Ex-Cal player Garner, part of The Play, dies

Dwight Garner, who caught one lateral and pitched another in Cal’s frenzied kickoff return through Stanford players and band members to win the 1982 Big Game, died just before the 40th anniversary of The Play. He was 58.

The school announced his death Saturday, just hours before kickoff of the 125th Big Game between Cal and Stanford at Memorial Stadium.

On Nov. 20, 1982, Garner, a running back out of Oakland’s Skyline High School, caught the second lateral from Richard Rodgers around the Cal 45-yard line, juked to his left and ran straight into a pile of Cardinal defenders. Garner managed to pitch the ball back to Rodgers as Garner’s knee was going down.

The final lateral on the play, from Mariet Ford to Kevin Moen, allowed Moen to sprint the final 25 to the end zone — where he plowed over trombone player Gary Tyrrell.

Garner was the Bears’ leading kick and punt returner his sophomore season and their top receiver as a junior. In four seasons at Cal, he had 258 carries for 1,048 and eight touchdowns. He also made 120 receptions for 1,027 yards and one TD.

He played in two NFL games for Washington, which signed him as an undrafted free agent, as a kick returner in 1986.

Garner’s son, David, played safety at Cal in 2013 through ’16. College football: Jake Moody kicked a 35-yard field goal with nine seconds left as No. 3 Michigan survived a scare from visiting Illinois, winning 19-17 on Saturday. The Wolverines (11-0) trailed 17-10 in the fourth quarter before Moody hit three field goals in the final 12:31. Michigan running back Blake Corum, who had 103 yards rushing in the first half before suffering a knee injury, had just one carry in the second half . ... In Waco, Texas, Griffin Kell kicked a 40yard field goal on the final play of the game to give No. 4 TCU (11-0) a 29-28 win over Baylor . ... Jase McClellan rushed for 156 yards and two touchdowns and Jermaine Burton caught two scoring passes from Bryce Young as No. 8 Alabama (9-2) beat visiting Austin Peay 34-0 . ... Fullback Daba Fofana rushed for 114 yards and visiting Navy won 17-14 over No. 17 Central Florida (8-3) despite completing zero passes . ... Jordan Travis and Treshaun Ward each had two touchdown runs in the first half and No. 20 Florida State (8-3) ran for 251 yards in a 49-17 win over visiting Louisiana.

College basketball: DaRon Holmes II scored 18 points as No. 21 Dayton topped visiting Robert Morris 60-51 . ... In women’s play, Rickea Jackson scored 26 points to lead No. 11 Tennessee to a 94-54 win over Rutgers in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Tennis: In Turin, Italy, Novak Djokovic beat Taylor Fritz 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) to reach the championship match in the ATP Finals. The Serb will face Casper Ruud, 6-2, 6-4 winner over Andrey Rublev, in Sunday’s final.

Skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States beat Sweden’s Swenn Larsson by 0.16 seconds to win the World Cup’s seasonopening slalom race in Levi, Finland. It was Shiffrin’s record 48th slalom victory.

NHL: Yegor Sharangovich and Michael McLeod each had a goal and an assist as the New Jersey Devils extended their winning streak to 12 games with a 5-1 win over the host Ottawa Senators.

NBA: Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant is expected to be sidelined for at least a week because of a sprained ankle . ... Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has a hairline fracture in his right thumb, but the team is unsure if he will miss any games.

Golf: Jon Rahm shot 7-underpar 65 to improve to 15-under, good for a one-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. Rory McIlroy, who is battling Fitzpatrick for the Harry Vardon Trophy as the season’s top money winner, is three shots behind Rahm after a 65 . ... Stanford alum Patrick Rodgers shot 6-under 64 to improve to 14-under for a share of the lead with Ben Martin in the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic in Georgia.

Cross country: Charles Hicks became Stanford’s first NCAA men’s cross country individual champion, crossing the finish line in a course-record 28:43.6 in Stillwater, Okla. Northern Arizona won the men’s team title and North Carolina State was the women’s champion.