Shoes on the line in season finale at Whittier

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Nov. 13, 2009) – Last weekend Occidental College brought “The Drum” home to Eagle Rock with a 44-30 victory over Pomona-Pitzer. This weekend, in the final of the season, the Tigers hope to duplicate the effort as they take the field on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 1:00 p.m. to play Whittier College in the “Battle for the Shoes” in the second Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rivalry game in as many weeks.

The Tigers
Occidental improved to 6-2 overall, 5-1 in SCIAC play after rallying from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the Sagehens. Senior quarterback Scott Saunders had a career day as he threw for 213 yards and collected another 117 rushing yards for 330 of the Tigers’ 396 yards. He completed 18-of-25 passes with his longest a 32-yard completion to Jordan Washington for his only passing touchdown of the day. Saunders rushed for two more scores, with the first marking the longest run of his career at 34 yards while Jason Haller rushed for a pair of scores as he averaged 6.0 yards per carry.

The defensive was a nuisance all afternoon, led by Zac Perkins and Greg Holsworth who combined for three interceptions and a pair of touchdowns. Holsworth sparked a come-back with his second interception of the afternoon, running back 85-yards for a TD. The sophomore linebacker was active for the Black and Orange all afternoon as he tallied seven tackles, five solo, with 1.5 for a loss of eight yards. Perkins, who was named to the d3football.com Team of the Week, tied the game at 23-23 when he ran back a blocked PAT attempt for a safety. He then went on to intercept the PP quarterback, returning the pick for 42 yards, adding eight tackles, all solo stops, with two for a loss of yardage, while breaking up a play. Senior Trace Wallace led all players with 11 tackles (nine solo). Alex Wertheimer had 4.5 tackles for a loss of 16 yards, including a sack for a loss of seven yards, as he finished with nine stops and  Jesse Fischer also had a sack, pushing back the Sagehens nine yards.

The Poets
Whittier enters the final game of the season with a 3-5 record and a 1-4 SCIAC mark. The Poets’ sophomore quarterback, Alesana Sausau, was 6-for-14 with one touchdown pass to Josh Ollison. Whittier rushed the ball 39 times for 208 yards led by Pete Mitchell who scurried for 73 yards while Paul Schilling picked up 47 yards. Rodrigo Murtalla was responsible for the only other WC touchdown of the afternoon. Roman Ferreria hit a 32-yard field goal and added a pair of PATs in the game.

Defensively Jared Cato had a game-high nine tackles (1.0 for a loss of seven yards) while Josh Lomeli and Chris Syfers each had eight stops. Tyson Schilling had a game-high 2.5 tackles for loss of nine yards including one of three sacks.  Aaron Alonzo had a sack for a loss of 14 yards while forcing a pair of fumbles while Kirkpatrick recorded a sack, pushing CMS back seven yards. Syfers also forced a fumble, all three were recovered by the Poets.

The Series
The Poets and Tigers first met in 1895, however there are no records between then and 1907. The two rivals did not meet in 1918, but resumed the annual showdown in 1919 and played through the 1942 season prior to World War II. Upon the return to the gridiron in 1946, the teams have played each year in the “Battle for The Shoes,” which is  one of Division III football's most historic games. Overall, Occidental holds an edge in the all-time record books with a 53-45 advantage. The only tie in the history of the rivalry came in 1916. The teams have played for the coveted “Shoes” 64 times with each team having won 32 times. Over the last 23 years Oxy has earned 18 victories to the Poets’ five.

The Shoes
Prior to the 1939 game between Occidental and Whittier, members of the Occidental team stole All-American Myron Claxton's shoes from the locker room forcing the Whittier star to play in his work boots. Even without his shoes, Claxton led Whittier to a 36-0 win which marked the seventh straight win for WC. The teams played three more times before WWII in 1942 and when the rivalry continued in '46 members of the Franklin Society of Whittier College had Claxton's shoes bronzed. Occidental won the first 'Battle of the Shoes' in '46 and kept the trophy for two more seasons before Whittier won a 54-6 decision in 1949.