Odd Kick Return Propels Beverly Hills Past Harvard

Harvard High had not beaten archrival Beverly Hills since 1983 and had dropped 12 of the past 13 meetings with the Normans.

But this was supposed to be the year.

The Division VII Saracens entered Saturday’s home game with a 2-0 record, and the Division III Normans limped in at 0-2. Add to that the fact that Beverly Hills had skipped two days of practice because of Rosh Hashanah, and the outlook looked bright for the boys of Harvard.

However, all that prognostication didn’t take into account a quirky kickoff return that helped propel Beverly Hills to a 24-12 nonleague win at Harvard.

With Harvard leading, 6-3, early in the third quarter, Beverly Hills’ Darren Smith fielded a kickoff at his own 20, where he immediately fumbled. The ball bounced 10 yards in front of him and through a swarm of about a dozen players. Smith quickly appeared on the other side of the cluster, picked up the ball and raced untouched for a touchdown and a 10-6 lead.

“That was a real deflater,” Harvard Coach Gary Thran said. “Sometimes you’re faced with a situation that you just can’t do anything about.”

That helpless feeling continued as the Saracens watched Beverly Hills quarterback Ziv Gottlieb connect for a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes and a 24-6 lead.

Gottlieb, who completed 11 of 24 passes for 157 yards, hit David Saraf on a 49-yard scoring play and found tight end Carl Benedetti from six yards.

Harvard had taken the 6-3 lead on the first drive of the second half, when Iheanyi Uwaezuoke caught a 32-yard touchdown pass from reserve quarterback Greg Peters. Bobby Bell added a 33-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.