PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE : University Loses Call, Then Game

University quarterback Damian Defeo’s pass to Fred Roberts was on target, but Roberts didn’t squeeze the ball before he went into a roll in the end zone. It was fourth and goal from the six, and with only 43 seconds left, this was going to be--at least--the tying touchdown.

But as Roberts went to the ground, two different sidelines saw two different things. And five officials apparently saw nothing.

None of them signaled touchdown. None of them signaled an incomplete pass.

Roberts picked himself up holding the ball in the air as though he had scored.

Laguna Hills defenders waved their hands in front of them as though he had trapped the ball.

The two officials nearest the play looked at each other. Then they talked, somewhere between 20 and 40 seconds. And then Steve Brown signaled incomplete.

Roberts fell to the ground in disappointment, and ninth-ranked University fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in a heartbeat.

Laguna Hills got 212 yards and two touchdowns from Mike Jones, survived a couple of agonizing moments at the end, and took its place atop the Pacific Coast League with a 20-14 victory at Irvine.

Laguna Hills, last year’s league champion, is 7-1, 3-0 in the PCL. University, trying to win its first league title since 1974, is 7-1, 2-1.

Neither University Coach Mark Cunningham nor Laguna Hills’ Steve Bresnahan said they had ever been involved in a game in which officials--by their interpretation, judgment or inaction--had played such a pivotal role.

And both saw the same controversial play through rose-colored glasses.

Bresnahan: “That ball hit the ground when [Roberts] rolled over. . . . On that play, the officiating crew did a good job. It all evens out.”

Cunningham: “They blew it. He had the ball and it started to slip out, but it hit his knee and came right back to him. He rolled on the ground and the ball never touched the ground. If [the officials] saw it, they should have called it right away. If you didn’t see something, how can you make the call?”

Cunningham said Roberts told him he caught it, “but I wouldn’t expect any other answer.”

Whether the officials, who whistled University nine times for 90 yards or Laguna Hills six times for 45, made the right call or not on University’s final offensive play, both teams were at fault for letting it get that far.

University turned a muffed punt reception at the 21 into a six-yard scoring run by Jarret Mahoney to tie the score at 7-7, and Laguna Hills converted a Trojan turnover into a 74-yard scoring drive that ended with Cory Pardoe scoring from the one. Jones gained 55 of those yards.

On University’s next drive, Dustin Mang picked up a fumble at the end of a 38-yard pass completion to Mahoney--at the Hawk 30--to set up Laguna Hills’ winning touchdown, a 64-yard run by Jones. The point-after attempt was blocked.