LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Sept. 20, 2008) – Before a packed stadium, the Tigers used a second-half surge to outscore the Menlo College Oaks 38-28 in the Occidental College home opener tonight on D.W. Patterson Field.

A scoreless first quarter was followed by 28 points in the second quarter, 14 for each team.

Menlo struck first with a two-play, 78-yard completion from Angel Molina to Dino Arancibia just 51 seconds into the second quarter.

Oxy responded immediately as Bryan Fiorito ran 67 of the 76-yard drive, finishing off the play with a one-yard rush into the end zone. Neil Martin completed the play to knot the game at 7 with 6:52 to play in the half.

On the next possession senior Daniel Tromello recorded his first interception of the season, picking off Molina, the Menlo QB, at the Oxy 25-yard line, returning the ball nine yards. This set up a two-play drive, which ended with senior quarterback Justin Goltz completing a 63-yard pass to junior wide receiver Jason Lehman.

The Oaks came back with a  71-yard drive down the field to tie the game at 14 with a five-yard pass from Molina to Jordan Long before Eddie De Leon finished it off with his second PAT in as many chances.

After the break the teams again exchanged touchdowns right out of the gate with Goltz finding Lehman for another long completion, this one 59 yards, giving the Tigers a 21-14 advantage.

Two possessions later the Oaks tied the game for the final time of the night, at 21-21, with a 28-yard completion from Molina to Anacibia.

On the Tigers' next offensive series Goltz ran the ball seven yards into the end zone after a nine-play drive to give the Tigers a 28-21 lead, which is what the score stood at entering the fourth quarter.

Three minutes into the final frame of regulation Fiorito again ran the ball by the opposition with another one-yard touchdown run, scoring the Tigers' ultimate winning TD.

Shaun Souza added to the final Oaks score with a four-yard run followed by a De Leon PAT to give Menlo their final of 28 points.

After missing a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter, Martin redeemed himself with a 32-yard FG in the fourth quarter with just 2:11 to play for the final Tigers score of the night.

The Occidental defense was led by sophomore Zac Perkins, who made 11 total stops, with a team high four solo tackles. He was responsible for one of the five Tiger sacks for a loss of six yards. Jesse Fischer also recorded a sack, pushing the Oaks back eight yards. Jim Hildensperger had a sack for a loss of five yards and broke up a play while  Kyle Spaulding made two tackles for a loss of eight yards. Each finished with nine tackles. JD Ciasulli was next in line with eight. Tromello was a defensive nuisance, adding one unassisted tackle and four assists, including half a sack. He also broke up three plays to go along with his interception.

Oxy's offensive line protected Goltz in the pocket, not allowing any sacks while the QB was 14-for-22 for 269 yards and a pair of TDs. Lehman led all receivers with 205 yards on six catches with two touchdowns as he racked up a game-high 216 all-purpose yards. Fiorito was next in line with 148 total yards for the Tigers.

Chris Washington caught two passes for 31 yards while adding a 20-yard punt return and three kick returns for 54 yards to finish with 105 all-purpose yards.

Freshman kicker Joshua Mun again booted the ball deep on kickoffs for the Tigers. Alex Groh had a 55-yard punt in the fourth quarter for Oxy. Martin finished with eight points on the night.

As a team, Occidental accumulated 463 yards of offense while Menlo gained 370 yards. Oxy picked up 20 first downs and the Oaks had 17. The Tigers were 1-1 on fourth-down conversions and 4-5 in the red zone. Menlo was just 1-4 on fourth-down conversions while converting three of four red-zone chances.

The Tigers improve to 2-0 on the season while Menlo falls to 0-3. Occidental will have a bye week next weekend before returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 4, when they host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game of the season. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m. on D.W. Patterson Field.