Leopards Shut Out By #25 Bearcats In Home Opener
La Verne tallied 216 yards of offense against the Bearcats (Jan Miller photo)
The University of La Verne football team suffered through its 2008 home opener, falling to visiting Willamette University 44-0 Saturday at Ortmayer Stadium.
The Bearcats (4-0), ranked #25 nationally in the latest D3football.com poll, amassed 507 yards on offense in the win. Willamette pulled away in the second half by scoring three touchdowns in the final quarter of action.
In the first quarter, Willamette scored on a 12-play, 79-yard drive culminating in a 1-yard touchdown run by Kyle Johnson to take a 7-0 lead. The Bearcats scored again on the final play of the opening frame, as Marcus Woo scored from 8 yards out to go up 14-0.
Willamette's special teams struck for the next score, as the Bearcats blocked a Leopard punt that rolled out of bounds in the end zone for a safety. On the next play from scrimmage, Deon Horne raced 41 yards for a touchdown to push the Bearcat lead to 23-0. Horne would tally a game-high 129 rushing yards on 15 carries.
Woo, who finished with 107 all-purpose yards, hauled in a pass from Grant Leslie to give Willamette a 30-0 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Bearcats would get two more touchdowns - a 3 yard run by Dennis Ranck and a 45-yard pass from Brandt Nevin to Raymond White - to provide the final margin of victory.
La Verne (0-2) totaled 216 yards of offense and collected 13 first downs against Willamette. The Leopards drove into Bearcat territory on three occasions, twice failing to convert on fourth down. On special teams, the Leos returned 7 kickoffs for 138 yards. Leopard quarterback Anthony Andre passed for 133 yards, completing 16 of 29 attempts.
Next week, La Verne faces yet another Top 25 team as the Leopards open conference action at home against #23 Redlands. Kickoff is 1 pm.
