Greg Denham threw up a prayer.

Bakari Grant somehow came down with the answer.

With UC Davis trailing by two and as time expired, Grant sprinted downfield, turned his shoulder just past the goal line, dug his cleats into the artificial turf at Aggie Stadium and leapt into the air with four University of Northern Colorado defenders.

Amid the aerial crowd, the 6-foot-4 Grant plucked the ball out of the chilly sky on full extension and crashed to the ground for the game-winning 38-yard Hail Mary catch, delivering the Aggies a dramatic 34-30 victory on Saturday night.

“It was all so fast. I just felt the ball and squeezed it tight as I could,” Grant said. “It was almost like I was outside my body. I don’t know what happened. I felt the ball in my hands, went down – I mean, it was more tiring after the play celebrating.”

Grant was rushed by his teammates and the fans as the catch was replayed on the stadium’s scoreboard screen. Head coach Bob Biggs watched the catch over and over but was still left in disbelief.

“You guys will never see that again. That was unbelievable. That was really, really special. Did you see that replay?” Biggs said. “He just went up – it wasn’t like he bobbled it or anything. He snatched.”

And to think, UC Davis almost kicked a field goal instead.

After kicker Michael York’s 28-yarder put the Bears up 30-28, the Aggies offense took the field from its own 34-yard line with one timeout and 1:18 remaining.

Denham worked UC Davis down the field, running for five yards and completing three of four passes, the last of which was an eight-yard connection to Grant on an out route inbounds at the 33-yard line.

After a spiked pass to stop the clock, the Aggies’ field goal unit took the field with 8.9 seconds remaining, and Sean Kelley lined up for a career-long 50-yard try.

“To be perfectly honest, that was going to be a heck of a kick for Sean Kelley,” Biggs said. “There was a tailwind and I thought, ‘If we’re going to finish, we’re going to let Sean finish.'”

A false start penalty changed that, as the would-be 55-yard attempt would have been too far out of the redshirt freshman’s range.

The offense retook the field, and after an incomplete pass to the middle of the field, Denham found a vaulting Grant in the end zone for the win.

“The line blocked great,” said Denham, who was 25-of-35 for 289 yards and four touchdowns. “I just threw it up and said a prayer. Oh man, it’s just too good to be true.”

The Aggies (2-4) trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, but a decision to go for it on fourth-and-one from their own 49-yard line helped turn the game around.

“I just felt at that time if we were going to win this game, we got to go for it on fourth down,” Biggs said. “I thought we were running the ball pretty well. The offensive line was blocking real well, Joe [Trombetta] was running well, and I just felt like we were going to get it.”

Trombetta prolonged the drive with a five-yard run outside to the left. After back-to-back third down conversions, Denham found a wide-open Chris Carter on a post route for a 19-yard touchdown that cut the deficit to 27-21.

UC Davis’ defense then forced a three-and-out, and Brandon Rice caught a 12-yard touchdown pass on the next drive to give the team a 28-27 edge at 11:19 in the fourth quarter.

The Bears (0-4) would eventually take a two-point lead on York’s field goal, but the Aggies’ final play completed the comeback.

“One thing’s that different this year than any other year I’ve been here is the camaraderie between the offense and the defense,” said Mike Morales, who led the team with seven tackles and 2.5 tackles for less. “We’re just one big family, and we go out there and play for each other.… There was no doubt on that last drive that we were going to score in my mind.”

The strong finish was a long time coming for the Aggies (2-4), whose first three losses came by a combined 11 points. The recurrence of losing late in games has had the coaching staff stressing the importance of finishing for weeks.

“As a football team, we needed that,” Biggs said. “To be able to finish the way we finished it after all we talked about trying to finish games says a lot.”

Leading up to the end of the game, Denham said that even he was yelling, “Finish, finish, finish.”

“Coach Biggs has just been drilling it home to us countless times,” Denham said. “In the past, we haven’t stuck it out to get the win. We’re right there almost every time.… We all looked at each other, knew what we had to do.”

And with help of Grant’s acrobatics, UC Davis finally finished.

MICHAEL GEHLKEN can be reached at sports@californiaaggie.com.

Saturday’s fanhood triathlon officially spanned 12 hours and seven minutes.

It was worth every second – especially the last one.

From the gun sounding at the Doc Adams Invite to men’s soccer’s shutout of Cal Poly to Bakari Grant’s miracle of a catch as time expired, Saturday was a day that lived up to – then exceeded – expectations.

Among things beating expectations was that five people actually completed this Aggiepalooza with me:

Lindsay Kiyama

Tiffany Knox

Sofia Patronas

Amy Robinson

Lorin Scott

Nicely done, Aggie faithful. Nicely done.

– Adam Loberstein

Bakari Grant was a mess.

He strained a muscle in his foot. He kicked his shoe off. He put it back on. He ran out onto the field. He forgot his helmet. He went back for it. He lined up outside instead of in the slot.

He cleaned up nicely.

Down two with time enough for one play remaining, Grant made the most improbable of impossible catches in the end zone to clinch a 34-30 UC Davis win over University of Northern Colorado on Saturday.

He made the 38-yard catch without so much as a bobble. Surrounded by four defenders. With his facemask being torn off. And his eyes closed (well, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were).

“You guys will never see that again,“ said head coach Bob Biggs. “That was unbelievable. That was really, really special. Did you see that replay?”

Yeah, I saw it. About 6 billion times, like the rest of the 9,675 fans that saw it on repeat on the Aggie Stadium scoreboard.

And I still don’t believe it.

“I’m just going to sit here and listen to him,” Biggs joked. “I have nothing to say, really.”

Grant had plenty to say.

“It was almost like I was outside my body,” he said. “I don’t know what happened. I felt the ball in my hands, went down.… It almost brought tears to my eyes, having my team around me like that to win it.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s one of those things that you see in a movie. It’s overwhelming,” he continued.

Unbelievable and overwhelming. Ridiculous and borderline illegal in most states.

Whatever you want to call it, UC Davis needed it.

The Aggies entered Saturday’s contest in a sinking ship carrying a boatload of talent, having lost four of their first five games.

Three of those losses came by a combined 11 points. One against Football Bowl Subdivision San Jose State, the other two at No. 3 University of Montana and No. 19 University of Central Arkansas.

The final period hadn’t been too kind to the Aggies, who held a fourth-quarter lead in each of those losses.

Enter Saturday.

UC Davis took a 28-27 lead with 11:19 to play before a Northern Colorado field goal with a shade over a minute remaining appeared to spell heartbreak for the Aggies once again.

This time, however, was different, as UC Davis drove 66 yards on eight plays in the game’s final 1:18 to come out on the other end of disaster.

Finally.

“It must have been our time,” Biggs said. “Did we need that win? We needed that win. That was unbelievable.” That win was a season-changer. No longer are the Aggies a team with a world of both talent and disappointment. Now, they’re a team that has learned how to finish – something that Biggs has been rather adamant about stressing to say the least.

“Coach Biggs has just been drilling it home to us countless times,” Denham said. “In the past, we haven’t stuck it out to get the win. We’re right there almost every time.… We all looked at each other, knew what we had to do. We got so blessed here.”

He paused.

“And we finished.”

“Sometimes you have to have something special to have people start believing,” Biggs said. “We needed that. As a football team, we needed that. To be able to finish the way we finished after all we talked about … says a lot.”

Consider it a lesson learned – even if finishing required a little help from above.

“I just threw it up and said a prayer,” Denham said.

“All I can say is it was sent from heaven,” Grant said. “It was one of those things where you knew it was meant to be.”

Good thing he found his helmet.

ADAM LOBERSTEIN thinks if you didn’t go to Saturday’s game, you’re an idiot. If you left early, you’re even dumber. He can be reached at sports@californiaaggie.com.

Teams: No. 16 UC Davis vs. Cal Poly

Records: Aggies, 8-1-1 (0-0-1); Mustangs, 6-2-2 (1-0-0)

Where: Aggie Soccer Stadium

When: Saturday at 1 p.m.

Who to watch: A lot of national attention is given to the UC Davis offense, but scoring has not been the only solid force for the Aggies this year.

The play of sophomore goalkeeper Ryan McCowan has been a cornerstone of the Aggies‘ success thus far.

The Lafayette, Calif. native has only allowed eight goals in UC Davis‘ 10 contests this season. In preseason play, he led all Big West Conference keepers with a mere 0.76 goals allowed per game.

Did you know? In the first conference game for both UC Davis and Cal Poly, the squads combined for eight yellow cards – four per team – and one red card, courtesy of the Aggies.

Preview: After finishing non-conference play in style, the Aggies began Big West action on the road versus No. 18 UC Irvine.

In a game that lived up to the hype, UC Davis and UC Irvine tied 1-1 in double overtime.

The Aggies struck first, as they have eight times in their 10 games, with a goal from junior midfielder Paul Marcoux. National leader in assists Dylan Curtis got his ninth on the play.

The night got even better for UC Davis when senior defender David Sias from UC Irvine was red-carded in the 33rd minute.

But playing a man down wasn’t a problem for the Anteaters, as they battled back and scored the shorthanded equalizer in the 85th minute off the foot of sophomore forward Spencer Thompson.

UC Davis freshman defender Lance Patterson received a red card of his own in the 106th minute, and the Aggies and Anteaters played it out to tie.

Now, the Aggies will focus on Cal Poly in hopes of capturing their first Big West win.

The Mustangs took care of business in their first league game, dispatching Cal State Fullerton at home, 3-0.

Senior midfielder Julian Alvarez led the Mustangs to the win with two goals. Senior goalkeeper Eric Branagan-Franco recorded his 19th career shutout for Cal Poly.

–Max Rosenblum 

Event: Doc Adams Open

Where: Putah Creek Reserve

When: Saturday at 9 a.m.

Who to watch: Junior Tyler Rattray hasn’t had a good race since the spring of 2007. But all that is about to change.

His expectations for the 2007 and 2008 seasons were understandably high. He clocked 15:03.08 in the 5,000m as a freshman, and then placed 11th at the Division I Independent Championships.

But a shredded Achilles‘ tendon has dashed those expectations.

Now, after hundreds of miles, countless hours of cross-training, and two early-season rust-buster races, Rattray is finally fit, healthy, and ready to roll.

Did you know? The Aggies, both men and women, haven’t lost a race at home for over two years.

That loss came in September of 2006, with the men falling to a Stanford squad that would go on to place fourth in the nation. The women fell to a strong group from California in the same event.

But since then the Aggies have found a new home at the Putah Creek Reserve, where they most recently dominated the competition at the Aggie Open on Sept. 6.

Preview: Last weekend’s Stanford Invitational was a chance to let the top Aggies shine. The women’s squad, paced by senior Kim Conley’s outstanding third place finish, finished second to three-time defending NCAA Champion Stanford. The men finished a respectable seventh.

But this week, it’s all about the younger Aggies.

With everyone who competed last weekend by sitting out, this is the perfect chance for younger runners to step it up. And with only a handful of meets left, it’s an opportunity to earn a spot on the travel squad.

Sophomore Fed Martinez, who’s only raced twice in an Aggie uniform, is looking for one of those spots.

“I’m just looking for a solid performance from all the guys who haven’t raced,” he said. “This is the make or break time of the season.“

– Alex Wolf-Root

Teams: UC Davis at No. 24 Cal Poly; UC Santa Barbara

Records: Aggies, 8-7 (0-2); Mustangs, 7-6 (2-0); Gauchos, 6-7 (2-0)

Where: Mott Gym; The Thunderdome

When: Today at 7 p.m.; Saturday at 7 p.m.

Who to watch: Senior outside hitter Renee Ibekwe leads the Big West Conference in both kills (224) and kills per game (4.00). No other player has broken the 200-kill plateau or averaged more than 3.65 per contest.

Did you know? The Mustangs and Gauchos have combined to win their past five matches. Before the winning streaks, the teams lost a combined nine straight matches.

Preview: UC Davis may be 15 matches into its season, but the way head coach Jamie Holmes sees it, things are just getting started.

The Aggies went 8-5 to open the year, but Big West play just began last weekend when they fell to Pacific and Long Beach State in a pair of close matches.

“I hope the team realizes that the season is brand-new,” Holmes said. “You have your non-conference schedule and your conference schedule. We’re just two games into our conference season. It’s a brand-new focus and a brand-new deal.“

UC Davis will face a tough test on this road trip. First it faces Cal Poly, which swept Cal State Fullerton before defeating Cal State Northridge in four sets last week.

The Mustangs are led by senior outside hitter Kylie Atherstone, the defending conference player of the year. She trails only Ibekwe in the Big West with 3.65 kills per set, and has 22 aces and 124 digs in 13 matches.

UC Davis will then face UCSB, which, like Cal Poly, downed Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge last week.

But the results were less decisive. The Gauchos needed four sets to do away the Titans and five to edge the Matadors.

“Those are two programs that will be very difficult to contend with,” Holmes said. “We just need to approach both of those matches with a high level of intensity. We need to be aggressive and not be afraid of making mistakes. We have to maintain. If we go about our style of play, then it’s all good. I just want to play consistently for a whole match, to play the same in Game 5 that we did in Game 1.“

–Adam Loberstein and Michael Gehlken