Pomona Panthers 34, Bear Creek 26

Beneath the golden glow of a half moon and with the chilly autumn air to embrace him, Bear Creek High head football coach Tom Thenell stood on the lush green grass of JeffCo Stadium and longed for one thing: instant replay in high school.

“From what we heard from the guys in the booth, the TV replay shows he was in,” Thenell said, after his Bears had struggled back from a 27-6 deficit to the undefeated Pomona Panthers.

No matter how many times during the game Thenell would ask the refs, “Can I get my touchdown back?” the answer would always be the same: “NO!”

Forget that the Bears gave away a touchdown on their opening drive when senior Zach Thenell was intercepted in the end zone by senior Drew Ebner on a loft pass that had virtually no chance of reaching its target. Forget that a fumble ended a nice drive in the third and that the Bears missed all but one of their extra point attempts.

Coach Thenell was right. This game came down to one play in the second quarter, with the Bears trailing 14-6 and holding a fresh set of downs at the Pomona 16. Quarterback Thenell threw up a prayer that senior wideout Armoni Brewington battled two defenders to keep.

Flags flew, whistles blew, confusion reigned.

The call from the ref was defensive pass interference. The call from the sideline was to decline it. Coach Thenell and his crew wanted the touchdown, not the penalty. They didn’t get it. They asked for a ruling and was told that Brewington had come down out of bounds. According to those who saw the replay, clearly he had not.

With first-and-goal at the 8 after the penalty, Thenell took a snap but didn’t gain any yards. Going with a hurry-up offense, the second snap was a fraction of a second from taking place when the Panthers were whistled for a sideline violation. The play was reset, Thenell took the snap and passed to sophomore Jake Anna – incomplete. On third-and-goal from the 8, Thenell passed to senior Dylon Chafin for a gain of four.

And here’s where insult got added to injury for Coach Thenell. Senior Greg Schar was called for holding. That left the Bears with a third-and-goal from the 24. An incomplete pass set up a 42-yard field goal attempt that would have needed the goal posts to be about 15 yards closer to even have a prayer of being converted.

“It came down to a one touchdown game and a call like that changes the whole complexion of the game,” Thenell said. “Then, they call us for holding.”

The final score will show the Bears lost by just eight points. And if the defense had shown even the rudimentary elements of tackling, the outcome might have been a homecoming victory instead of a 34-26 loss.

The Bears opened the game out of the shotgun. Thenell’s first play was a pass down the right sideline to Brewington that went for 44 yards and moved the Bears from their own 22 to the Panthers’ 34. A draw on the next play to senior Lucas Lockett pushed the Bears to the 27. A holding penalty pushed them back to the 33. Four plays later, with first-and-goal, Thenell’s lofty pass to the right corner of the end zone was hauled in by Ebner. Drive over.

Panther Senior quarterback Nathan Grimes set up at the 20 and kept on the first play for a loss of one. Undaunted, he faked a screen to the right and then threw long down the left to senior Cody Morton who easily sped into the end zone. Carter’s kick made it 7-0.

But the tenacious, offensive-minded Bears put together an 18-play drive that consumed about six minutes. The drive ended when Lockett took the ball around left end, got hit at the three, spun to his left, stiff-armed senior linebacker Tanner Ryan at the one-yard-line and then dove into the end zone. With 2:27 to play in the opening quarter, the undefeated Panthers realized they were in for a scrap. A missed extra point attempt by Jessica Wingert left the Bears trailing 7-6.

Three plays into the second quarter the Panthers got a second touchdown. With junior Lamar Herbert in motion, Grimes handed off and Herbert scooted around the right end of the line for a 5-yard TD. Carter’s kick put the Panthers up 14-6.

The Panthers next drive turned out to be the one with all the controversy. The botched field goal came with just over four minutes left in the half.

Grimes set the Panthers up at the 20. With the Bear bench still seething from the perceived bad calls – touchdown and holding – the refs didn’t do much to redeem themselves in the eyes of Bear fans with the first play. Whistles blew before the play began and the Panthers found themselves with five additional yards.

Turns out, the Bears had 12 players on the field with no one attempting to exit. “That’s a penalty every time coach,” one ref related to Thenell.

Aided by a holding penalty, the Panther drive stalled and Pomona was forced to punt.

Bear Creek took over at its own 34. Short of time outs and with time running down, Thenell spiked the ball at the 50. The next pass went incomplete. On third down the Bears ran the ball up the middle. Lockett fumbled but retained possession. Amid the confusion the Bears were left with a fourth-and-12. They decided to go for it and failed.

On third down, and with just three seconds showing on the clock and every Bear linebacker and safety playing deep, Grimes lifted a Hail Mary that found Ebner at the one. He fell short of the end zone by about a foot and the half ended with Bear Creek trailing, 14-6.

Pomona took the opening kickoff and set up shop at the 16. The 10-play, 84-yard drive consumed six minutes and 10 seconds and featured one of the back-breaking plays for the Bears.

With a first-and-10 at the 23, Grimes faded back to pass. With senior PJ Rhoades in hot pursuit, Grimes cut back to his left. Grimes’ vision caught defensive lineman Jake Utley, so he cut upfield. Senior linebacker Vincent Delmonico was right there waiting. What looked to be about a 10-yard loss quickly turned into a 9-yard gain when Grimes sidestepped Rhoades’ lunge, then head faked Delmonico and outran Utley. The three could only watch from behind as other team members brought Grimes down at the 14.

“We missed way too many plays on defense,” Coach Thenell said. “When you never punt, when you make just two mistakes on offense, get a TD taken off the scoreboard well . . . the offense played well enough for us to win, the defense didn’t. We had plenty of chances to bottle them up. I’m sure there are some good plays on defense, but I’ll have to look at the film to tell you which ones. None quickly come to mind.”

Grimes followed his run up with a bootleg right that capped the drive’s final six yards. The PAT left Bear Creek trailing 2106.

The Bears follow-up drive was showing tremendous promise. Lockett carried to a pitch to the right for 26 yards. After a QB keeper for 4, Lockett burst up the middle for 19. On the next play he fumbled and Ebner recovered at the Panther 30. The ensuing TD made it 27-6.

But the Bears were not done. Oh, no, far from it. On the first play from scrimmage following the kickoff, Thenell hit Brewington down the right sideline for a 69-yard touchdown. The try for two failed.

The Panthers’ drive stalled at their own 11 and they punted. Three plays later the Bears scored on a 34-yard pass from Thenell to Brewington. Again the try for two failed and Bear Creek trailed 27-18 with 9:04 left to play.

The next series effectively sealed the Bears fate. With 8:56 to play, the Panthers began a 9-play, 69-yard drive that consumed 4:30 off the clock. Senior workhorse running back Tyler Pace got the call to finish the drive off from the six. The PAT made it 34-18.

A medium-deep kickoff and decent return left the Bears 78 yards from pay dirt. Thenell went to the air, and the Bears eventually found themselves with third-and-goal at the 14. Thenell found Brewington in the middle of the end zone. A pitch to Lockett for the extra point set the final tally at 34-26.

An onside-kick attempt failed and the Panthers succeeded in running out the clock.

The loss drops the Bears to 1-3. The Panthers remain undefeated at 4-0.

In other Lakewood area games:

• Alameda defeated Englewood, 33-14 to win back the anchor trophy.
• Green Mountain defeated Lincoln, 41-21.
• Lakewood played Westminster, but results were not available early Saturday.