University of Arizona Athletics

TUCSON?-Arizona took its first lead early in the fourth quarter on a huge interception return by Antoine Cason and then stood toe to toe with the nation’s No. 8-ranked team for the rest of the quarter, emerging with a 24-20 victory over California.

It wasn’t easy at the end, as the Bears got the ball at their own 10 yard-line and drove nearly the length of the field in the last several minutes before a third Wildcat interception snuffed out the Golden Bears’ comeback attempt.

Even before that, a superb goal-line stand by UA's defense held the Bears to three points on a possible game-tying possession late in the game.

Cal got the ball back with 3:14 on the clock, and later hit a potential 63-yard pass from Nate Longshore to DeSean Jackson for what officials on the field called a touchdown at the 2:14 mark, but a video review of Jackson’s sideline footwork spotted the ball at the Arizona 41 yard-line for only a 22-yard gain.

UA defensive end Marcus Smith tipped Longshore’s final pass attempt and linebacker Ronnie Palmer intercepted the ball at the UA 18 yard-line at the 1:32 mark. The Cats ran out the clock with a succession of taken knees by quarterback Willie Tuitama, and UA’s student secion emptied on to the field to celebrate.

The Wildcats improved to 5-5, their best winning total in the last five seasons and snapped Cal's eight-game winning streak, dropping it  to 8-2. The victory over a ranked opponent followed last week's victory at No. 25 Washington State, giving UA consecutive victories over ranked teams for the first time since 1992 and the birth of the Desert Swarm teams, when UA topped No. 11 UCLA and No. 8 Stanford in October.

Cal sophomore Jackson lived up to his billing in the first half, with two plays for 157 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Both teams held on the opponent’s first possession, but Jackson took UA’s first punt back 95 yards for the opening score, his fourth scoring return of the year and an Arizona Stadium record. The previous long return was a 94-yarder by Kent Oborn of Brigham Young in 1965.

UA free safety Corey Hall, in his first start for injured Dominic Patrick, intercepted a tipped pass on the next possession and UA drove 22 yards for a Nick Folk 39-yard field goal to make it 7-3.

Cal tailback Marshawn Lynch ripped off a 79-yard run for an apparent score on the Bears’ next drive, but an illegal block negated the play and cut it to 56 yards, leading to an eventual 36-yard field goal by Tom Scheneider to boost the lead to 10-3.

With six minutes left in the half, Nate Longshore connected on only his fifth pass completion, but Jackson turned it into a 62-yard catch-and-run for the Bears’ second touchdown and a 17-3 lead.

Arizona came out to open the third quarter with a little more emphasis on the running game, but after an exchange of possessions set up its first touchdown of the game with a 39-yard pass play from Willie Tuitama to Mike Thomas, who reached the goal line but was called out of bounds on the 5 yard-line. Chris Henry ran for four yards and then used second effort to score on a 1-yard plunge to make it 17-10.

Tuitama hit tight end Brandyn McCall 10 yards beyond coverage on UA’s next series, but the junior juggled the ball and dropped the sure score. But two costly penalties ?- holding and pass interference ?- wiped out two interceptions by Cal's Bernard Hicks and Daymeion Hughes and gave Arizona life on its drive,  and the Cats tied the game with a four-yard scoring run by Henry to make it 17-17 moments into the fourth quarter.

Arizona took its first lead with 12 minutes left in the game on Antoine Cason’s 39-yard interception return, but California came back and drove 54 yards for a 20-yard field goal by Tom Schneider.

The Bears appeared to have the tying touchdown when receiver Lavelle Hawkins got open deep on broken coverage, but he fell at the 1 yard-line for a 44-yard gain. UA’s defense stiffened to catch Marshawn Lynch behind the line twice for one-yard losses, then linebacker Dane Krogstad knocked down Longshore’s third-down pass attempt to force the kick by Schneider.

Jackson finished with 131 yards receiving on six catches, plus 128 yards on three punt returns. UA's defense held Longshore to under 50 percent completion rate (17 of 36) for 250 yards. He had thrown 60 straight passes without an interception and completed 65 percent of his passes entering the game.

Tuitama completed 17 of 34 for 202 yards without an interception and Arizona rushed for 60 tough net yards, nearly all by Chris Henry (25 for 57), who had the two offensive scores.