Author: Sharen Cervantes
The morning dawned bright and warm as a pack of uniformed Tigers made their way to Washburn Field. The Tigers – those students who make up Occidental College’s Football Team – stayed true to their name as they opened the 2008 season with a 41-0 victory against Colorado College on Sept. 13. By decree of a coin toss that favored Colorado, Occidental Joshua Mun (first-year) kicked off the game – and it was smooth sailing for the Oxy Tigers after that.
Before the end of the first quarter, Occidental managed to score three touchdowns by virtue of solid offensive drives; by the end of the first half, the Oxy Tigers headed back to the locker room with an impressive 34-0 lead. While no scores were made by either team during the third quarter, the fourth and final quarter saw Occidental victorious once again, and the opening game came to a close with Occidental in the lead by 41 points.
And just how did the Tigers manage to pull off such an impressive win? By sweating – a lot! While summertime saw most of Occidental’s student body taking a well-deserved break from academia and the demands of collegiate athletics, Oxy’s Football players didn’t slow down once.
“We had a strong group of guys here this summer who put in a tremendous amount of effort both in the weight room and on the field,” veteran Justin Goltz (senior) said. “With around 15-20 [players] that stayed around campus, [we were able to] work out together, push each other, and practice against one another.”
Teammate Christopher Washington (sophomore) agrees. “I prepared myself [for the upcoming season] by working hard in the off-season,” he said.
The Tigers’ strenuous summer conditioning regimen has clearly been worth the effort. On Sept. 20, before a packed stadium teeming with family, friends and fans, the Tigers outscored Menlo College Oaks 38-28 in the first home game of the 2008 season.
While the two teams were neck and neck during much of the game, Occidental picked up the slack during the second half, and victory was again theirs as the game came to a climactic end. The jubilant shouts and cheers arriving in torrents from the bleachers only served to augment the sweet scent of triumph that hung in the air and filled the night with an almost palpable sense of giddiness.
With two victories under their belt, the question on every Oxy student’s mind is: What comes next for the Tigers? Will their early successes be mirrored in the remaining games of the season? If the team has any say in it, the answer is an adamant yes! The Tigers do not want this season to be like the last, where early wins were followed by disappointing losses.
“Last season . . . we started off strong, undefeated through six games, and lost two of our last three games to opponents that we felt we were stronger than,” Goltz said. “If anything, it motivated us as a team to redeem those losses and finish the season how we started it.”
This is exactly the attitude that will enable the Occidental Football team to take the ultimate prize: winning the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). This is perhaps the single most important indicator of success for the Tigers, as well as the primary reason why they continue to push themselves harder than ever before.
“Every year we have one goal, [and] that is to win the SCIAC championship,” Washington said. “As long as everyone has the same goal in mind I think we will accomplish our goal.”
If the first two games and the Tigers’ positive mindset are any indication, Occidental will soon have more to celebrate. Keep an eye out for these committed Oxy Tigers as they take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first SCIAC game of the season this Saturday, Oct. 4.
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