LV football resumes play with loss

by Matt Paulson
Sports Editor

The University of La Verne football squad took on Whittier last Saturday in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference battle at Newman Stadium on Whittier's campus, in which the Poets marched their way to a victory by a score of 33-12.

The game was ULV's first since the serious head injury suffered by Rollie Dykstra in the Oct. 19 game against Redlands. Dykstra is now off life support at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and is breathing on his own but remains in serious condition.

The rustiness due to this break showed as ULV started out slow in the first half; the Leopards found themselves unable to get on the scoreboard. Meanwhile, in these first two quarters, the Poets did all the offensive damage they would need to for the eventual victory.

Senior quarterback Mark Mejia led the Poets with four touchdown passes in the first half, two of which went to junior wide receiver Manny Cid. After only two successful extra points on these four touchdowns, Whittier held a 26-0 lead with 4:56 remaining in the second quarter.

The Poet offense was not finished, though, as junior running back Jose Gonzalez broke free for a 19-yard scoring jaunt with a shade less than a minute left on the clock in the first half. The extra point was good, sending the Leopards into the locker room behind by a deficit of 33-0.

After halftime, the third quarter saw no scoring from either side.

In the fourth quarter, the Leopards took control of the board as they put together scoring drives of 75 and 80 yards to tack 12 points on the board. The first touchdown came from freshman Justin Wolchief on a 10-yard run; the second was an eight-yard pass from senior quarterback Gabe Lujan to freshman wide receiver Michael Raffee. ULV failed to convert on either of the extra point tries, making the score 33-12 in favor of the Poets.

These two scoring strikes would be all ULV could muster as the game would end with the same score of 33-12.

Head coach Don Morel said the game was over for the Leopards in the first half.

"We made some critical turnovers early in the game that took us out of the contest," he said.

Morel also attributed the team's performance in the first half to the situation surrounding Dykstra, and the dilemma the entire squad has endured as a result. He said that no collegiate football team at any level has had to face what ULV has in the last three weeks.

One of the problems faced by ULV throughout this season that continued on Saturday has been the many quarterback sacks the Leopards have suffered. In the Whittier game, the Leopards gave up six sacks for a loss of 35 yards.

Morel said this is because of an inexperienced offensive line as ULV is playing four players on the line that are either freshman or sophomore. The only remedy for this, he said, is "practice."

This practice has indeed harbored progress. "They continue to improve every week," Morel said.

As a positive factor in the contest, Morel pointed out the performance of his freshmen.

In addition to the two freshmen who scored touchdowns in the game, Morel highlighted freshman defensive backs Jeff Magdaleno and Josh Turner as two other staple contributors to the Leopard cause.

"We see a light at the end of the tunnel with the program as we play more and more freshmen," Morel said.

Ultimately, no matter what happened on the football field, it all comes back to the situation with Dykstra as there is nothing more important than his condition to the Leopard squad.

"Rollie is on our minds every minute of every day. The challenge is overcoming the situation, and I think we'll do better next week," Morel said.

ULV will attempt to improve its play as the Leopards face Chapman University at 7 p.m. tomorrow in Orange.