Reseda Loses Lead and Sight of Pac 8 Title

University High Coach Joe Sedia was having trouble seeing clearly. A fan had just dumped a cup of water on his head, and one of the lenses from his glasses had been knocked loose in the postgame celebration.

Despite all of Sedia’s distractions, however, a few things were still in focus, including University’s first football championship in its 64-year history and a berth in the City Section 2-A playoffs.

And then there was the Warriors’ thrilling 29-24 come-from-behind victory over Reseda on Friday at University.

But if Sedia and the rest of the capacity home crowd had lost sight of a win a few minutes earlier, nobody would have blamed them. Reseda (7-2, 5-2) had allowed just 26 points in eight games all year , and the Regents had a 24-7 lead.

Chances of a Pac 8 title for University seemed dim.

But it would be a day of firsts for University (8-1, 6-1), as the team scored the final 22 points of the game. The victory also marked University’s first win over Reseda in six seasons of Pac 8 play.

Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer didn’t like the looks of what he’d just seen.

“I think we got complacent when we took that big lead in the third quarter,” Schaeffer said. “When you score as fast as we did, sometimes kids can get a little too confident.”

After a 7-7 first half, the Reseda defense forced three turnovers in the opening minutes of the third quarter, and the Regent offense quickly converted them into a 24-7 lead.

University’s Amani Davis fumbled the second-half kickoff, and Sam Edwards picked up the loose ball and ran 10 yards for a touchdown and 14-7 Reseda lead.

Following another University turnover moments later, George Konstantinopoulos gave the Regents a 17-7 lead with a 43-yard field goal.

After University fielded its third kickoff in as many minutes, Reseda’s Kevin Gravning intercepted a Daryl Hobbs pass at the University 27. Two plays later, Ronald Wilkinson scored from the 14, giving Reseda a commanding 24-7 lead.

But for the first time this year, Reseda’s defense disappeared. Hobbs threw touchdown passes of 31, 27 and 40 yards in the final 19 minutes as the Reseda secondary seemed dumbfounded by what was happening.

“We had been throwing short passes underneath all game,” Sedia said. “We were trying to loosen up their deep coverage so our outside guys could go deep later on.”

It worked. Hobbs completed 13 of 20 passes for 233 yards.

Reseda clung to a 24-14 lead with seven minutes left when Hobbs hit Marc Rodgers for a 27-yard touchdown, pulling the Warriors to within 24-22 after a successful two-point conversion.

Two possessions later, after misfiring on three attempts, Hobbs connected with a wide-open Paul Richardson on a critical fourth-and-10 play from the Reseda 40 with 3:17 left, giving the Warriors a 29-24 win.

“We finally made it,” said Hobbs, who intercepted a last-minute pass by Grant to seal the win. “Winning it for Sedia in front of all of these people made it even better.”

And for the 2,500 in attendance, it was quite an eyeful.