An Emotional Night for Reseda

It was nothing spectacular, just a simple run to the left. But Reseda High tailback Richard Jackson turned it into a 21-yard gain and that was enough to get his team, playing Friday night at Cleveland High, excited about football again.

It was Reseda’s first game since the Regents’ two-way star, Eric Hoggatt, died in his sleep hours after last week’s season opener. Several players had spoken at a tearful memorial before the game and they still faced the specter of today’s funeral.

So it took Jackson’s grinding run, early in the first quarter, to bring life to a somber Reseda squad. Several plays later, quarterback Jamaal Washington threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Michael Martin for the first score in an emotional 21-20 victory over their cross-town rival.

Both Washington and Martin had eulogized their teammate at a ceremony before 1,800 students that afternoon. Washington called Hoggatt “the joyfullest person on the campus.” But no one on the team was talking much before Friday night’s game.

“You could not imagine,” said Coach Joel Schaeffer, referring to the long week his team had endured. “I’ve never been through anything like that before.”

On the opposite sideline, Cleveland Coach Joe Santellano could sympathize. He was a Chatsworth High assistant coach in 1987 when defensive back DeWayne Lyons suffered a broken neck and was left paralyzed from the waist down.

“I know they feel bad and they’re going to feel bad for a long time,” Santellano said of the Reseda coaches and players. “But I know they’re going to be up for this game. Their backs are to the wall.”

After falling behind, 14-0, Cleveland rallied to make it 21-20 as Jared Mills threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jose Garcia with 19 seconds to play. But on a two-point conversion attempt, Reseda stopped Emory Holmes short of the goal line.