Oregonian: Rosario: Kick unintentional

EUGENE -- Oregon tight end Dante Rosario said he did not intend to kick a fallen California player in the back during a Golden Bears punt return for a touchdown on Saturday.  "There was no harm intended on that play," Rosario said. Rosario, who said he has written a letter of apology and explanation to Cal, said he tried to leap over the Bears player and the Ducks' Ryan Keeling, who had wrestled each other to the ground during the play. Rosario was in pursuit of the play about 10 yards behind Keeling and the unidentified Cal player as they went to the ground. The Cal player was starting to get up when Rosario, running full speed, jumped. As he started to come down, he extended his right leg into the back of the player, making it look like a kick straight out of a Bruce Lee movie. ABC television replayed the play several times and announcers were convinced that Rosario had intentionally kicked the player. Bears coach Jeff Tedford could be seen asking the officials to eject Rosario. Indeed, there was a flag on the play that later was picked up, although it's not clear why the flag was thrown. Rosario said he heard the officials discussing a holding call, not his failed leap. Tedford might not be buying Rosario's stance. He said Sunday that he has included the play in his weekly report to the Pacific-10 Conference regarding officiating. Rosario said when he got into the air he realized he was then going to come down on the player. "It was either that I was going to land on him, so I just put my foot and stepped off of him," he said. "I didn't try to kick him or anything like that. So, I'm sorry it looked that way."

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