by Matt Paulson
Sports Editor
The University of La Verne football team followed up its last-minute, season-opening victory with a loss to Division I opponent University of San Diego last Saturday.
The Toreros entertained home-field advantage as they displayed a superior passing game on their way to a 39-8 victory over the Leopards.
With 7:49 remaining in the first quarter, USD opened up the scoring first. Gavin Ng busted away for a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed, giving the Toreros a 6-0 lead halfway through the first.
“He was a very good punt returner. We had a tough time containing him,” head coach Don Morel said.
For the rest of the game, the Leopards punt team attempted to keep the ball away from Ng any way possible, which included kicking the ball out of bounds.
“Their punt return was better than our punt team,” Morel said.
After a 30-yard Torero field goal to increase their lead to nine, ULV put together an 80-yard, 10-play scoring drive late in the second quarter. Freshman Justin Wolfchief capped off the drive with a two-yard lunge into the end zone.
“Find any way to score,” Wolfchief said as he recollected his thoughts of the play.
A successful two-point conversion in which junior kicker Wilber Martinez passed to junior quarterback John Barnes in the back of the end zone pulled the Leopards to within one before the half.
The Toreros were not finished though.
Their offense kicked its two-minute drill into overdrive as it marched 89-yards down the field in just six plays and 53 seconds. Quarterback Eric Rasmussen fired an 11-yard strike to end the drive and turn the halftime momentum back towards San Diego. With a successful Adam Williams extra point, the Toreros boasted a 16-8 halftime differential.
In the second half, this momentum shift proved detrimental for the Leopards. USD took control of the game as they would strike early and often.
Rasmussen, riding the momentum of the late scoring drive in the first half, connected for another quick score less than two minutes into the third quarter.
Adam Hannula was the target of Rasmussen’s 60-yard touchdown pass that jump-started the Toreros’ second half. This drive consisted of this one play and ticked only 10 seconds off the clock. The PAT was successful as USD increased its lead to 15.
The Toreros would go on to score two more touchdowns on pass plays of 64 and 45 yards and a field goal of 21 yards.
As the final buzzer sounded, the Leopards would find themselves unable to answer back to USD’s big-play offense in the second half. The Toreros would ride 30 unanswered points to a 39-8 rout.
Despite this second half, Morel and the Leopards expressed positive feelings about the loss to the Division I-AA Toreros.
Morel called the game a “giant positive. It was a really good game for us to play, preparing us for the conference schedule. Losing a game is disappointing; however, we’re continuing on our path to play in conference, and that’s what we’re all about.”
“Now we need to work on stopping the pass,” Morel listed as one of the things the Leopards must do to get ready for conference play.
In Saturday’s game, Rasmussen accumulated a shade under 300 passing yards.
Morel also listed special teams as a factor in which ULV must devote some time.
“They exploited what we need to work on,” senior quarterback Gabe Lujan said. Lujan was sacked six times, which led to a rushing total of negative 23 yards. “Physically, we were just as tough. We broke down and made mental mistakes.”
One of these mental mistakes, Lujan said, was his choice of changing the plays at the line of scrimmage. He expected the defense to come from one side and they came from the other, making the Leopards unable to protect him.
Another factor leading to the loss, Lujan said, was the fact that USD has spring and summer football programs, whereas the Leopards do not, which gives Toreros the added advantage of a larger amount of “football time. They looked more polished.”
Moving on, Lujan said that the Leopards must work on their “overall performance. As a team, we just want to get better. [USD] gave us a good idea of where we’re at and where we want to be. We know if we get better every week, our chances of winning this conference are pretty good.”
The loss to USD drops the Leopards to 1-1 early in the season.
With a bye week ahead, the Leopards will attempt to regain composure as they look to face the Claremont Mudd-Scripps.
“If somebody said we would be 1-1 at the bye a month ago, I would have taken it,” Morel said.
Kickoff is at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, on Zinda Field in Claremont.
Last year, Claremont defeated the Leopards by a score of 21-3 at La Verne’s own Ortmayer Stadium.
