By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
California kicker Chris Kluwe had already missed an extra point
and a 50-yard field goal in the first half of the high school
Shrine All-Star football game between California and Texas on June
24 at Cerritos College.
But in the waning moments of the game, with 3.6 seconds left on
the clock and his team down 27-26, Kluwe put his mistakes behind
him and made the 53-yard field goal to lift California to a 29-27
victory.
“That’s what the kicker lives for,” the Los
Alamitos and UCLA-bound kicker told the Los Angeles Times.
When he went on the field for the final play of the game, Kluwe
pushed his earlier misses out of his mind.
“If I had allowed myself to think about that, there was no
way I could make it,” he added. “When I don’t
think, I kick a lot better.”
If Kluwe had missed, Texas would have had its first Shrine Game
victory over California ever, since the California-Texas format was
adopted in 1995. Instead, the locals made it six in a row over
Texas.
It was the second straight scare California had of losing to
Texas. Last year the Golden State boys also managed a last-second
victory when Los Alamitos wide receiver Keenan Howry (now at
Oregon) caught a Hail Mary pass to give California a 28-25
victory.
Kluwe was not the only incoming Bruin who shined in the Shrine.
Wide receiver Tab Perry of Milpitas ended the game with two
touchdowns and five catches for 166 yards.
With 5:39 left in the second quarter, Perry scored first for the
California squad with a 66-yard touchdown, and the ensuing extra
point made the score 7-0. Texas tied the score, but later in that
quarter California had two more touchdowns. Then early in the third
quarter, Perry caught a 63-yard touchdown pass to increase the
California lead to 26-7.
But Texas mounted an impressive 20-point comeback in the second
half behind three touchdown passes by quarterback Aaron Karas.
After the last of these touchdowns, a pass from Karas to Shirdonya
Mitchell in the fourth quarter with 17 seconds left on the clock,
put Texas up 27-26, it looked like Texas would finally have its
first Shrine Game victory.
But then California’s Jason Wright returned the kickoff 30
yards to the California 43 yard-line, Texas was called for a
personal-foul penalty that gave California an additional 15 yards,
and Perry caught a six-yard pass to put the ball on the Texas 36
yard-line.
And all that, in the end, only set the scene for Kluwe’s
kick.
The field goal was reminiscent of an earlier Kluwe kick that won
the game. In a Southern section quarterfinal game against Loyola
High, Kluwe kicked a 60-yard field goal to send the game into
overtime. Los Alamitos eventually won the game in
double-overtime.
His 53-yard kick also broke the previous Shrine Game record,
which was a 52-yard field goal by Armando Avina of East Union in
1991.
Perry was named the California MVP. Not that it mattered to
him.
“This is the team’s MVP trophy,” Perry told
SchoolSports.com. “I couldn’t have done it without
them.”
Texas running back Vontez Duff, who rushed for a game-high 94
yards and a touchdown, was named his team’s MVP. Not that it
mattered to him either.
“Bottom line, we came here to win and we came up
short,” he said. “It’s all a part of football,
but it still hurts to lose.”