My No. 9 Game in the Ferentz Era: Michigan-Iowa, 2003

(This is an extension of Marc Morehouse's series on his Iowa football blog.)

Iowa's 2003 season kind of gets lost in the shuffle between its Big Ten title-sharing years of '02 and'04, but a 10-3 record and No. 8 final ranking was nothing to ignore.

The Hawkeyes fell behind by two touchdowns in the first quarter, but took a 30-20 lead with 5:16 left on a 31-yard TD pass from Nate Chandler to Ramon Ochoa, and hung on for a 30-27 victory on a Saturday night in Kinnick Stadium.

In my hazy memory, it seems like this was a game that helped take Iowa beyond one-season wonder. Anytime you beat Michigan, it's something noteworthy. At least it was in 2003.

Ochoa and fullback Edgar Cervantes came to Iowa, somehow, from Los Angeles. I've often wondered what they're doing now. If you know, tell me.

Earlier in the season, I wrote this column about the two after another Iowa home win, 21-2 over Arizona State.

IOWA CITY - Five years of work. A night of sheer joy.

Ramon Ochoa began pumping his right fist above his head the instant he crossed the goal line with the football for the first time Saturday in Kinnick Stadium. He had beaten Arizona State defensive back Mike Davis Jr. downfield in the second quarter, then snared Nathan Chandler's pinpoint pass. Iowa had its first score on the way to a 21-2 win.

It was Ochoa 's first college touchdown reception. The fifth-year senior's reaction defined ecstasy.

He later caught a 3-yard TD pass. And he deftly gained double-digit yardage on three of his four punt returns.

After top Hawkeye wide receiver Mo Brown had a surgery-requiring ankle injury at Iowa State the week before, Ochoa embodied his team's "Next Man In" motto Saturday. A scout-team and special teams player through most of his Iowa career, he said he "was pretty sure" he had dreamed about such an effort.

"I don't know what night it was," he said, "but it came true."

The story of Ochoa and starting Iowa fullback Edgar Cervantes , both fifth-year seniors, is the kind that Division I athletic directors and coaches point to when they talk about the opportunities that their sports-entertainment industry provides. Sometimes, it's true.

Cervantes started every game for Iowa last season and established himself as a fine fullback. He and Ochoa were classmates at Bell High School in Maywood, Calif., in southeastern Los Angeles County. Bell serves an area of 4.3 square miles that contains 90,000 people. Its average per capita income is under $8,000.

"It's low-income, but people work real hard and have the values of people who work real hard," said David Shemwell. He coached Ochoa and Cervantes at Bell, and still teaches there.

Bell has about 4,500 students. It is 98 percent Hispanic. Over half of its student body is Limited English Proficient.

Cervantes was born in Mexico. He had to take English as a Second Language classes growing up. His parents speak very little English. But not only do he and Ochoa speak it well, they do so with a cheerful, full-of-life air.

Contributing to a winner makes players happy, of course. But they couldn't have pulled up their stakes in East L.A., moved to a vastly different place, and advanced in college and football without having the right stuff.

"They're a tribute to hard work and hanging in," Shemwell said.

"Their community is very excited for them. Football's a little foreign where we teach. It's more baseball and soccer. But we have Iowa fans here now, and will even when those two kids leave there."

Ochoa was asked Saturday night if he had ever considered leaving Iowa during his first four years here.

"Yeah, there's always times you think about it," he said. "But then you just think about the situation you're in. Not too many people can say they're on a full-ride scholarship at the University of Iowa. In the long run, I'm going to have a degree from this university. If you play, wonderful. If you don't, you're still going out a winner."

"Plenty of times, he called me and said things are not working out," Shemwell said. "I said 'Ramon, you're maybe one injury away from something happening. You'll get your turn sooner or later.'

"We call last night Ramon Ochoa 's coming-out party."

Then-Iowa assistant coach Chuck Long keyed in on Cervantes, a first-team all-city player in Los Angeles. Cervantes said it was the only recruiting trip he needed.

"I love it here," he said. "I love the people here.

"Shortly after (he committed to Iowa), I gave them a tape of Ramon Ochoa . I asked them to take a look at my teammate. They looked at it and they liked it, then Ramon took a visit here. He called me the next day after he got back from his visit and said, 'Hey, I guess we're heading out to the same school. You have a roommate."'

Ochoa was on Los Angeles' all-city team as a junior and senior. He was his conference's Athlete of the Year as a senior. He visited the University of Oklahoma before seeing Iowa.

"I said you can go anywhere for 48 hours and have a good time," Shemwell said. "I told him he didn't have anything to compare Oklahoma to, so I wanted him to visit Iowa. The rest is history."

But at 5-foot-9, Ochoa wasn't in high demand. No Pac-10 schools recruited him, or Cervantes .

Only 27 Hispanics were on NFL training-camp rosters this year. They are here and there in college football, but mostly there.

"I don't think there are any (others) in the Big Ten," Ochoa said.

"That school we were at, they weren't recruiting us big," Cervantes said. "But after we both came out of there, they saw what we were capable of doing. We opened up a door."

"It was tough to watch college coaches recruit other kids in our conference," said Shemwell. "A lot of kids in our community get overlooked. But they have the heart of a lion."

Kirk Ferentz was willing to include Ochoa in its first group of Hawkeye recruits. Almost five years later, it paid off.

"Edgar had already come here and committed here, so I took the trip here," Ochoa said. "I definitely liked the environment. Just on the flight from Los Angeles to Minneapolis, I had some Iowans with me. I told them my situation. Just meeting them on the plane, I knew it was going to be a good thing for me. The people here are so nice. Nice, friendly. Which is not bad."

But the two are still tied to home. Ochoa had eight phone messages from California within a half-hour after Saturday's game.

"I've been waiting for this day for five years," he said. "I felt like I was in high school again. So I called everyone in my phone book that I have back home, called friends, told everyone that it's on ESPN2 nationwide.

"I'm pretty sure it was a big deal for them. And awesome for me."

Cervantes ' parents, his two brothers, his sister and an uncle filled a Ford Excursion Thursday and traveled from Los Angeles to Iowa City.

"It's 28 to 30 hours. It's much cheaper than flying," Albert Cervantes , Edgar's 26- year-old brother, said Sunday afternoon by phone as the Cervantes neared Denver.

"We're trying our best to come see him every home game. It's his last season. It's something we have to do."

The family drove from L.A. to Miami to see their son play in the Orange Bowl. That may explain why Edgar named his family, and not other athletes, as his heroes.

The Cervantes got to Iowa City late Friday night, slept, tailgated, enjoyed the game thoroughly, caught up with Edgar afterward, then drove westward on I-80 through the night and into Sunday.

"The uncle has to be at work Monday morning. Me, too," said Albert, a registered nurse. They'll be headed back to the Midwest on Oct.4 to see Edgar, Ramon and the Hawkeyes play Michigan.

"It's worth it," Albert Cervantes said. "We feel very proud."