Saugus Stymies Royal’s Two-Point Attempt and Wins, 27-25

Saugus High stopped Royal on a two-point conversion with seconds to play Friday night and escaped with a 27-25 nonleague football victory at Moorpark College.

The scoreboard was inoperable throughout the game, so when Royal found itself driving 67 yards to a score in the final two minutes, it had to rely on occasional updates from the officials to determine how much time remained. The drive culminated with a 13-yard touchdown run by quarterback Chris McGrath with what was announced as five seconds to play.

But McGrath’s pass for a two-point conversion was intercepted by linebacker Tony Destefano.

“It’s disgusting to lose,” McGrath said. “But we gave it our all.”

Junior fullback Chris Johnson of Saugus, who rushed for a game-high 110 yards in 24 carries, had three one-yard touchdown runs. Johnson added what would have been a fourth one-yard score with 5 minutes 13 seconds left, but the play was nullified by an illegal-procedure penalty.

Quarterback Bobby Cowan, who completed eight of 16 passes for 145 yards, later tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Rodriguez on fourth down to give the Centurions (1-0-1) a 27-19 lead with 2 minutes 23 seconds to play.

“We just kept trying to run down the clock,” Johnson said. “But when you don’t see it moving, you don’t have a sense of what you’re doing.”

Johnson’s third one-yard dive, with 4:27 left in the third quarter, snapped a 13-13 halftime tie.

Royal fullback Mike Reddington ran seven yards for a touchdown on the Highlanders’ next possession, but Brad Cavner’s kick was wide.

In the first half, Royal’s Rommel Butler intercepted Cowan’s first pass and returned it 33 yards to the Highlanders’ 49-yard line. On the next play, McGrath zipped a short pass over the middle to tailback Michael Streeter, who dashed to the right sideline and outran the Saugus secondary to complete a 51-yard scoring play midway through the first period.

Saugus used a 14-play, 58-yard drive to pull even, 7-7, early in the second quarter. Four players carried on the drive, including Johnson for the final yard.

Royal (1-1) started its ensuing drive on Saugus’ 38 after a good kickoff return by Andre Desaussure. Four plays later, Streeter threw a 31-yard option pass to David Brown for a first down at the one-yard line. Streeter, who rushed for 162 yards last week against Santa Paula, plunged over for the touchdown. Cavner’s kick was blocked.

Saugus then drove 71 yards in the final two minutes of the half to pull even again on a Johnson dive with 30 seconds to play.