Allen Enjoys a Day at the Beach With 49ers, 28-7

It was hard to tell if it was a smile or a grin of disbelief that George Allen wore as he walked off the field Saturday afternoon. It seemed, he said, as if it had taken 40 years, but he had finally won a football game again.

“This is bigger than an NFL victory because these kids have been down for so long,” Allen, 72, said after Cal State Long Beach defeated Pacific, 28-7, before 5,366 in Veterans Stadium.

It was actually 34 years ago when Allen, then at Whittier, last coached a college team to victory. The former NFL coach, who has spent nine months at his new job of trying to rebuild Long Beach football, said he was amazed that the 49ers ended their three-game losing streak.

‘I’ve got to pinch myself to be sure,” Allen said. “I’m still numb.”

Long Beach (1-3 overall, 1-1 in the Big West) took its first lead of the season in the first quarter on a 32-yard pass play from Todd Studer to Jeff Exum.

Studer, a junior college transfer, completed 18 of 29 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns.

Wide receivers Mark Seay and Gerald Woodyard, who scored two touchdowns, combined for nine catches.

The 49ers shut down the run-and-shoot offense of Pacific (1-3, 0-2) almost completely in the first half. Then they stopped the Tigers twice early in the third quarter when Pacific threatened to tie the score, once on a goal-line interception by Shawn Wilbourn.

“Our defense held up the whole game,” Allen said. “I used three linemen, two linebackers and six defensive backs. I call it a dime.”

Pacific scored late in the third quarter to cut the lead to 14-7 on a 30-yard pass play from Troy Kopp to Aaron Turner, but Studer came back with scoring pass plays of seven and 60 yards to Woodyard in the fourth quarter.

Declining the game ball, Allen gave it to Seay, who lost a kidney in a shooting two years ago and missed last season.

“He inspired me,” Allen said.

As the 49ers left their locker room, tight end Bryon Hamilton, who caught four passes for 73 yards, got his coach’s autograph on the game program to commemorate the occasion.

That was a new experience for Allen, as was getting doused with ice water on the sidelines as the clock ran out.