Non-call on fumble leaves AWC feeling 'cheated'

COPPERAS COVE, Texas — Cheated.

That was how Nathan Mayfield said he felt after Arizona Western’s 31-27 loss to Blinn College in the Heart of Texas Bowl.

The Matadors trailed the entire game, and as much as 17-0, but fought back and pulled to 31-27 with 6:52 left on a 23-yard halfback pass for a touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, Isaiah Battle fielded the ball and lost control. After a long scrum, Mayfield emerged from the bottom of the pile with the ball.

The referees, however, ruled that Battle was down before the fumble.

Mayfield was not happy with that decision.

"It’s disappointing. We were cheated. It’s not fair," Mayfield said. "It’s not fair to our team. It’s not fair to our coaches. They worked hard for this, they worked hard to get us here. We worked hard together. We’ve been through ups and downs. We’ve been through hell just to get here. Our coaches did the hard work and I’m proud of them. I’m proud of my team. I love every single one of my players right now for what they’ve done to get us here."

Then he let out a quick sigh.

"All I can say is that scoreboard ain’t right."

Mayfield said the fight for the ball was a particularly nasty one.

"Refs didn’t call nothing – fingers in the face, kicking on the ground," Mayfield said. "Refs didn’t call anything. That’s not a fair game. That’s not how you play football period. Refs didn’t call a fair game, but that’s alright. It’s in the past already. But that’s not the real score. We know who really won."

AWC coach Tom Minnick said he always tells his players they need to be 14 points better than the opposition in a road game. Brenham, where Blinn is located, is about a two and half hour drive from Copperas Cove. The officiating crew was from Waco, which is about 50 miles north of Cove.

"That was a fumble. It’s a fumble," Minnick said. "But that’s what you’re going to get on the road. You can’t do anything about it. It is what it is with the refs."

Matador running back Reggie Bullock echoed both what Mayfield and Minnick had said.

"It was just the fact we were in Texas and going to be cheated," Bullock said. "We got cheated plenty of times, but coach said you have to be 14 points better and we should have been 14 points better. Everybody on the Matadors’ side knows we got cheated, and the players from Blinn know. But it’s whatever. We lost."

Blinn coach Brad Franchione said he wouldn’t go into specifically what he thought of the play, but did say retaining possession was pivotal for his Buccaneers.

"According to what I was told, they said his knee was down before the ball came out," Franchione said. "For us to retain possession right there obviously it’s a big play in the game. It would have given them a short field and they had some momentum going right there."

The Matadors narrowly missed a win for the second year in a row playing a virtual road game in a bowl. Last year, they lost to in Biloxi, Miss., to Eastern Mississippi in game they fell behind early in a 27-24 loss.

Next year, Yuma is hosting a bowl game, a game that the Matadors will play in if the qualify. The prospect of not dealing with road referees made Minnick laugh.

"They won the game, and we have to get back to the bowl game next year," Minnick said as he started to chuckle thinking about next year’s Yuma game. "Lucky it’s in Arizona now and we can invite a team in. Maybe we can get some calls on our side. That’s the good thing about having one at our place now."