ORANGE, Calif. (Oct. 18, 2008) – It was a cool, October evening at Wilson Field on the campus of Chapman University where the #24 Occidental College Tigers came back from a 7-3 halftime deficit to defeat the Panthers 31-28 in their final non-conference competition of the 2008 season. Oxy used a solid third quarter, in which they converted 4-of-4 third-down conversions en route to scoring 28 points.

After a not-so-hot start for the Tigers, the tempo quickly changed in the second half as everything came together for an Oxy offense that fumbled twice in the first half, losing both. The Tigers defense was on its game, though, picking off Chapman quarterback Eric Marty twice, once by Patrick Sarkissian and the other by freshman Nate Sullivan.

To open things after the break, the Tigers received the ball, after winning the coin toss and opting to kick off to start the game, gaining good field position as Nick Saraceni ran the ball back 16 yards to set up the first Oxy drive of the second half from their own 31 yard line.

Senior quarterback Justin Goltz engineered an offense that scored four TDs, completing 11 of 12 passes, adding 40 rushing yards in the third quarter.

Just 2:06 into the second half the Tigers drove the ball down the field 69 yards on six plays culminating with Bryan Fiorito running 28-yards into the end zone, giving the Tigers their first lead of the game.

Fiorito found his groove in the second half, finishing with 98 yards after rushing for -2 yards in the opening half.

Goltz also found his feet, using a 24-yard touchdown run with 9:15 to play in the quarter to give Oxy a 17-7 lead.

Chapman wouldn't go away so easily, though as Marty found an open Dan Delahoussaye for a 42-yard TD completion to get the score back within three at 17-14.

Saraceni again gave the Tigers good field position at the Oxy 40-yard line after a short Panther kickoff. Kyle Kazarian carried the ball on his first snap of the season after Goltz left briefly with a leg injury on the drive. On the next play Kazarian connected with Jordan Washington for his first completion of the season giving the Tigers a first down. Under pressure Kazarian got a pass off to Jason Lehman who mad an acrobatic catch for the Tigers. Two plays later, with Goltz back under center, Lehman had a step on his defender and caught a 16-yard pass for the third Tigers touchdown of the game. Neil Martin again ended the play with a PAT to put the tigers back up by double figures at 24-14 with 3:36 to play in the third quarter.

Oxy pushed back the Panthers three yards on their next possession, putting the ball back in the hands of the Tigers.

Over the next 2:05, Goltz completed a 26 yards pass to Lehman and a15 yard pass to Chris Washington, who leapt well over his defender for his first touchdown and the ultimate winning TD of the game, giving Oxy a 31-14 edge with 16 seconds to play in the third.

Again the Panthers retaliated and for the second time of the game Marty connected with Delahoussaye, this time for a 32-yard TD pass, to pull the score to 31-21 in favor of the Tigers with 12:20 remaining in regulation.

With under three minutes to play the Panthers struck again pulling the score to what would ultimately be the final score of the game at 31-28.

On the ensuing kick-off the Panthers attempted an on-side kick, which was unsuccessful as C. Washington recovered the ball.

Occidental attempted to run the ball and the clock, but were forced to punt with 14 seconds to play. Alex Groh's fifth attempt of the game sailed into the end zone for a touchback.

In their final two chances of the game the Oxy defense came up huge. On the first pass attempt Alex Wertheimer hurried Marty forcing an incomplete pass. Then, on the final play of the game Marty launched a Hail Mary attempt, which ended with Daniel Tromello's third interception of the season, his second in as many weeks.

Sarkissian led the Oxy defense with eight tackles, five solo, with his first pick of the season while Wertheimer finished with a pair of sacks and four total tackles. In just one half of football action Anthony Ostland recorded five tackles, all solo. JD Ciasulli broke up a pair of plays for the defense, one huge break-up on a Panthers fourth and six early in the fourth quarter.

While the end of the third quarter drug on, the first quarter took just 23 minutes as each team had possession twice without a score being recorded.

Chapman changed that with 9:42 to play in the opening quarter when senior running back Mike Christensen scurried through the Oxy defense for a 20-yards touchdown run. The play was finished off by a PAT kick by Jimmy Adranly to get on the board first.

Despite a number of opportunities in the opening stanza, the Tigers could only muster a 23-yard field goal by Martin with just eight seconds to play in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 7-3 entering the locker room.

The offense scored in all three red-zone chances they had tonight.

Goltz finished the game 24-for-28 for 250 yards, two touchdowns while adding 93 yards on the ground.

Lehman led all Tigers with 135 all-purpose yards with Fiorito and Goltz adding 98 and 93, respectively. Delahoussaye led all players with 190 receiving and all-purpose yards.

Occidental (5-0, 2-0 SCIAC) will be on the road next Saturday, Oct. 25, when they travel to La Verne to take on the Leopards, who notched their first win of the season today against Pomona-Pitzer, at 1:00 p.m.