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Sagehens take game in last quarter

Wide receiver Michael Raffee gains a few yards for La Verne before being brought down during the first quarter against Pomona-Pitzer Saturday. The Leopards lost their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game of the season, 26-23, after a 43-yard touchdown pass by Sagehens' quarterback Justin Fenchel to Matthew Hermsen with 5:37 left in the game. / photo by Adam Omernik
Wide receiver Michael Raffee gains a few yards for La Verne before being brought down during the first quarter against Pomona-Pitzer Saturday. The Leopards lost their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game of the season, 26-23, after a 43-yard touchdown pass by Sagehens’ quarterback Justin Fenchel to Matthew Hermsen with 5:37 left in the game. / photo by Adam Omernik

by Jonathan Corral
Staff Writer

Behind a stellar 43-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Justin Fenchel to receiver Matthew Hermsen, the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer, playing in their first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game in eight years, spoiled the victory for La Verne in the final minutes of the game to take the 26-23 victory at Merritt Field in Claremont Saturday afternoon.

La Verne had one last shot to tie the game, but the Leopards’ place-kicker Ian Britt’s 50-yard field goal attempt with seven seconds left was blocked by a herd of rushing Sagehens.

Pomona, who redeemed itself for last year’s last-second loss to La Verne was led by Hermsen, who had a game and team-high 145 yards receiving, including two touchdown receptions of 45 and 43 yards.

“We’re thrilled to be 1-0,” said Pomona-Pitzer head coach Roger Caron. “It’s a big victory for us because we’ve started slow in the past.”

The Leopards were led offensively by the running back duo of senior Jeff Williams, who racked up 90 yards rushing on 18 carries, and the bulldozer Justin Wolfchief, who knocked away would-be tacklers on his way to 67 yards on 18 carries as well as touchdown runs of 2 and 6 yards.

ULV also had an outstanding game from newly acquired transfer quarterback Jason Winn, who completed 17 of 33 passes for 187 yards.

The Sagehens started the scoring off by capitalizing on the Leopards’ opening drive fumble. La Verne quarterback Winn dropped back and threw a screen pass to receiver Ricky Sullivan, who fumbled the ball into the hands of a Pomona defender.

Four plays later, tailback John Samples scampered into the end zone for five of his 98 yards rushing to put the Sagehens on the board with a 6-0 lead.

The Leopards quickly responded with a scoring drive of their own, as they used a steady running game and short quick passes by Winn to multiple receivers.

Of his 17 completed passes, Winn connected with eight different receivers. The drive ended with Wolfchief powering his way into the promised land, giving La Verne the 7-6 lead midway through the first quarter.

The rest of the first half was a hard-fought battle as both teams struggled offensively and committed penalty after penalty. The Leopards added a 30-yard field goal by Britt, one of his five attempts. Britt converted three of five field goals (30, 30, and 40) in the game to give La Verne the 13-12 halftime lead.

The second half started with a bang for the Leopards. Right from the start, La Verne was a team on a mission. After shutting down the Sagehens’ opening drive, La Verne quickly marched down the field and scored on a 6 yard Wolfchief run to give them the 20-12 third-quarter lead.

With the game on the verge of being put out of reach, the Leopards’ defense noticeably grew tired in the triple-digit heat as they gave up two long touchdown passes that put Pomona right back into it.

With 10:47 remaining in the game and La Verne leading 23-20, the Leopards drove to the Pomona goal line. The Leopard coaching staff decided to gamble and went for the fake field goal on a key fourth-and-one play. With the attempted fake denied, the Sagehens regained the momentum and drove the length of the field for the winning score.

“We felt they couldn’t drive the ball 99 yards on us,” said La Verne head coach Don Morel.

Other notables for ULV were senior defensive back Eric Duenes, who had nine tackles and a fumble recovery, as well as sophomore defensive back Roger Logan who had a spectacular interception early in the third quarter.

Jonathan Corral
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