California Wins on Last Play

California high school defenses have seen Los Alamitos’ Keenan Howry and Newhall Hart’s Kyle Boller perform miracles for three years. Now Texas has seen it too.

Boller hit Howry on a 37-yard desperation pass as time expired to give California a wild, 28-25 come-from-behind victory over Texas in the 48th annual Shrine Football Classic before an announced crowd of 8,000 at Cerritos College Saturday night.

Howry, who is going to Oregon, and Texas defensive back Jason Frederick came down with the ball together in the front corner of the end zone. A touchdown was signaled, causing celebration, a couple of small shoving matches and a thrown football by Frederick in the direction of the California celebration.

“I wasn’t sure if [the official] was going to give me the touchdown or call it an interception,” said Howry, who also made the key reception to set up California’s touchdown that made it 25-22. “I was just struggling with it, fighting for it.

“I saw everybody going crazy and it felt awesome.”

Victory looked out of reach for California after a Dan Walker 45-yard field goal made it 25-15 Texas with 7 minutes 10 seconds to go.

But with less than two minutes left, Long Beach Poly’s Chris Lewis, who had to leave the game after being shaken up by a hit in the fourth, hit Howry down the sideline for a 33-yard gain to the one, and Sacramento Grant’s Onterrio Smith dove in for a score with 1:47 left.

A California onside kick was recovered by Smith, but it was ruled California touched the ball before it went 10 yards.

Texas’ attempt to run out the clock failed, as quarterback Colby Freeman, the Texas player of the game, ran back six yards on fourth down but took a knee with two seconds remaining, setting up Boller and Howry’s heroics.

Boller finished the game nine of 18 for 105 yards and two touchdowns, and was knocked out of the game after a hard hit on the jaw on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Texas defensive line dominated the California offensive line, putting Boller and Lewis under a lot of pressure.