UCLA Slows Things Down, Cal Speeds Up : College football: Bruins try to nurse 24-14 lead in the final minutes, but Cal comes back to win, 27-24, on late field goal. Ailing White leads Bears’ offense.

It seemed that UCLA was on the verge of beating California at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

The Bruins led, 24-14, with 10 minutes remaining, but Cal rallied to win, 27-24, on Doug Brien’s 47-yard field goal with 30 seconds to play.

UCLA’s best chance to keep Cal off the field in the waning minutes rested with its offense denying the Bears the ball.

However, the Bruins seemed too conservative near the end, trying to work the clock to their advantage.

Then Maury Toy, a third-string UCLA fullback, lost a fumble late in the game to set up the Bears’ tying touchdown.

Tailback Russell White, who had trouble breathing because of an upper respiratory infection, scored on a one-yard run, breaking linebacker Arnold Ale’s tackle.

That was normal procedure for White, a 6-foot, 210-pound running back from Crespi High. He broke tackles all afternoon.

And he did it under duress. White took intravenous fluids at halftime because he was dehydrated, but he did the bulk of the work on the winning field goal drive.

His slashing runs positioned Cal to win the game.

The deciding points came on Brien’s second pressure kick in two weeks. He kicked a 33-yard field goal with three seconds left to beat Arizona, 23-21, in Tucson.

“I knew the kick was good as soon as I hit it,” Brien said.

White and quarterback Mike Pawlawski are formidable offensive threats for the resurging Bears.

White, despite his breathing problems--he didn’t even join the team at the start of the third quarter--gained 121 yards in 25 carries, a 4.8-yard average, and scored two touchdowns.

Pawlawski, from Troy High in Fullerton, completed 27 of 39 passes for 292 yards and one touchdown but threw two interceptions.

California is off to a 4-0 start for the first times since 1977. The Bears proved to a crowd of 53,859 that they are a legitimate Rose Bowl contender, even though third-ranked Washington is regarded as the class of the Pacific 10 Conference.

UCLA (2-2, 0-1) has failed to win consecutive games since midway through the 1989 season.

“We killed ourselves,” UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox said. “We gave it away. We tried to bleed the clock and it backfired on us.”

Maddox had thrown a 21-yard touchdown pass to split end Sean LaChapelle late in the third quarter and Louis Perez added a 39-yard field goal to make it 24-14 before the period ended.

The Bruins were in a good position to win after turning back Cal from the UCLA eight-yard line.

Pawlawski’s pass was tipped by Bruin back Travis Collier and strong safety Matt Darby intercepted in the end zone for a touchback. Then, UCLA seemed to go into a shell. Two running plays netted seven yards and Maddox’s third-down pass was incomplete.

Cal closed to 24-17 on its next possession on Brien’s 33-yard field goal.

Then, things began to unravel for UCLA.

Toy, playing fullback because Kevin Smith and Kaleaph Carter are injured, fumbled on first down at the UCLA 20-yard line. Jerriott Willard, a freshman linebacker from Corona del Mar, caused the fumble and another linebacker, Cornell Collier, recovered.

“The ball was popped loose with a helmet,” Toy said. “I was thinking ball security, and it was knocked loose. The fullback has to secure the ball, and that’s when I failed the team.”

From the UCLA 27, Pawlawski passed to wide receiver Brian Treggs on a sideline pattern for 24 yards. White got the touchdown on third down with his tackle-breaking burst.

“Ain’t one guy ever going to tackle Russell White,” Treggs said.

UCLA was ineffective again on its next possession. Tailback Kevin Williams lost six yards on first down from the Bruin 22 and two passes by Maddox were incomplete. So UCLA punted to the Bears, who began their winning drive from their 40-yard line.

“Cal did the things to win the game when it was on the line in the fourth quarter and we didn’t,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said.

“It’s a tough loss because it’s the first time in some 40 years we have lost to Cal two years in a row.”

The Bruins did so in 1949 and 1950. It was UCLA’s first loss to Cal in Los Angeles since 1971.

Donahue wouldn’t second-guess his offensive coordinator, Homer Smith, for seemingly conservative calls when UCLA led, 24-14.

“We wanted to generate a clock-eating offense,” he said. “If we had thrown the ball and (it had been intercepted), someone would have asked me, ‘Why did you throw the ball?’ ”

Said California Coach Bruce Snyder: “The last two games we were behind and we found a way to win,” he said.

Of White, Snyder said: “He had a difficult day, but he played a great game. Early on, he couldn’t get enough oxygen in his lungs, so he stumbled through the first half.”

UCLA defensive end Mike Chalenski was impressed by White, saying: “He is really a good running back. One time I knocked him five yards backward and he kept his legs going. There was nothing I could do.”

UCLA Notes

The score was 14-14 at halftime. Cal scored on a 19-yard pass from Mike Pawlawski to wide receiver Sean Dawkins and White’s one-yard run. UCLA countered on a 22-yard pass from Tommy Maddox to Sean LaChapelle and fullback Kaleaph Carter’s one-yard run. LaChapelle had career highs in catches (eight) and yards (136).

Maddox completed 19 of 33 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns along with one interception. Maddox threw a pass that split end Michael Moore apparently had caught at the Cal 22-yard line in the second quarter. However, Cal cornerback Wolf Barber stole the ball. . . . UCLA lost free safety Othello Henderson in the second quarter because of a neck injury. Cornerback Dion Lambert sat out because of a foot injury.