Whittier Rallies To Edge La Verne, 31-28
Whittier College rallied from a 28-14 third quarter deficit to post 17 unanswered points to defeat the University of La Verne 31-28 Saturday in front of a homecoming crowd of 1,132 at Ortmayer Stadium.
The Leopards (0-6, 0-4 SCIAC) nearly forced a tie in the final moments when Taylor Hart's 59-yard field goal attempt had the distance but sailed wide left as time expired.
Whittier (3-3, 2-1) got the game-winning score when quarterback Josh Scurlock ran in from a yard out with 10:09 remaining to complete an 8-play, 25-yard drive to go up 31-28.
La Verne took a 28-14 lead on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter as running back Chris Handy hauled in a screen pass from Troy Doolittle and outraced the Poet defenders for a 70-yard score. But the Leopard offense would produce no more points from that point on as ULV's deepest penetration in its eight subsequent drives would be the Whittier 42-yard line.
Whittier's defense helped spark the comeback with 13:42 remaining in the game when Sean MacNeil picked off a Doolittle pass and raced 30 yards to the La Verne 25 to set up Scurlock's game-winning score.
Despite the pick, Doolittle enjoyed one of his most profilic days as the Leopard signal caller by completing 34 of 51 pass attempts for a game-high 419 yards and four touchdowns.
Doolittle's first touchdown pass connected with Grady Thomas from 21 yards out midway through the first quarter to pull ULV even with the Poets at 7-7. In the second quarter he tossed a 40-yard TD to Anthony De Jager along with a 36-yard scoring strike to Charles Lacy to help the Leos take a 21-14 lead into intermission.
Scurlock, who came in as the SCIAC's leading rusher, was limited to 49 yards on 22 carries but accounted for each of Whittier's touchdowns with three TD passes along with one rushing score. He threw for 220 yards on 15-of-32 passing.
Both Handy and Whittier's Josh Ollison tied for game-high honors with 111 receiving yards. De Jager caught eight balls for 85 yards while Thomas finished with five catches for 62 yards for the Leopards.
