Aberdeen, I can’t visualize him endorsing a tie. Bridge also wanted a winner determined.

“It sounds weird, but it’s kind of the American way,” the AHS coach asserted. “Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose.”

Since Elma had convincingly won its opening two contests and the Bobcats had been outscored 115-3 in theirs, Friday’s outcome represented one of the few legitimate upsets during an era in which most Twin Harbors contests have followed the form chart.

Among other things, the game introduced Bobcat fans to Bridge’s somewhat unorthodox philosophy on conversions. A former North Beach head coach, Bridge is in his first year at the AHS helm.

Although they possess a good placekicker in Gio Pisani, the Bobcats attempted two-point conversions after every touchdown — a tactic Bridge indicated likely will continue.

“When you practice your offense for 75 minutes a day, why would you take time from it to gain one point?,” he asked rhetorically. “If we get into the end zone (on two-pointers) 50 percent of the time, that’s the equivalent of making one point 100 percent of the time, which not many high school teams do.”

One key to the victory was that the Bobcats were able to keep the game close enough so they were not forced to alter their ball-control offense. As Hoquiam coach Jeremy McMillan observed the previous week, Aberdeen is not well-suited to playing catch-up from a large deficit.

Elma, meanwhile, unwillingly reinforced the old adage that if you repeatedly let an opponent off the hook, eventually you’ll run out of opportunities.

The Eagles committed a slew of turnovers —losing fumbles on the goal line in the second half and on the 25-yard line on the first play of the second overtime. They also missed two conversion kicks, including a game-winning attempt in the first OT session.

As for overtime in non-league contests, I’ve always considered the state policy (assuming it still exists) to be backward.

In my view, all non-leaguers should be played to a conclusion unless there is a pre-game agreement or extenuating circumstances that would make overtime periods impractical. A long cross-state trip on the part of the visiting team might be one of the extenuating circumstances. So might an extended weather delay or potentially dangerous field conditions.

Non-league ties are acceptable in soccer. For one thing, playing two overtime periods followed by a penalty-kick shootout can extend a soccer game by 20 minutes or more. Ties are also ingrained in the culture of that sport, being allowed even in the early rounds of World Cup competition.

There’s something about football ties, however, that leave both sides dissatisfied.

Given their underdog role, the Bobcats might have considered a tie with Elma as a moral victory. There’s no doubt, though, that they wound up being much happier with an actual victory.