The Most Stunning Kick Off In History - By: Becky Long

This crazy kick off took place in Cal's Memorial Stadium in Berkeley California. It is simply referred to as "The Play" by fans and Alumni. There are just no other words to express this one. It is the only known touchdown in football history that was scored while running through the other teams Marching Band! You read it correct, the other teams marching band. Too funny.

Now this big game was a rivalry game between Stanford University and the University of California, these two teams had faced each other in over 100 games in this rivalry. This wild kickoff play happened to take place in the 85th rivalry game on November 20, 1982. Standford University was in the lead by merely one point, with a score of 20 to 19 in the conclusion of the fourth quarter. The game clock was down to 4 seconds remaining, there had been 75,662 fans in the stadium and the majority were headed for the exit gates, when Stanford player Mark Harmon, kicked off from their own 25 yard line just after getting a 15 yard penalty due to excessive celebration, because of a field goal they had scored on. Given their field position and the fact that there was merely 4 seconds left, a determination was made to kick a low-bouncing squib kick to evade a possible runback, now this kind of kick is usually performed because it is tricky to retrieve by the other team. The ball is also not kicked a large distance, which allows the opposing team a shorter distance in which to tackle the opposition.

Timing was everything, when this kick was being performed, the Stanford band, a well-known group of musicians known for their crazy, zany uniforms and performances, had started to pour out onto the south end of the field which, well, was Cal's end zone, because they assumed that the game was over. What happened next goes down in the football history books.

University of California's, Kevin Moen caught the bouncing ball on his own 46 yard line and immediately ran forward 10 yards, where he was completely surrounded by Stanford University tacklers. But before he was tackled, Moen lateraled to team mate, Richard Rodgers. Now a lateral is a permissible play in which the ball is passed or tossed backwards, however, it is not permissible to pass forward on any kind of a running play. Richard Rodgers then kept the ball momentarily before throwing it back to running back Dwight Garner, who then, carried the ball to the Stanford 48 yard line. Garner was being tackled when he actually then tossed the ball back to Richard Rodgers, who in turn begun running forward again and before he was tackled, he then rapidly lateraled to Mariet Ford, who sidestepped tow tacklers and rushed to the Stanford 25 yard line.

Picture this, as Ford was being tackled and was falling to the turf, he in a flash tossed the ball up in the air, and backward, to Moen, the player who had initially fielded Harmon's kickoff, by this time , Moen and the players who remained were running through the Stanford band players coming on to the field. Moen tried to evade the band members as best he could by dancing around them but could not evade them all and smashed right through the Stanford trombone player who fell to the turf, Moen, still on his feet, immediately pushed his way to the end zone and scored the final touchdown. Flags were being thrown everywhere by the referee's, fans stunned, announcers yelling, astounded and stunned.

After everything was all said and done, Final score Cal 25 and Stanford 20.

There is no other game quite like football. Anything can happen in a Football game, that is one reason why it can be so crazy, this game was no exception!

Becky writes about all types of subjects. One of her favorite is football, check out her favorite team at Shirts