Skip to search.

Prep Rally - High School

Prep Rally

Mon Dec 13 09:03am EST

Amazing somersault TD, conversion land California team a title

By Cameron Smith

There have been plenty of amazing, acrobatic touchdowns across the nation this year. Yet a playoff game in California still might have turned in a 2010 first: A complete somersault en route to a game-winning end-zone celebration.

As reported in the Orange County Register, the player who pulled off the feat you see above is Garden Grove (Calif.) High running back Josh Webb, who took his airborne leap a bit farther than usual in the final two minutes of the Argos' CIF-SS Southern Section Final victory over Beckman (Calif.) High. Just before Webb hit the goal line, he went up to get above the last line of Beckman's defense. Webb made it, but not before being forced to take his acrobatic aerial act to a new level, completing a full somersault before landing on his back, pulling Garden Grove to within a point of the Patriots, at 30-29.

[Related: Player penalized for preening TD celebration]

"My coach is like, 'We're giving you the ball, get over the top,'" Webb told the Register. "I wasn't going to let anyone stop me."

No sooner had Webb scored than Garden Grove coach Willy Puga made an unorthodox decision to go for two -- and potentially the win -- rather than settle for a game-tying extra point. That's when Webb found a way to one-up himself, scoring the game-winning conversion on another over-the-top flip along the right side, completing a 360-degree aerial before landing in the end zone with what proved to be the game-winning points.

[Rewind: Backhandsprings on football field draw penalty]

"Coach told me to get over the top," Webb told the Register. "We're a team that goes for it all. ...

"We were going for two no matter what. We weren't going to overtime."

On Friday night, Garden Grove won the CIF Southern Section title for the second straight season, in large part thanks to Webb. The senior finished with 191 yards and a touchdown on the ground, racking up an additional 144 yards and two touchdowns on receptions.

Not surprisingly, Puga said that Webb's heroics in the final two minutes were instruments of the running back's invention alone.

[Photo: Image captures mid-air backflip goal celebration]

"He does that all on his own," Puga told the Register. "That's not in the playbook. ... "He's amazing. He's the best I've ever coached."

Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Other popular Sports stories on Yahoo!:
 • Punishment for coach who tripped player
• Most wanted pitcher finally signs to team
• Player penalized for preening TD celebration

digg delicious

Related Articles

Launch Article Browser

Prep Rally

Add to My Yahoo! RSS

Y! Sports Blog

Related Photo Gallery

More HIGHSCHOOL Photos »

Featured Sports Video

More Videos »