Author: Ryan Whalen
Football (3-3 overall, 2-2 SCIAC)
Coming off of a homecoming loss to Chapman, the Occidental football team (3-3 overall, 2-2 SCIAC) redeemed itself against four-time defending conference champion Cal Lutheran on Saturday with a 44-34 victory. “It’s a huge win against one of the best teams in the SCIAC,” head coach Doug Semones said. “We finally put a complete game together; offense, defense and special teams for 60 minutes. We had played some good halves, but we hadn’t finished. And today we played a complete game.” After giving up the first touchdown of the game to the Kingsmen halfway through the first quarter, the Tigers called upon running back Kwame Do (sophomore) to act as the equalizer. Do answered on the fourth play of the ensuing drive, taking a hand-off and slicing through the defense for a 61-yard touchdown run. He solidified himself as the center of the Tiger offense, finishing the night with a career-high 258 rushing yards and four touchdowns on his way to a SCIAC Male Student-Athlete of the Week selection. The first half of the game was a back-and-forth battle. The teams each scored twice before Occidental took the lead for good at 20-14 with 10 minutes left in the second quarter on a Do 70-yard scamper. Casey Dudley (sophomore) intercepted a goal line pass to preserve Occidental’s six-point lead going into halftime. Dudley again came up with a game-changing defensive play late in the third quarter, picking up a fumble forced by Tiger defensive lineman Aaron Jones (junior) and cruising 30 yards into the end zone to give the black and orange a 30-14 lead. Although the Kingsmen scored three times in the final quarter, a fourth touchdown run by Do secured Occidental’s 10-point victory, marking the first time since the 2008 SCIAC Championship team bested Cal Lutheran. “It was a great team win,” receiver Sam Stekol (junior), who caught seven passes for 133 yards and a touchdown in the contest, said. “We came out firing in the first half; we knew that we were going to have to play all four quarters…It was huge for the team.” The squad travels to Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
The rest of the Oct. 30th Sports in Brief are available online.
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