For Redlands East Valley, double the disappointment

Redlands East Valley High experienced its own brand of double jeopardy against Temecula Chaparral.

The top-seeded Wildcats twice thought they had scored the tying touchdown late in their Inland Division quarterfinal Friday night against the Pumas, only to have controversial calls go against them during a 14-7 loss.

Redlands East Valley Coach Kurt Bruich said Saturday that receiver Charles Harvey should have been awarded a touchdown when he kicked an end zone pylon on a 33-yard catch. Instead, referees marked the ball at the one-yard line with 1.4 seconds left.

“When I found out we didn’t get it,” said Bruich, who had come onto the field to complain about the call, “I was like, ‘Let’s wedge it in before they can get set.’ ”

Tyler Shreve then scored on a quarterback keeper, but the play didn’t count because of a penalty -- on Chaparral. The Pumas had 12 men on the field and the play was blown dead.

The teams lined up again, and Chaparral stopped Shreve short of the end zone to preserve the victory.

“It was just screwy,” Bruich said. “I’m not one to [complain] about officials, but when it’s that close and it’s that big of a game and we scored twice . . .”

It was the third time in four years that Chaparral has knocked Redlands East Valley out of the playoffs; the Pumas defeated the Wildcats, 20-0, last year in a quarterfinal and beat them, 27-21, in the first round in 2006.

Chaparral (9-3) will play Corona Centennial (11-0) in a semifinal Friday that is a rematch of last year’s Inland title game won by the Huskies, 23-17. Centennial also defeated Chaparral, 31-27, in September.

Kaiser wins this fog bowl

Fontana Kaiser tailback Anthony Brown was already plenty elusive before heavy fog rolled in before halftime at Lake Arrowhead Rim of the World.

When Kaiser Coach Phil Zelaya later saw the USC-bound standout cut back across the field and disappear into the mist, he knew the likely outcome.

“I told my coaches, ‘If I can’t see him, they can’t see him,’ ” Zelaya said of the Rim of the World defenders, who couldn’t catch Brown on a 29-yard touchdown run.

Brown finished with 255 yards rushing as Kaiser rolled to a 28-13 victory in the Eastern Division quarterfinal. Zelaya said the fog was even worse during a playoff game on the same field three years ago.

“We threw a pass up into the end zone to win the game and we didn’t know if we had caught it or not until the refs came over and told us we had a touchdown,” Zelaya said.

Case of the missing cleats

USC’s equipment manager might want to start stockpiling cleats for Westchester senior lineman Dak Smith, whose size-18 shoes have repeatedly disappeared over the last few months.

The 6-foot-8, 340-pound Smith, who has committed to the Trojans, lost one before a camp at USC over the summer. Then his cleats disappeared midway through the season and again before Westchester’s regular-season finale and the Comets’ first-round playoff game against Los Angeles West Adams Prep.

The lost cleats necessitated trips to Las Vegas and Camarillo to track down the hard-to-find size. Smith’s mother, Chae Castillo-Smith, even put one pair in her safe-deposit box as a safeguard.

“I wonder why someone would want his cleats,” Castillo-Smith said. “Everyone at school knows those humongous cleats belong to Dak, and I would think even if someone found them they would return them to the rightful owner. Like Cinderella’s glass slipper, he’s the only one at school that can fit that shoe.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com