The 50 Year Reunion of the Thousand Oaks H.S. 1976 Marmonte League Champion Football team

Tues.-Thurs., Sept. 7-10, 2026

The past few days were spent in the final preparations, after months of planning and organizing, for the 50 year reunion of the 1976 football team at Thousand Oaks H.S. that won the Marmonte League Championship.

The 1976 Thousand Oaks Lancers

BRUISERS!

Only three players on this roster weighed over 200 lbs., our Fullback and two Linemen, all starters.

My role on that long ago team was to serve as the Special Teams Coach while also coaching the Defensive Line and the Guards and Centers.

We operated with a four man coaching staff that season.

Our Head Coach was Joe Howell, as fine a man as I've ever known and a great person to learn from for a young, aspiring coach like myself.

Bob Musella was our Offensive Coordinator and Larry Stonebraker ran the Defense.

These three coaches all brought great talents to the formation of this unique squad.

The Thousand Oaks News Chronicle's

season ending article

As background for this team's special brand of mental and physical toughness, we must first talk about the 1975 TOHS season.

After winning Marmonte League Championships in 1972, 1973 and 1974, the 1975 campaign was, to be kind, a football disaster.

That 1975 season saw the Lancers slip to a 1-8 record that included no wins in Marmonte League play. We had gone from the proverbial penthouse to the outhouse in nine frustrating weeks.

At the conclusion of the banquet after the 1975 season, a fiery Junior Guard/Linebacker by the name of Paul Gomes took the podium in an impromptu fashion and gave each member of the coaching staff a bottle of champagne. Paul stated that these bottles of the bubbly were to be opened next season after the team once again won the Marmonte League title!

A bold statement to be sure but the 1976 team's hard work in the off-season and Summer were promising to say the least.

Then the season started off with three consecutive close losses by a total of just 13 points. Our resolve and that bold prediction were both being severly tested.

Up next was our final non-league tune-up against the C.I.F.'s #3 ranked "AA" and undefeated Agoura HS Chargers, a team that we had lost to in each of the past four seasons.

This game took place at Agoura on a typically hot Saturday afternoon before the Chargers Stadium had lights. One local News Chronicle sportswriter, "Irish John," famously predicted an Agoura victory by an astounding 66 points!

To say that this "bulletin board" prediction lit a fire under our club was a vast understatement. The Lancers played a marvelous game despite the heat and the excellence of the Chargers. The Lancers upset the home standing Chargers by two points!

Now it was on to Marmonte League play with the Lancers 1-3 record now earning the local papers now predicted for a fourth place finish in the six team Marmonte League that would also mean no C.I.F. playoffs for the second straight year.

With this squad's usual flair for cardiac levels of drama, we won our first three league games by a total of a mere eight points.

The fourth league contest was against our Conejo Valley arch-rivals and league favorites, the Newbury Park Panthers who already had one loss in league play. The Panthers won a hard fought defensive battle, 7-0. If we could win our last game of the regular season, a Marmonte League Co-Championship was our likely prize.

The Lancers, by our 1976 standards, "blew out" Camarillo in that game by TEN points.

Co-Champs it was.

At our team meeting on Saturday morning in a TOHS classroom, and might I add completely out of character, Joe Howell produced that now one year old bottle of champagne. He hand the coaches the appropriate glass, opened the bottle, poured us each a glassful of the sweet wine and we all four toasted the assembled team for following through on what they had set out to do.

Not so fast my friend, there is more.

While we were playing Camarillo on a Friday night, Newbury Park was playing a lowly Royal HS Highlander squad that was just 1-7 overall and 1-3 in Marmonte League action.

Now, one must remember that this game was played long before the internet and social media was even a twinkle of a thought in some genius' mind. That fateful Saturday night, Laurie and I spent the night with my family in San Marino.

At breakfast on Sunday, I opened up the Los Angeles Times and turned to the Sports section. There, in bold black and white, was the score of the previous evenings Newbury Park-Royal game, THE HIGHLANDERS HAD UPSET THE PANTHERS!

The Marmonte League Football Championship was once again 100% residing back in Lancer Stadium!

In the ensuing C.I.F. "AAAA" Playoffs, the Muir HS Mustangs would humble our team for the first and only time that season, but, no matter, we had a league championship that no one could ever take away from us.

1976 Thousand Oaks Lancers

Marmonte League Champions

Final Season Results

5 Wins - 5 Losses

Buena 10 - TOHS 7

Burbank 20 - TOHS 18

Dos Pueblos 20 - TOHS 12

TOHS 22 - Agoura 20

* TOHS 17 - Simi Valley 14

* TOHS 3 - Oxnard 0

* TOHS 14 - Royal 12

* Newbury Park 7 - TOHS 0

* TOHS 10 - Camarillo 0

** Muir 48 - TOHS 13

* Marmonte League Game

** C.I.F. "AAAA" Playoff Game

Coach Joe Howell was named the

Marmonte League Coach-of-the-Year

A well deserved honor in my opinion.

The Lancers had 19 players

selected to the 1976 All-Marmonte

First, Second and Honorable

Mention teams

Our stat sheet from that season shows the Lancers running for an average of 168.0 yards per game while passing for a whopping 37.3 yards per contest.

In Marmonte League play, the Lancers outscored their five opponents by a combined 44-33. As our son, Michael, pointed out that would be a typical Third Quarter score in a high school game these days.

DEFENSE WINS

CHAMPIONSHIPS!

The game of high school football has definitely changed over the last half century.

On Thursday, at 3:00 p.m., we gathered players from that 1976 team at the Sunset Terrace Restaurant in Thousand Oaks for a reunion that led to the re-telling of tall tales from our shared youth.

 

Glenn Goulet and Norm Brown

were the first two Lancers to arrive

Glenn Wennberg and his wife talking

to the Mother of teammate Mike Ellis

After the season, Mike tragically passed away in a plane accident.

Glenn Wennberg, Glenn Goulet &

his wife, Norm Brown & his wife,

Mike Barry and Mrs. Ellis

Norm Brown, Shannon McCrillis,

Paul Gomes and Tom Halub

With Glenn Goulet who helped greatly

in reaching out to his teammates

Now we're getting busy

Here come those tall tales

A good time was had by all!

With Tyrone, the owner of the

Sunset Terrace Restaurant

Tyrone has graciously hosted our 50 year Thousand Oaks HS Football Reunions that have now honored our 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1976 Marmonte Leeague Championship teams.

He has been extremely good to us with his incredible generosity.

THANK YOU, TYRONE!

"Do you remember that time . . ."

Larry Mohr and Duane Claunch

We were having a great time but,

after three hours of fellowship,

it was time to head over to

Lancer Stadium for tonight's game

The Newbury Park Panthers (1-2)

at

The Thousand Oaks Lancers (1-2)

Both teams were off to slow starts this year.

Gathering in front of the Field

House before entering the stadium

Here come the aging Lancers!

Our 1976 Marmonte League Champion

Lancers being introduced with a 

warm ovation from the home crowd

Left to Right: Tim Foor, Glenn Goulet, Richard Callis, Bill Farrell, Mike Barry, Norm Brown, George Contreras, Ted Smith, David Hillard, Will Reynolds (on a knee), Duane Claunch, Glenn Wennberg, Martin Bates, Paul Gomes (leaning over), Mark Malstrom, Russ McFadden, Shannon McCrillis, Robert Richards, Larry Mohr and Tom Halub

The Conejo Valley Rivalry Trophy

Laurie and I attended the first game between these two schools in 1970, a memorable 48-48 tie.

1976 Co-Captains Paul Gomes, in
white on the left, and Larry Mohr,

in black on the right, joined the 2026

TOHS Lancers captains for the

pre-game coin flip

Here come the Lancers!

But, unfortunately, . . .

. . . there went the Panthers

In an absolutely dominating performance, the Panthers led at Halftime, 50-0.

After this astounding display by Newbury Park, the entire Second Half was played by mutual agreement with a running clock and lots of back-up from both squads.

FINAL SCORE

Newbury Park (2-2) - 50

Thousand Oaks (1-3) - 0

Mama said there'd be days like this.

Up next for Thousand Oaks is their final non-league game at Lancaster (2-1) next Friday before starting the Channel League portion of their schedule.

Meanwhile, Newbury Park's last non-league tuneup contest will be at home next Friday against Muir (1-2) before opening their rugged Marmonte League schedule.

As for our 1976 team's 50 year reunion, I, for one, had a absolute HOOT!

It was so much fun seeing these great men after so many years and getting a chance to catch up with them.

Thanks again to Tyrone and the entire staff at the Sunset Terrace Restaurant for making this event so incredibly memorable.

Perhaps we'll all meet again in another 50 years?

Probably not but still . . .

GO LANCERS!