It was a game for the ages.
A game that hinged on one play, and one referee's call, with 11 seconds left on the clock.
A game that left one team shocked, then ecstatic, and the other heartbroken.
After Rancho Alamitos High showed dominance over visiting Westminster High for an 18 point lead through three quarters in the second round of CIF playoffs last week at Bolsa Grande Stadium, the Lions chipped away and made it a game.
Final: Rancho 34, Westminster 29.
It was a game for the ages.
A game that hinged on one play, and one referee's call, with 11 seconds left on the clock.
A game that left one team shocked, then ecstatic, and the other heartbroken.
After Rancho Alamitos High showed dominance over visiting Westminster High for an 18 point lead through three quarters in the second round of CIF playoffs last week at Bolsa Grande Stadium, the Lions chipped away and made it a game.
Final: Rancho 34, Westminster 29.
Rancho’s Nick Brown threw for 330 yards and four touchdowns with receivers Devin Velez, Alberto Meneses and Joe Lainez gaining 100 yards each.
Brown’s 49 touchdowns on the season is an Orange County record. Westminster's Humberto Maciel ran for 265 yards on 39 carries. He also finished as the third highest scorer in the county, with 183 points on the year.
The game began with the Lions driving down the field as quarterback Matt Dinh moved the chains, leading to a 34-yard Maciel field goal. This was quickly answered by a 4-yard Andy Alcala touchdown run for the Vaqueros and a 7-3 lead.
The Lions' alternating quarterback system had Luke Goode lead a drive downfield that ended with a dropped, would be, touchdown pass before Brown took Rancho 85 yards, ending with a TD pass.
The Lions' Maciel racked up some of his 250 yards rushing and scored his first of four touchdowns of the night. But Maciel, who asked officials to move the point after attempt off center to avoid a mud hole and was denied, missed the extra point and making the score 14-9 in favor of the Vaqueros.
Brown wasted no time in throwing another touchdown pass, giving the Vaqueros a 21-9 halftime lead.
The second half opened with the Vaqueros recovering a fumble on the Lions' 20 yard line and Brown throwing another TD pass for a 27-9 lead. The Lions decided that Dinh’s running ability (11 carries for 77 yards) would keep him at quarterback the rest of the game and he and Maciel marched down the field to pull within 27-16.
The Vaqueros scored again and led 34-16 after three quarters.
That's when Maciel put the Lions' squad on his back.
With a holding call killing a Lions drive, Maciel boomed a 51-yard punt before Thomas Nguyen picked off a Brown pass in the end zone. The Lions went on an 80-yard drive, ending with a 14-yard score by Maciel.
His next move was to kick, and recover, his own on-side kickoff before accounting for every yard on the next drive that included hurdling two Rancho players on the way to his fourth touchdown. The Vaqueros dug in deep, stopping the 2-point conversion attempt in what may have won them the game.
Maciel’s final kickout went out of the end zone and the Lions defense allowed Brown’s Vaqueros to the Lions 45 yard line before digging in and forcing a punt. The Lions now had 3:43 seconds left to make or break their season.
They mixed up a 13-play drive with seven runs and six passes that included 20 yard gains by Maciel and Daniel White. The crowds, sidelines, cheerleaders and players' voices were deafening as the ball was snapped with a Lions fourth down and five from the Vaqueros' 20 yard line.
Dinh rolled to his left and sidestepped one rusher, hitting Dat Tran for what appeared to be the winning touchdown as the Lions took the lead, 35-34, with 11 seconds remaining on the clock.
Or did they?
As Tran was chased to the opposite side of the end zone by his celebrating teammates, the linesman (box judge) on the opposite sideline of the play tossed a penalty flag. The Lions coaching staff saw this and were convinced that a celebration penalty had been called.
But no. The box judge had called an illegal forward pass as he deemed that Dinh had passed the line of scrimmage before he let go of the pass.
The wild Westminster celebration came to a sudden halt as, one by one, the coaches and players of Rancho lifted their heads as they tried to comprehend what they were hearing. The referee said that an “illegal forward pass is loss of down…first down Rancho Alamitos!”
As Rancho’s head coach, Mike Enright, jumped in jubilation his team quickly figured out what their destiny was. They only had to take a snap and then a knee and, at 10-2, they would now face Canyon High in the semifinals of the playoffs at Bolsa Grande Stadium. Westminster ended its season with a 9-3 record.
