SALEM, Ore. (Nov. 22, 2008) – Although the team hoped to begin in Salem, Ore. and end in Salem, Va. the Tigers' 2008 playoff run came to an early end as #11 Occidental College fell to #6 Willamette University in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs this afternoon at McCulloch Stadium. The Bearcats defeated the Tigers 48-33.

On a crisp Northwest afternoon the Tigers struck first, but trailed the Bearcats 27-9 at the break. Both teams were scoreless in the third quarter before Occidental “won” the fourth quarter by putting up 24 points to the Bearcats' 21, but it was too little, too late for the black and orange.

Oxy opened strong, holding the Bearcats to two yards on three plays in their first drive of the game and scored first on their opening offensive possession, but things soon went south for the Tigers, who rallied in the end, but pulled up just short.

“The bottom line is that we made big plays, but not enough big plays, and they did,” said Head Coach Dale Widolff  following the game. “We missed some scoring opportunities and not scoring after stopping a fourth down early hurt us. We needed to make all opportunities count today and we weren't able to.”

During the first Tigers' drive of the game Oxy moved the ball 83 yards, shaving 8:09 off the clock, scoring when freshman wide receiver Jordan Washington acrobatically leapt over a pair of Bearcat defenders at the one-yard line after catching an eight yard pass from senior quarterback Justin Goltz.

Both teams failed to convert on fourth-down conversions late in the first quarter and the Tigers took a 7-0 lead after one period of play.

Willamette, however, started the second quarter on the Tigers' 24 yard line and used four plays to score for the first time of the game.

Alex Wertheimer and Kyle Spaulding combined to block the PAT and freshman Nick Saraceni returned the ball into the Tigers' end zone for a safety, giving Occidental a 9-6 advantage.

That was all the offense Occidental could muster up in the first half while the Bearcats woke up, scoring a 79-yard touchdown on the ground (by Deon Horne after an interception by Arlin Taylor) followed by a 71-yard completion from quarterback Grant Leslie to Merben Woo to give Willamette a 20-9 advantage. Goltz, who was intercepted just three times in the regular season, was picked off again, by Ryan Bettencourt who returned the ball 20-yards to set up an eight-yard rushing TD by Horne with just 1:47 to play before the break, increasing the WU lead to 27-9.

In the fourth quarter the flood gates opened for both teams.

Oxy's Neil Martin got things started when he nailed a 21-yard field goal. The remainder of the offensive was spread out as three different Tigers caught touchdown passes from Goltz. Chris Washington and Jason Lehman each caught five-yard passes and Jordan Inabnit, who finished with nine catches for 104 yards, caught Goltz's longest pass of the day at 29-yards.

Willamettelooked to Woo again, both on the ground and through the air as he was responsible for a 56-yard completion for a touchdown and a 41-yard rushing score. Jose Green rushed one yard for the final Bearcats TD of the game.

Oxy finished with 426 total yards of offense while WU had 493, but the  Tigers had 86 plays to the Bearcats' 48. The Tigers were successful in four of five red zone chances.

Goltz finished his senior year going 35-for-50 for 317 yards, without being sacked thanks to the strong stand put forth by the offensive line of sophomore Nick Danielson and seniors Sam Emerson, Tom Gonzales, Logan Brown and Josh Martinez, with four touchdowns, despite being picked off twice. His running game added 41-yards, including two third-down conversions and a 13-yard first down, which set up C. Washington's TD.

The Washington brothers combined for 22 catches, totaling 166 yards with a pair of touchdowns.

Saraceni came up big for the Tigers today with four kick returns for 104 yards, with his longest carry a 39-yard run. C. Washington had three returns for 55 yards as well.

Occidental's defensive unit held Willamette scoreless on their only fourth-down chance.

Defensively junior defensive captain Alex Wertheimer led the Tigers with 7.0 tackles and recorded the only sack of the game, pushing Leslie back three yards, and had three total tackles for a loss while hurrying the quarterback once. Trace Wallace and senior JD Ciasulli each recorded 6.0 total tackles. In his final collegiate game Daniel Tromello recorded a par of assists while fellow senior Anthony Ostland had one assist in just a half of football before re-injuring his ankle. Alex Ochoa also appeared in black and orange for the final time today.

Willamettehead coach Mark Speckman said in a post game interview, “You have to give the Oxy kids a lot of credit. Their D-Line took over our O-Line early, but we were able to make some minor adjustments that made a huge difference in the outcome of the game.”

The Bearcats capitalized on opportunities by allowing Leslie just enough time in the pocket. He finished the game 12-for-21 for 248 yards.

While the Tigers were able to control the clock, maintaining possession for 37:05 of the game, the Bearcats defense caused three turnovers that ultimately played a major factor in the game, which the team knew it would should it happen.

“Turnovers were dangerous today and Willamette took advantage of those,” said Goltz. “If we had made less mistakes, the game may have ended differently.”

With the first and second seeded teams facing off in the first round, it was sure to be a battle.

“Both teams came in expecting to win and both sides played hard,” said Wertheimer. “You can't take anything away from them, they executed better than we did.”

Occidental finishes the season 9-1 with a SCIAC title. As Coach Widolff gathered the team in a huddled following the game each senior took a moment to reflect and thank the team he has called family for four years. Each of the 10 players graduating in May has played integral role in the success of the Oxy football program during the past four seasons.

“Our effort today as a team was good, we just weren't able to execute as well as we would have liked to.”

First Half Photos