Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.sports From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: THE PLAY Date: Sat, 21 Nov 92 17:35:41 EST Message-ID: \SE D;SPORTS;COLLEGES \SS (WS) \HD THE PLAY \SH Cal's '82 miracle proved it ain't over til it's over \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT BERKELEY, Calif. BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - It began as a desperate game of keep away and in the span of a few seconds became one of the most enduring moments in college football history. It is known simply as The Play, a five-lateral kickoff return for a touchdown as time expired that produced California's miracle 25-20 win over Stanford in the Nov. 20, 1982, Big Game at Berkeley. Ten years later, the play lives in football folklore and as a reminder that, in sports as in life, every second counts. Four Cal players, including two who handled the ball twice, were involved in the chaotic 57-yard return. The final 20 yards of it wound through the Stanford band as it played "All Right Now" in a premature victory celebration. A reunion of the four - Kevin Moen, Mariet Ford, Richard Rodgers, and Dwight Garner - is planned Saturday at Cal's Memorial Stadium, where Stanford and Cal meet in the 95th renewal of the Big Game. They will be on the field together for the first time since their fabled kickoff return during a halftime program. Also planning to attend the game is Gary Tyrrell, the Stanford trombone player who was bowled over in the end zone by Moen's joyous leap. "I haven't missed a Big Game since 1979, and I want to keep that streak going. But I'll try to stay out of the way," quipped Tyrrell, now a controller for a Menlo Park electronics company. Only four seconds stood between Stanford and victory after John Elway led the team on a last-ditch drive capped by Mark Harmon's 35-yard field goal, which gave the Cardinal a 20-19 lead. Stanford had gotten the ball at its own 20 with 1:27 remaining. Three plays later, Elway was facing a fourth-and-17 at his own 13. But presaging what he has done for the Denver Broncos over and over again, Elway completed a 29-yard pass to Emile Harry. Stanford worked down field until with eight seconds left Harmon came in to kick the go-ahead field goal. Four seconds remained. Harmon was mobbed by his teammates, and Stanford was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, a 15-yard penalty that meant Harmon would have to kick off from the Stanford 25. Four seconds remained. Rodgers, the special teams captain, huddled the return unit briefly on the sidelines. "I said, 'Don't fall with the ball. Just try to keep it alive, ' " Rodgers said. Interestingly, neither Moen nor Ford heard Rodgers. Moen had already taken the field. Ford was looking for his shoes, which he had taken off to relieve leg cramps. He found them, but it hurt too much to tie them, and he didn't have time anyway, so he slipped the shoes on, tucked the laces inside and hurried to his deep back position. Harmon shot a squib kick down the field that was picked up at the Cal 43. "I never had gotten a kickoff before," said Moen, who would begin and end The Play. "The ball bounced right to me. I went a few steps, saw Richard Rodgers in the open along the sideline and said, 'Here you go.' It kind of picked up momentum as the laterals went on." "You know in that situation that your only hope is to try to play keepaway and that's pretty much what we did," said Ford. Rodgers, like Moen a former high school quarterback, caught Moen's spiraling lateral but his path was quickly blocked. "There were a couple of Stanford players in front of me, so I pitched it back to Dwight and got behind him just in case he got in trouble, which he did," Rodgers said. Garner nearly reached midfield and was about to be tackled when he pitched the ball back to Rodgers. Apparently the pitch occurred an instant before his knee touched the ground, although that remains a disputed issue especially among Stanford backers. Reviews of the film are inconclusive. Garner believes he got the lateral off in time, and Rodgers, who received the lateral, said there's no doubt in his mind that Garner's pitch was legal. San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Garin Veris, who watched the play from the sidelines as a member of the Stanford team, said he believes to this day that Garner was down. "But there's nothing we can do about that now," he said. Thinking Garner had been tackled, the Stanford band began its post-game celebration, and several Stanford players wandered from the sidelines onto the field, prompting the officials to drop penalty flags. Meantime, Ford had run up from his return position, worked his way between Rodgers and Moen, and Rodgers pitched it to Ford at about the Stanford 47, the fourth lateral in the play. "Once I got the ball, I just took off," Ford said. "As I had watched the play unfold, everything seemed to be in slow motion, until I got the ball. Then, everything seemed like it was in warp speed." Ford bolted for about 20 yards before being hemmed in by two Stanford defenders at about the 25. "I just knew I wasn't going to make it," Ford said. "So, I aimed myself right toward them and let go of the ball." Ford had a sense that Moen was behind him but didn't have time to look back. He used both hands to toss the ball blindly over his back before crashing into the two Stanford players. "Some how, some way the ball came right to me, and I swear, he wasn't even looking when he pitched it," Moen said. Now, Moen bore down for the last leg of the play. "My mind was made up: no more laterals," Moen said. "At that point, it was just put your head down and go for it." Moen weaved his way through startled members of the Stanford band and finally burst into the end zone. "I turned around to see what was happening on the field when I saw a Cal football player running off the field. I figured he just wanted to get out of this mess," said Tyrrell. An instant later, Moen collided with Tyrrell. "I guess I got flattened, but I got right back up. When I heard the cannon go off [signaling a Cal score] I knew something bad had happened," Tyrrell said. Confusion reigned in the aftermath of the play, and it was left to the officials to sort it all out. Referee Charles Moffett recalled huddling with his crew near midfield. "I asked my fellow officials what happened, and they were ashen-faced," Moffett said. "I asked were all those laterals legal, and they all said yes. [Line judge] Gordon Riese said, 'Did you know he scored?' I said, 'What?' He said, 'Yeah, he ran through the band and scored.' I said, 'Well, we got a touchdown.' I stepped out and threw my hands up and it was bedlam." Cal coach Joe Kapp hustled his team off the field, fearful the officials would change their minds. Stanford coach Paul Wiggin lingered on the field, stunned. His players slowly dragged themselves away, their hopes for a bowl bid crushed by the defeat. After the game, Elway complained bitterly about the upholding of the play, saying the officials had ruined his final college game. His view has softened with time. "It's still in the history books. At least I can say I was there," Elway said. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. 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