Was it a fumble? Was he down?
It is a play that is still being talked about as both San Pedro and Narbonne make their final preparations for Saturday's L.A. City Section Championship final.
Both coaches and fan bases have definite opinions on the subject when Narbonne's Melvin Davis appeared to lose the ball on a goal-line play in the final minute of regulation in Narbonne's 27-24 triple-overtime win over San Pedro in Week 7.
If it was ruled a fumble, San Pedro wins the game, 6-0. But two plays later, Davis scored the tying touchdown on a 1-yard run that set up Narbonne's triple-overtime win and raucuous celebration afterward, as shown in this image.
And there's no doubt about how San Pedro coach Mike Walsh feels about it.
"Yeah, he fumbled," Walsh said. "The ball was laying on the ground. Tyler Anthony recovered it for us. I've got the film.
"Even Manuel Douglas admitted it was a fumble."
Douglas, the Narbonne coach, bristled when told of Walsh's assertion.
"I never admitted it was a fumble," Douglas said. "He kept badgering me and badgering me that it was a fumble, and I said facetiously that it was. Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. Both teams are here now."
When the referees needed a lengthy conference to sort out the fumble, Douglas walked out of the coaches box around the 15- or 20-yard line, emphatically saying "He was down. He was down" for the next two minutes.
"What was I supposed to do," Douglas said. "I played it exactly like Mike Walsh. He lobbies for calls like that the whole game. I learned from the best."
Douglas had countered to Walsh during the argument that a touchdown catch by Benny Weischedel should not have been called a catch in the second overtime, but Walsh was ready for it.
"How did we get to overtime? Oh yeah, the fumble wasn't called," Walsh said.
Maybe things even out. San Pedro beat Narbonne with the help of a phantom pass interference penalty in 1996 en route to a City title.
Expect a battle come Saturday.
Fumble,shumble. It doesnt matter now. Both teams are in the championship game. Losing the game worked better for Pedro, they had an easier road to the Coliseum.
Exactly, PedroGrad. However, That game was one of the worst officiated games I have ever seen in organized sports. Lots of bad calls going both ways. Pedro and Narbonne need to start collecting donations for our games, they need to bringing in higher level refs, haha.
It definitely was a fumble!! I agree, it was horribly refereed for both sides that game. CITY referees are horrible!!
everyone and the fumble! that was a make up for the 1st qtr call of no catch in the end zone b moore clearly caught that ball! well said grad city refs are a joke most of them dont even know the city rules
I hear you guys about city refs. They have to be the worst. I have seen way too many bad calls in my years watch city ball. I just hope they dont have a hand in the outcome of tomorrows game. I want tomorrows game to be remembered for how the kids played, not how bad the game was officiated.
Wow! Finally a topic Narbonne and San Pedro can actually agree on! My biggest fear is that tomorrow's game is going to be decided on a bad call by a ref which seems to happen waaaaaay too often. I have been to every Pedro game this year and there has not been one where there wasn't some kind of controversial/bad call by a referee. What bugs me the most about City refs though is that they seem to take no responsibility for their screw-ups and get mad when they are questioned! Cross your fingers for tomorrow!