Game Protest Brewing in California

[TXMike]

From the Sacramento Bee newspaper website:

Vacaville Christian wins, then loses, Division VII section football title
By Bill Patterson
bpatterson@sacbee.com

It was a tough way to lose a game.

Vacaville Christian High School football players and supporters thought the team had won its second consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII championship Friday night in the most dramatic fashion against visiting Bradshaw Christian.

With six seconds on the clock and Vacaville Christian trailing by two points, the Falcons' Drake Wiest fielded a squibbed kickoff, broke a tackle, then outraced the Pride defense to the end zone as time expired.

But after meeting for nearly three minutes, the officials ruled the touchdown was void. They told Vacaville Christian coach Chris Smith there had been an inadvertent whistle as Wiest was picking up the ball.

The Falcons got the ball at the 50, ran a pass play that was stopped at the Pride's 20-yard line and, just like that, it was the Bradshaw Christian faithful celebrating the school's 27-25 victory and the school's first section football title.

Saturday afternoon, Smith barely could contain his anger at the call.

"We won the game," Smith said. "The officials have robbed our program of a championship.

"We've reviewed our tape, parents' tapes and TV replays. We've cranked up the volume on our film, and you can't hear a whistle. It's the most egregious call I've ever seen."

Smith said crew chief Rick Stannard couldn't tell him which member of his five-man officiating crew made the mistake.

"No one would take ownership of blowing the whistle," Smith said.

He said he has written to Jim Jorgensen, who oversees area football officials, and sent e-mails to section officials asking that they "make the correction and award us the title."

He said he also plans to consult the school's attorney Monday about any "options" his school might pursue.

Section assistant commissioner John Williams said it would be unprecedented for the section to reverse a game official's ruling.

"Officials make calls all the time that people don't agree with," Williams said. "I don't want it to seem that we are downplaying this, but we are not in a position to change the outcome of a game."

Jorgensen called the situation "unfortunate" but said on-field decisions cannot be reversed.

The controversial call capped what had been a remarkable final three minutes between the two Sacramento Metro Athletic League rivals.

Vacaville Christian appeared to lock the game up on a 90-yard drive, with Trevor Moheit scoring on a 22-yard run with 2:40 to play. Chandler Thorn's PAT kick gave the Falcons a 25-24 lead.