If it were up to Zack Calandra, Cottonwood Middle School might still be playing at Northwest Christian School.
The new Lobos head football coach felt the sting of defeat for the first time since 2013 in a 35-28 loss Tuesday, Sept. 8, on the road against the Crusaders. He was not happy about it.
“We got robbed,” he said after CMS dropped to 1-1 with eight games remaining in its fall schedule. “There were bad calls from the beginning to the end of the game. It was terrible.”
Among the issues Calandra took with game officiating were: A pass ruled an interception that he said bounced off the turf and into the arms of a Crusaders defensive back; a catch ruled complete he said was made one yard out of bounds by a Crusaders wide receiver; and interference with the opportunity for a Lobos punt returner to make a fair catch that the officials never called.
“They even came up and apologized to us for that one,” said Calandra, a local contractor better known as the broadcast voice of the Mingus Union High School football team. “The clock kept stopping on plays when it should’ve kept running. All kinds of that stuff was going on. Six calls beat us.”
The last came at the Lobos’ 15-yard-line with four seconds to play and the game tied. A catch he said was made a full yard out of bounds at the 15 was ruled complete, giving the Crusaders a final shot at the end zone they converted in the final play of the game for the win.
“There were four parents ready to go onto the field,” Calandra said. “They had videos they took from the stands showing the player was out of bounds when he made the catch.”
For the full story and season schedule, please see the Wednesday, Sept. 9, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
