Finish like few others
Northgate wins as opponent celebrates
When a game goes down to the final seconds, sometimes the most bizarre scenes unfold — and that certainly was the case this weekend.
Take the game Friday in Walnut Creek between Northgate and Berean Christian. The outcome was decided. Berean Christian blocked a potential gamewinning field goal on the final play. The players celebrated. An unbeaten league record was still intact — until it all changed. A Berean Christian player picked up the ball and started to run, pursued by two Northgate players, said Northgate coach Ben Ballard, who re-watched the play on video multiple times.
The Berean Christian player dropped the ball amid the celebration, and Northgate’s Gavin West picked it up apparently around the same time an official started to signal the play dead.
A Berean Christian player tried to tackle West but eased up, thinking the play was over and fearing that he might get called for a game-extending penalty, according to Berean Christian coach James Hodgins.
West kept running, about 15 yards in all, crossing the goal line to turn a one-point defeat into a 19-14 victory.
“The other referees don’t hear the whistle because of the commotion, and they let it stand,” Hodgins said Saturday. “We were hoping to have it on film. But we didn’t have it on film because both of our film guys went crazy, celebrating.
“Our guys did everything they could to get the win. I felt they deserved the win. But it’s like I told them at the end of the game. Life is not fair sometimes. Football mirrors life. That’s why it’s one of the greatest games.”
On the other side, disappointment turned to jubilation. Two weeks after a one-point loss to College Park, Northgate (6-2, 2-1) is back in the Diablo Athletic League Foothill Conference race, tied with Berean Christian and Alhambra for second place, a game behind College Park, which plays Berean Christian this week.
Ballard said he never heard the official blow a whistle.
“He saw two kids swoop in, and he kind of stopped his hand motion,” Ballard said. “There was never a whistle or anything like that. That was kind of my vantage point. But I am also sitting on the other side.”
Ballard added that he has not been involved in a finish quite like this one.
“They were going crazy,” Ballard said. “They had won the game. Insane finish.”
Despite the heartbreak, Hodgins said he is proud of his team, noting that he had only 22 players in uniform.
“I am not using that as an excuse at all,” said Hodgins, whose team’s record slipped to 5-3, 2-1. “Northgate, they battle. It was everything high school football was supposed to be. I enjoy being in a game that close, having it come down to the wire, because our guys will learn so much more from that than a 30point blowout.
“It was fun, Friday night football. We think the refs should have called it a different way. But they didn’t. So we’ll live with it.”