FB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OxyBob]

Eyewitness report from Eagle Rock:

Oxy 14, La Verne 13

Nail Biter City. Oxy and La Verne battled it out to the very end, and the Tigers came away with a hard-fought win.

In the first quarter, Oxy got on the scoreboard first on a 4-yard run by Jason Haller. A punt by La Verne's Erek Brown touched an Oxy player, the Leopards recovered at the Oxy 36, and ULV then scored on a 19-yard pass from Anthony Andre to Cedric Ho. In the second quarter, Andre and Ho hooked up again on a 10-yard pass play, but ULV missed the extra point and it was 13-7. Back came Oxy, with Scott Saunders hitting Jordan Inabnit on a 36-yard scoring pass. Oxy lead 14-13 at the half. Saunders had a tough first half with 3 interceptions, but the bend-but-don't-break Oxy defense stopped La Verne each time.

The second half was a scoreless defensive battle. Oxy had the ball 6 times. Neil Martin's 24-yard FG try hit the right upright, and Oxy punted the other 5 times they had the ball. If Oxy's strategy was to not showcase their offense in advance of their game next week with Cal Lutheran, then the game plan worked perfectly. La Verne's offense fared no better. The Leopards had 6 second half offensive series -- 3 punts, an interception, turned the ball over on downs once, and ended the game with the ball deep in their own territory.

Oxy held ULV to 5 net yards rushing, and sacked Andre 7 times. Last week Oxy and Chapman combined for 15 punts. Not to be outdone, the Tigers and the Leopards had 18 punts between them. Kudos to Oxy's Scott Saunders, who took over punting duties for Alex Groh, who sat out nursing a sore leg. Saunders punted 8 times and dropped 6 of those inside the 20. SCIAC board poster Growler suggested that if Groh is the Pablo Picasso of Punting, then Saunders must be the Salvador Dali of Punting because he did a surreally good job.

For Oxy, Jordan Washington had 164 all-purpose yards on 5 catches, 7 punt returns and 2 kickoff returns, and Jason Haller rushed for 90 yards and a TD. For ULV, Andre was 28-for-50 for 281 yards, one interception and 2 TDs, and Ho finished with 12 catches for 115 yards.

With the win, Oxy is now 5-1 and 3-0 SCIAC, while La Verne dropped to 0-6 and 0-4. The Tigers will host 3-0 CLU next week for the SCIAC lead.

OxyBob

[Sabretooth Tiger]

I was impressed by the Leopards . . . the QB is a good kid and has a nice arm.

Oxy O was not hitting on all cylinders this afternoon . . . gonna have to get the mojo this week in order to execute against the Kingsmen.

A win is a win . . . but it weren't pretty at all . . . (of course, I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day).

[Kingsmen4]

CLU overcomes numerous injuries to put an impressive pounding on Chapman. Looking forward to seeing a group of guys that have a lot of built up emotion playing to prove something next week against a good oxy football team at "the rock". Makes me sick to my stomach thinking about that last play last year, hope all the guys have that in their mind going into practice this week.

Go lu

[Nihon Tiger]

Really strange day in what I thought was going to be a boring week in the SCIAC.  Redlands ended up rolling on CMS, but [Edit: 1] pick six interception is very unlike Selway.  Pomona over Whittier in a close one, would like to hear from the Poet posters on that one.  Cal Lu big over Chapman on the road, with next Saturday probably looming large in their minds.

Really tough day for Oxy, and especially Scott Saunders.  Scott has looked good the last few weeks, but looked rattled today for some reason.  He's a great leader and teammate, and an all around good guy, so I hope he doesn't let one off day stick with him.  Wertheimer and Fischer looked scary good all day on the d-line, 4 sacks and 6 TFL for Das Werth, and 2.0/3.5 for Das Fisch. If you go to the games or watch the video you can see that Wertheimer is pretty much unblockable at this point, at least in the SCIAC or NWC.  As someone who personally blocked Werth in practice and played against two other SCIAC d-line guys who got All-America last year, let me say that with all due respect to them he is better than either and deserves to be an All-American this year without a doubt.

* *Rant alert* *There was a really annoying La Verne fan that could be overheard on the broadcast.  Even though La Verne was playing really well, the dude was yelling stuff like, "C'mon offense, the defense is carrying you!"  This is during the first half when they're actually winning.  What kind of a-hole yells stuff like that with the parents of the offensive players probably sitting right next to you.  What a jerk. 

Anyways now it is officially Cal Lu Cal-Who week, and I for one am pumped...

[Nihon Tiger]

Oh yeah, and D O.C. told you it was gonna be a close one!  Congrats to Linfield on yet another hard fought road victory.

[OxyBob]

Whiny Redlands shill reporter Michelle Gardner in her blog:

On the four-year front the game of the day was Occidental surviving 14-13 over La Verne. That's a nationally ranked and defending conference champion that barely hung on to beat an 0-6 team. This Oxy team is not nearly as good as the ones the Tigers have had in the past, that is pretty obvious. (They also barely beat 2-4 Chapman the previous week).

But still good enough to beat your beloved Bulldogs again.

Speaking of which, check out this article about Oxy QB Scott Saunders in the Palm Springs Desert Sun:

Ex-Indian Saunders a hit at Occidental

The Tigers have the inside track at earning a playoff berth after an impressive comeback victory two weeks ago.

Taking on its conference rival Redlands, Occidental trailed 24-10 entering the fourth quarter. Saunders led the team on two touchdown drives to tie the game, and the Tigers ultimately won 27-24 in overtime.

Saunders was named the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference male athlete of the week for his effort.

He completed 25 of 43 passes for 271 yards and two touchdowns.

Here is the write-up of CLU's win over Chapman from the Ventura County Star:

Stuart's four TDs spark CLU victory

Must reading: Article from The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell about the troubling links between football and trauma-related brain disease.

Offensive Play: How different are dogfighting and football?

OxyBob

[BULLDOGALUM52]

Redlands ended up rolling on CMS, but 2 pick six interceptions is very unlike Selway.

I erred in saying Selway threw two pick 6's instead it was one pic for a touchdown and the other was a blocked punt for 6....Dogs still overcame to pound the Stags, look for the same with the last home game of the season for the dogs against Pomona...

[snoop dawg]

CLU overcomes numerous injuries to put an impressive pounding on Chapman. Looking forward to seeing a group of guys that have a lot of built up emotion playing to prove something next week against a good oxy football team at "the rock". Makes me sick to my stomach thinking about that last play last year, hope all the guys have that in their mind going into practice this week.

Go lu

I heard on the 7 day forecast that it might rain on Saturday.

[SnowLeopard]

Thanks to the Oxy broadcast, I was able to watch some of the ULV game yesterday.

Talk about frustrating,  I don't know where to start. The missed opportunities, the play calling, the stupid mistakes, the record, yuck........ Somebody hit the reset button on this program.

[Nihon Tiger]

Snow Leopard,

The ULV team I watched on Saturday had undeniable talent.  Your QB and WR Ho are both good players, and I saw a lot of other skilled athletes on the ULV side of the ball.  There is no reason that team should be winless, or go winless on the season.  It just looked like a team that was searching for an identity.  I know it's a lot to try and know just from watching a video feed, but from the celebrations and whatnot it kind of looked like a lot of individuals out there playing for themselves.  The key to ULV's success might be as simple as believing they can win and coming together as a team.

** Also, congrats to Oxy alums QB Justin Goltz and S Daniel Tromello on winning the championship in the German league this week.**

[Gray Fox]

Snow Leopard,

The ULV team I watched on Saturday had undeniable talent.  Your QB and WR Ho are both good players, and I saw a lot of other skilled athletes on the ULV side of the ball.  There is no reason that team should be winless, or go winless on the season.  It just looked like a team that was searching for an identity.  I know it's a lot to try and know just from watching a video feed, but from the celebrations and whatnot it kind of looked like a lot of individuals out there playing for themselves.  The key to ULV's success might be as simple as believing they can win and coming together as a team.

** Also, congrats to Oxy alums QB Justin Goltz and S Daniel Tromello on winning the championship in the German league this week.**

ULV is a young team with many freshmen and sophs.  The Oxy game may be a turnaround of sorts for them.  They had a good game plan against Oxy. 

SnowLeopard,
Give the coaches a chance to develop their program. It's going in the right direction.  These things take time.

[Gray Fox]

Redlands ended up rolling on CMS, but 2 pick six interceptions is very unlike Selway.

I erred in saying Selway threw two pick 6's instead it was one pic for a touchdown and the other was a blocked punt for 6....Dogs still overcame to pound the Stags, look for the same with the last home game of the season for the dogs against Pomona...

There is a rumor that Selway may have yet another year of eligibility.  If nothing else, he could beat the unofficial SCIAC record for seasons played by a QB currently held by Oxy's Tyler Paopao.

[SnowLeopard]

Don't get me wrong, I know were I young team. But it seams like we've had young teams for the past 4 years...
Andre and Ho look good, but they are upperclassmen. It seams like every year we get 15 WRs and forget to recruit OL. We for sure have to lead the SCIAC in sacks given up over the past ten years.
I don't understand how we got blown-out by Pomona....
And if you're going to start schooling us on "coming together as a team,"  I ask you direct that criticism to Coach Ankeny...

[SnowLeopard]

SnowLeopard,
Give the coaches a chance to develop their program. It's going in the right direction.  These things take time.

3 years and a progressively worse record...... I'm not asking for a Conference Championship overnight, just some improvement and a few W's.... I'll put some blame on the Administration, but c'mon! Right Direction? You been following ULV?

[Gray Fox]

Don't get me wrong, I know were I young team. But it seams like we've had young teams for the past 4 years...
Andre and Ho look good, but they are upperclassmen. It seams like every year we get 15 WRs and forget to recruit OL. We for sure have to lead the SCIAC in sacks given up over the past ten years.
I don't understand how we got blown-out by Pomona....
And if you're going to start schooling us on "coming together as a team,"  I ask you direct that criticism to Coach Ankeny...

Have you looked at the roster?  Almost all the line are frosh and sophs and they are big.  Getting kids to stay around is a common problem at D3, especially if they aren't playing.  Looking at the roster, this shouldn't be happening to the linemen.