Bercovici provides thrills for former high school coach against USC
TEMPE, Ariz. -- When Arizona State trailed USC 34-32 late in the fourth quarter Saturday, Matt Kerstetter made a promise to those sitting with him at the Coliseum, including the parents of ASU quarterback Mike Bercovici, who Kerstetter coached at Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft High School.
"When I made comment about if they come back and pull this out and win 38-34, I said 'I'll tell you right now, I'm going to end up on that field,'" Kerstetter recalled Monday. "I said 'I don't care how it happens, who's bailing me out of jail?' (Bercovici's) dad starts laughing and goes 'You know what, I don't doubt it.'"
Kerstetter did end up down on the field and made his way toward ASU's locker room, outside of which he got to share a special moment with Bercovici following the quarterback's game-winning Hail Mary touchdown pass.
Kerstetter asked an ASU staffer if he could let Bercovici know he was waiting for him. The staffer happily obliged.
"I had everyone screaming 'There's some bald guy out there waiting for you,' and I knew exactly who it was," Bercovici said.
After a few minutes, Bercovici emerged, game ball in one hand, cell phone in the other as he did a national interview with Sirius XM radio. Mid-interview, Bercovici embraced his former coach.
"At that point it's all a blur," Kerstetter said. "I remember telling him how proud I was of him and I love him and how great of a game he played. We're both blubbering and crying through it because I know what all he's done to get to this point. It wasn't just this moment. It was the last five years leading up to this moment, which is where you get overcome with all the emotion of it.
"I said 'I always knew you could do this,' and he just kept saying 'We did it, we did it, thank you, we did it.' I said 'No, you did it. This is you. You did this.' "
Kerstetter, now an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Westfield High School in Houston, had bent over backwards to make sure he was there for Bercovici's second career start, which he made in place of injured starter Taylor Kelly. After a home football game Friday, Kerstetter was up with his wife and two children at 4:30 a.m. to get to the airport for a 7:30 flight.
Once Kerstetter got to the Coliseum, he sat with his family, Bercovici's family and a few former coaches from his time at Taft. With ASU trailing 34-32, Kerstetter began to remember Bercovici's second start in high school, a game in which Bercovici set a school passing record and Taft won 38-35.
Kerstetter kept saying ASU still had a chance. Once ASU got the ball back with 23 seconds to go, Kerstetter went into coach mode.
"All the coaches were just being coaches -- we couldn't help ourselves," Kerstetter said. "We're just sitting there talking about what we would do."
They all knew ASU was going to call a Hail Mary.
"When that ball left his hands, everybody's heart stopped," Kerstetter said. "When he caught it, we all just erupted."
After celebrating briefly, Kerstetter bolted toward the field as he said he would but wasn't sure how he'd get past security. He did, but he's not saying how.
"I'm pleading the fifth," he joked.
Hearing the story later, Bercovici wasn't surprised.
"I don't know how he got out there," Bercovici said. "But he's like family to me, so it doesn't surprise me for a second he got down there."
Seeing Berocvici triumph in such grand fashion after waiting so long for an opportunity meant a great deal to Kerstetter. But the game was even more special because he also got to watch Antwaun Woods, another former Taft player and Bercovici's best friend, start at nose tackle for USC.
While Bercovici did postgame interviews, Kerstetter went to find Woods.
USC's Antwaun Woods and ASU's Mike Bercovici joined their high school coach, Matt Kerstetter, for a photo after Saturday's game at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
"I'm waiting for Antwaun to come out, and when he comes out he was just crushed about how they lost," Kerstetter said. "So you have the full gamut of emotions with all the emotional highs and excitement for one of your players doing so well, and yet you feel low and in the dumps for your other guy because Antwaun was on the other end of it."
After Bercovici finished interviews, he came out and hugged Woods. The friends took a photo with their former coach and laughed about Woods' roughing the passer penalty against Bercovici.
"I asked them both about it after the game," Kerstetter said. "I said 'Hey, was that a late hit?' Antwaun was like 'No, man, you know I had to get to him. I just gave him a little something, but I don't think it was late.' So he didn't think anything of it, and Berco's like 'That's the hardest I got hit all day.' "
Bercovici admitted Tuesday, though, he thought the hit was clean.
"Antwaun is about three of me, so I think any type of hit makes it look a lot more vicious," Bercovici said. "I knew any opportunity he could get to get his hands on me he was going to have some fun."
As perfect an ending as the game provided, Kerstetter's trip didn't end so smoothly. After a ticketing snafu at LAX on Sunday, Kerstetter and his family missed their flight by a few minutes. They had to catch a red-eye home, arriving in Houston at 5 a.m. Monday.
But even as Kerstetter sat waiting in frustration for his flight out of Los Angeles, he couldn't help but smile and marvel at the weekend he'd just had.
"I said to my wife, 'If this is what I had to deal with there to be there to see it, I'd do it all over again,' " Kerstetter said. "I was just very proud."
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