Raiders Win Flag Football Game : Pro football: They overcome team-record 17 penalties to deny San Diego a chance to clinch the AFC West title.

The Raiders couldn’t seem to do anything right Monday night at Jack Murphy Stadium.

They couldn’t seem to rush without going offside.

They couldn’t seem to block without holding.

They couldn’t seem to get a play off on time, run back a punt without illegally hitting somebody or run a play without doing something wrong.

Quarterback Jeff Hostetler couldn’t seem to stay out of harm’s way, even when he went out of bounds.

It was one of those nights for the Raiders. Ugly, frustrating, humiliating.

But they wouldn’t change a minute of it. On a night when they tied a club record with 17 penalties that cost them 146 yards, the Raiders somehow emerged with perhaps their biggest victory of the season, 24-17, over the San Diego Chargers before a stunned and disappointed crowd of 63,012, largest for the team in the history of this stadium.

“Our team had a level of focus that I had not seen before,” cornerback Albert Lewis said. “We were so focused, nothing really mattered.”

It’s not as if the Raiders took all the mistakes lightly.

“We were at each other’s throats the whole game,” Lewis said. “We had every opportunity to lose that game, but we fought and fought. It wasn’t pretty but we got it.”

The fans had come to celebrate. After all, a victory would give their Chargers the AFC West championship. A defeat might sink the final hopes of the hated Raiders for a playoff spot. So they held their tailgate parties and waved their Charger towels and brought the decibel level up to the deafening mark before the opening kickoff.

The emotional tide was going the Chargers’ way.

But only until Hostetler got his hands on the ball. On the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage, the Raider quarterback faked a handoff to tailback Harvey Williams and then spotted Alexander Wright downfield. Wright had broken free when safety Stanley Richard blew his assignment. Hostetler lofted a pass that Wright caught at the Charger 30-yard line and never looked back, completing a 76-yard play.

The roar ended. A hush began.

Before the night was over, Hostetler would complete 22 of 29 passes for 319 yards and throw the winning touchdown pass to Rocket Ismail, a six-yarder in the fourth quarter.

But it wasn’t all smiles and raised hands. Hostetler spent some nervous moments on the sidelines, holding a smashed and bloody left hand. He was hurt early in the second quarter when he rolled out of bounds after picking up a first down on a seven-yard run. Defensive back Darrien Gordon, pursuing Hostetler, stepped on his hand.

The score then was even, San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries having hit Shawn Jefferson with a 29-yard touchdown pass to match the Hostetler-Wright scoring play.

Enter Vince Evans.

On his third play from scrimmage, Evans hit Ismail at the back of the end zone on a six-yard touchdown pass to put the Raiders back in front.

“With myself and other young receivers,” Ismail said, “I don’t think Jeff has the confidence level in us that he has in Tim (Brown). I’ve been working every day in practice to try to change that. Tonight, all that work paid off.”

Despite Ismail’s first touchdown catch of the night, the game was tied again before the half, however, when Gale Gilbert threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Tony Martin. Gilbert replaced Humphries late in the half after the San Diego quarterback injured his thumb against an onrushing Raider.

The Raiders had nine penalties in the first quarter alone, 14 by halftime. They came in every shape and form, enough flags for a presidential motorcade.

On one play late in the second quarter, Gordon was waiting to field a punt when an onrushing Dan Land leveled the Charger return man.

“Some of the penalties I’ve no problem with,” Raider linebacker Winston Moss said. “Our guys running around trying to knock the (stuff) out of somebody, that’s good.

“What Dan Land did . . . I guarantee you (Gordon) fumbled at the end because he was worried about somebody taking his head off.”

With three minutes to play, Gordon fumbled the ball on a punt, but recovered his own fumble. But he lost a chance for good field position, and the Chargers were unable to advance on that drive. Overall, he gained only 26 yards on two punts.

Both starting quarterbacks returned in the second half, Hostetler with his bruised left hand, Humphries with his sprained thumb.

But nobody scored again until the fourth quarter when the two teams matched field goals, Jeff Jaeger from 43 yards out, John Carney from 24 yards.

Then came the game-winner.

The Raiders improved their record to 7-6, lowering the Chargers’ to 9-4 and beating a team with a better-than-.500 record for the first time all year.

The Raiders held the Chargers to 47 yards rushing, including only 41 for Natrone Means, who entered the weekend leading the AFC in rushing.

Ugly night? It couldn’t have been more beautiful for the Raiders.