Cal Lutheran Heartbroken in Tiebreaker

After its game against Redlands on Saturday, Cal Lutheran would have liked to turn back the clock.

But even that wouldn’t have helped. The clock had long since stopped.

Tied after four quarters, the Kingsmen and Bulldogs needed a tiebreaker to decide their Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game before 2,169 at Cal Lutheran. Redlands scored 13 points after time expired for a 23-17 victory.

In the SCIAC, if regulation play ends in a tie, each team gets the ball with a first down from the opponent’s 25-yard line.

The Bulldogs (6-1, 3-1 in conference play) went first and scored on Anthony Jones’ six-yard run to take a 17-10 lead.

Cal Lutheran (4-3, 2-2) came back with a one-yard scoring run by Ivan Moreno. Dan Leffler’s extra-point kick tied the score, but Redlands committed a penalty on the play. Given a chance to go for a two-point conversion and the victory from inside the two-yard line, Kingsmen Coach Joe Harper declined and it went to a second overtime tiebreaker.

“Our defense had stopped them all afternoon long, and again, the cardinal rule is, ‘Don’t take points off the board,’ ” Harper said.

Cal Lutheran went first this time and was stopped when Maurice Dixon blocked Leffler’s 25-yard field-goal attempt. Then, two plays after carrying the ball 24 yards to the Cal Lutheran one, Jones (155 yards, 22 carries) scored his second touchdown of overtime and it was finally over.

The Kingsmen trailed, 10-7, for most of the second half before Leffler’s 25-yard field goal with 46 seconds left in regulation.

Mario Guerrero recovered a Redlands fumble with 21 seconds left, but Gary Gianonni blocked Leffler’s 41-yard field-goal attempt as time expired.

Cal Lutheran’s Adam Hacker completed 24 of 40 passes for 234 yards with two interceptions. Moreno caught 10 passes for 81 yards and Pete Marine caught nine for 95 yards, including a 54-yarder for a touchdown that gave the Kingsmen a 7-3 lead in the first quarter.