Watch: Unusual free kick gives California high school football team win, playoff berth
Chaparral High of Temecula (California) edged Eastvale Roosevelt 59-57 on a free kick from senior Ezra Johnson with five seconds left in the final week of the season Thursday night. The victory earned the Pumas a second-place finish in the Big West (Upper) League and an automatic playoff berth.
A Chaparral loss would've landed the Pumas in fifth place and hoping for an at-large berth to the postseason Sunday morning.
Roosevelt trailed by as many as 21 points before going up by one point late in the fourth quarter. With five seconds left, Chaparral forced Roosevelt to punt from its own end zone.
"I told our returner to fair catch the punt," Chaparral coach Andrew Ramer said.
Junior Devon Clark did exactly that, scampering to fair catch the short punt on the fly at the Roosevelt 25-yard line. Ramer said his field goal unit began to trot onto the field, but he called them back.
"I told them we're going to do a free kick. We actually couldn't find the tee anywhere on our sideline for about 30 seconds," Ramer explained.
Added Ramer: "I told (Johnson) to put the ball on the tee and boom it through."
One of the most unusual and unique situations then unfolded. According to the rules, a team can elect to take a free kick off a tee with no resistance from the opposition after a fair catch is signaled. If the ball is kicked through the uprights, it counts as three points.
Chaparral lined up across the field in kickoff formation and Johnson booted the ball through the uprights to take a two-point lead.
"It was an untimed down, so no time ran off the clock. There was five seconds left," Ramer said. "Our students ran onto the field."
Roosevelt's final attempt at a miracle with multiple laterals on the ensuing kickoff fizzled and Chaparral moved to 7-3 overall after finishing the season on a three-game winning streak, including a stunning win over Murrieta Valley.
