Leopards Fall One Point Short In Upset Bid
Leopard receiver Cedric Ho (Kelly Rivas photo)
Looking for its first win of the season, the University of La Verne football team took on SCIAC co-leader Occidental College and nearly delivered the upset but fell one point short in a 14-13 defeat Saturday at Patterson Field in Eagle Rock.
The Tigers scored on its opening possession, driving 53 yards on 9 plays to take a 7-0 lead as running back Jason Haller reached the end zone on a 4-yard rush with 9:37 remaining in the first quarter.
La Verne struck back with a score of its own later in the period. The Leopard defense, which forced four first-half turnovers, recovered a Tiger fumble on the Oxy 36 and converted the turnover into points when Anthony Andre connected with Cedric Ho from 19 yards out to tie the contest at 7-7.
The Leopard defense continued to contain the Tigers as they intercepted a pair of Oxy passes on consecutive possessions late in the first quarter. La Verne picked off another Tiger pass early in the second quarter in Oxy territory but was unable to convert the turnover into points.
Midway through the second quarter, the Leopards again gained possession and would march 72 yards on 11 plays for the go-ahead score. Once again, an Andre-to-Ho connection resulted in a touchdown, this time from 10 yards out with 4:40 remaining in the second quarter to give the Leopards a 13-7 lead. However, the Tigers blocked the extra point attempt to keep the Leopard advantage at six points.
Occidental mounted a scoring drive late in the second quarter, culminating on a 36-yard pass from Scott Saunders to Jordan Inabit. The extra point put the Tigers up 14-13 at intermission.
Both defensives dominated in the second half as the two squads would go scoreless in the final 30 minutes of action.
La Verne (0-6, 0-4 SCIAC) held the Tiger offense to just 120 yards in the second half. Occidental had a chance to pad its lead late in the third quarter as it reached the Leopard 7-yard line, but the Leopards held, resulting in a missed field goal attempt to keep the deficit at one point.
The Leopard offense suffered from poor field position much of the second half as it never started a possession past its own 20-yard line. The Leos' most productive drive occurred in the fourth quarter when they began on their own 5-yard line and drove 65 yards to the Oxy 30 before surrendering the ball on downs with 3:07 left.
Occidental (5-1, 3-0 SCIAC) tallied 324 yards on offense with the Leopards registering 286 yards. Andre completed 28-of-50 passes for 281 yards and a pair of scores. Ho caught 12 passes for a game-high 115 yards and two touchdowns. For Occidental, Haller led all rushers with 90 yards on 23 carries.
La Verne's Branamier Courtney registered a game-high 12 tackles on the afternoon. Oxy's Alex Werthemeier recorded 4 sacks on the day with 6 of his 7 tackles resulting in loss of yards.
La Verne will begin the first of a three-game homestand next Saturday with a visit from Whittier College. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 pm.
