Kingsmen cut down Leopards, 34-7
Campus Times
October 17, 1997
Senior cornerback Devin Carillo (#15) breaks up the quarterback's
pass and turns it into an interception. Senior defensive end Thomas Penagar
(#90) prepares for a block as Carillo returned the ball for a short gain.
The Leopards are 2-3 overall and 2-2 in SCIAC.
The University of La Verne's football team, on the cusp of becoming
an above .500 team could not break that markSaturday as it faced a big and
powerful Cal Lutheran team, falling to the Kingsmen 34-7.
The first half started dismally for the Leopards as they gave up three
straight penalties to Cal Lutheran, which allowed the Kingsmen to move the
ball on the first four downs of the game. After a first down run by Cal
Lu's junior quarterback Zack Hernandez for 27 yards, the Kingsmen settled
for a fourth down field goal to put them on the board 3-0.
La Verne, with runs from junior running back Ordell Williams of one
and five yards, could not get things going on the next possession of the
game and elected to punt on forth down. With a penalty for an illegal block
on the Cal Lu punt receiving team, La Verne got a break and looked to stand
up the Kingsmen on the Cal Lu 5-yard line.
Cal Lu would not back down in their territory as Hernandez took over
the running game and turned a quarterback scramble into a 15-yard gain and
a first down. On the next play of the game, La Verne tightened its defense
and allowed junior defensive end Joe Schell to shoot through the offensive
line for La Verne's first sack of the game, bringing the confidence level
of the Leopards back on track.
After another sack from senior defensive end Neil Griffin and yet another
from senior defensive tackle Ronnie Daniels on the next play, the Leopards
retained their stature and received the ball again.
On the La Verne possession, junior quarterback Brent Meier ignited the
offense, throwing a perfect pass to senior wide receiver Liron Wilson for
a first down. On the next play Meier went back to Wilson, this time in the
Cal Lu end zone, giving La Verne its first touchdown of the game and a 7-3
lead. Unfortunately for the Leopards, Wilson's touchdown would be the only
points for La Verne the rest of the game.
"We had a good chance to go up by more than seven points in the
first quarter, but we couldn't," said head coach Don Morel.
On the next possession for La Verne, the Leopards started strong completing
an 11-yard pass to senior wide receiver Matt Durant from Meier for a first
down and yet another first down on a 10-yard scamper by Williams to end
the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Cal Lutheran stuck it to the Leopards early as
senior quarterback Derek Brown handed the ball to freshman running back
Dorian Stitt on first down for a gain of 27 yards and a first down. On the
next play Brown went to the air, completing a 36-yard bullet to junior wide
receiver Tim Kirksey for yet another first down.
After two unsuccessful downs by Cal Lutheran, Brown went to Kirksey
again on third down, this time for a 25-yard touchdown and the Kingsmen
took over the lead 10-7 after a successful extra point attempt from freshman
place kicker Ryan Geisler.
After a 17-yard kickoff return by wide receiver Bert Martin, the Leopards
looked to be in good field position, but after an interception by the Kingsmen's
junior defensive back Anthony Sullivan for a gain of 38 yards from the hands
of Meier, La Verne looked to be in big trouble.
"We had a bad second quarter and we made a lot of mistakes, which
caused them to score," said Wilson.
Cal Lu turned the interception into points on the ensuing first down
as Stitt banged his way for a 14-yard gain and a touchdown, putting the
Kingsmen on top, 16-7. An extra point from Geisler extended the lead to
17-7.
Things turned for the worst for La Verne as Cal Lu punted on their next
drive to sophomore wide receiver Andrew Woolsey, who could not get a hold
of the ball and turned it over to the streaking Ca Lu freshman Ricardo Robinson
on the La Verne 1-yard line.
The next play by Cal Lutheran turned into an easy touchdown as Stitt
ran off a good leading block from senior fullback Billy Busch into the end
zone for a commanding 24-7 lead.
"It is hard to win football games with six turnovers," said
senior linebacker Anthony Russo, who played strongly at the line breaking
up a potential score to Kirksey in the second quarter.
La Verne could not get anything going on offense and had to punt another
ball away to the Kingsmen toward the end of the half.
After a short gain, Brown decided to go for the end zone again and completed
a 36-yard touchdown pass to Kirksey to stretch the lead again to 31-7 going
into the second half.
In the second half, the La Verne defense was able to stop the Kingsmen
offense and held them to only one field goal in the half to keep the lead
34-7. That would be the last of the scoring for the day, as both teams seemed
to lose the fire they started the game with.
"We simply gave the game away. We had some costly turnovers and
we couldn't get the momentum back," said Morel.
Morel is currently planning the remainder of the season with confidence,
but his first move before next week's game against Azusa Pacific University
was to weed out the players whose attitudes were bringing down the team,
mainly the attitude of Martin, who was one of the best returners in Division
III football in the entire country.
"Martin was not getting along with what we are trying to do in
La Verne football, no matter how good of a player he is. If he does not
care about the University of La Verne and La Verne football, he should not
be a part of our team," said Morel.
Morel will continue preparing for the rest of the season by "working
more on individual skills" and teaching his players "not to beat
themselves" in a game situations.
"Next week's game against Azusa Pacific will be a challenge. APU
is a very talented football tea, a team we can beat, but we have to be careful
not to beat ourselves," said Morel.
"In order to win we need to communicate and concentrate on each
other, then will we be a lot stronger of a team," said Russo.
The Leopards will face Azusa Pacific tomorrow at 1 p.m. ULV holds the
all-time series advantage over APU, 18 wins against APU's 16 wins.
La Verne will not have a game until the Homecoming game against Chapman
Nov. 1.
