by Echelle Avelar
Sports Editor
A football team that has come back from a 1994 playoff game with a hard loss to Minnesota, and has been overlooked since then by selection committees, now has something else to add to its character list as it comes back from its season opening 18-12 loss Saturday to Azusa Pacific University.
The last 21 regular season games have been nothing short of extraordinary as the Leopards’ season winning spree brought them up against Division III and National Association intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) schools with La Verne always on top.
But Saturday night severed the Leopards golden streak to a unanticipated end when Azusa rocked La Verne right out of its cleats for the second time since October 1993.
La Verne, ranked No. 10 in NCAA Division III Digest, had a rough time early in the first quarter. At 13:08, in the first quarter, the Cougars’, Elijah Raphael, made a 10-yard run making Azusa’s first touchdown of the night making it 7-0, with the point after.
In the second quarter, La Verne struggled to get on the board. On third down with 20 yards to go, junior quarterback Ryan Hawkins, found wide receiver Ervie Barnes for the touchdown. Barnes finished the night with six catches for 100 yards and three interceptions. He is also ranked 23rd nationally with his 100-yard game for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 8:52 left on the clock. La Verne still lagged behind 7-6 after a missed point.
Later that quarter, running back Anthony Rice, who ended the evening with 41 carries and a grand total of 137 yards gained, drove the ball through the line for a 1-yard touchdown that hiked La Verne’s lead 12-7. Rice was handed the ball again for a two point conversion attempt but came up short, leaving the Cougars in striking distance of the Leopards with ULV still up.
After halftime, Azusa came back looking to take over the lead, and with 6:43 left in the third quarter Azusa booted a ten yard field goal. Even with a penalty flag of illegal participation on the field, the Cougars still got the three points that left it a close 12-10.
Hawkins, feeling the pressure early in the fourth, threw an interception that APU returned 10 yards. The defense put the hold on Azusa and stood strong until late in the quarter when APU’s quarterback J.D. Fox found Raphael for a 37-yard touchdown pass, his second score for the night. The Cougars took the conversion and pushed their lead to 18-12.
With 2:23 left in the game ULV was down by one touchdown, and driving the reception left the Leopards short three yards of the first down. But it was not until the clock hit 33 seconds in the last quarter and La Verne with possession, on the 25 yard line with one play to go, that the game was considered over as Azusa stole the ball for the third time that night.
“We need to throw the ball more. We were not ready for the game, be it because of practice; there just isn’t really an excuse,” said head coach Don Morel.
Even with the loss La Verne’s season opener was not as big of a surprise as the low scoring game ULV had. The last time La Verne scored that low was November of 1994 against St. John’s University, Minnesota. And the last time La Verne won a season opening away game was back in 1970.
The Leopards play Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, Saturday at 1p.m. in the SCIAC opener.
“It’s an important conference game that we will be hopefully ready for,” said Morel.
