The Eagles finished the game with 15 penalties for 109 yards. (Paul Criado / Heights Staff)
With less than two minutes remaining and 11 yards to go on fourth down, Boston College football had to make one last stand to all but secure a win over California.
Freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele dropped back to throw and unleashed the ball downfield to Trond Grizzell. The pass fell incomplete, but then the flags started flying.
A pass interference call on cornerback Isaiah Farris gave the Golden Bears a first down and moved them to their own 49-yard line. Two plays later, a 51-yard bomb to Mason Mini gave Cal the lead for good. The Eagles finished the game with 15 penalties for 109 yards.
“It was a horrendously officiated game,” BC head coach Bill O’Brien said. “I just thought it was brutal. But that’s not why we lost.”
The Golden Bears (4–1, 1–0 Atlantic Coast) held on 28–24 to secure their first conference win of the season and extend the Eagles’ (1–3, 0–2) losing streak to three games.
“I haven’t been able to get it done in this program to this point of, you know, these guys learning how not to lose,” O’Brien said. “So we just got to keep fighting—we got to figure it out.”
The Eagles started the game smoothly, wasting no time on their first drive. Three receptions from Lewis Bond and two from Reed Harris quickly put BC on Cal’s 15-yard line. A 7-yard rushing touchdown from Dylan Lonergan capped off the drive with BC up 7–0.
BC’s defense came out blazing as well. When Sagapolutele dropped back for his first pass attempt of the game, Omar Thornton jumped in front of the intended receiver to give BC back the ball on Cal’s 27-yard line.
BC extended its lead on the next drive when Turbo Richard bounced outside and turned on the jets for a 27-yard rushing touchdown. Richard finished the game with 171 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
“He did a great job,” O’Brien said. “He really did. He took care of the football … he was hot tonight, no doubt about it.”
Cal responded on the next drive, though. Sagapolutele launched a 29-yard pass to Grizzell on the right sideline to set Cal up on BC’s 38-yard line, and a pass interference call on KP Price shortly after put Cal on the 9-yard line.
LJ Johnson finished off the drive with a rushing touchdown to make the score 14–7.
After that, BC’s offense began to sputter. Bond fought through a tackle to move the chains on 3rd-and-8, but a sack from Cade Uluave forced BC’s first punt of the day.
In response, the Golden Bears put together a nine-minute touchdown drive. Jacob De Jesus, who picked up 31 yards on the drive, secured a 5-yard touchdown grab to tie the game at 14.
After allowing Cal to score fourteen unanswered points, BC needed to find a score quickly to regain some momentum headed into the half.
Richard found the ball in his hands on four straight plays for 26 total yards, then caught a 5-yard pass from Lonergan on 4th-and-3 to move the chains.
After three straight incompletions from Lonergan, BC had to choose between attempting a 52-yard field goal or punting the ball back to the Golden Bears. O’Brien chose to send out his kicker, and Luca Lombardo nailed it for the third-longest made field goal in program history to send BC into the half up 17–14.
The second half started slowly, as both teams punted on each of their first two drives.
On Cal’s third drive of the half, it marched downfield as a 21-yard catch from Jordan King set the Golden Bears up at BC’s 12-yard line. BC forced a turnover on downs on its own 3-yard line, however, giving its offense back the ball with the lead intact.
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That didn’t last long, though. Lonergan threw an interception on the second play of the drive, and the Golden Bears punched it in from the 2-yard line on their first offensive play.
Richard refused to trail for long, however, as he took the ball 71 yards for a touchdown and a 24–21 lead on the first play of the Eagles’ ensuing drive.
BC forced another turnover on downs, but an unsuccessful drive saw the Eagles hand the ball right back with 4:43 remaining. Sagapolutele’s 51-yard touchdown gave the Golden Bears a 28–24 lead, and BC was down to its last chance.
A 16-yard reception from Bond got the drive started, but shortly after the Eagles were staring at 4th-and-8. Bond was there again to deliver a first down, though, and BC had marched down to the 5-yard line.
With 19 seconds left and 5 yards to go, Lonergan dropped back looking for an open receiver. Instead, he found the hands of Cal’s Luke Ferrelli, whose interception sealed a 28–24 win for Cal.
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“We did think about running because we had the timeout,” O’Brien said. “We thought the passing game gave us the best option down there. I don’t debate the call.”