THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (Nov. 13, 2010) – On the final day
of the 2010 season for the Occidental College football team
struggled to find a rhythm as they fell 24-0 to the host No. 17
California Lutheran University Kingsmen who clinched back-to-back
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles.
The final game at Mt. Clef Stadium, where the Kingsmen have
played since 1963, proved to have everything going in favor of the
Purple and Gold before a standing room only crowd of 1,650.
Entering the afternoon, Occidental was ranked second in the
league, to CLU (366.5), in total yardage per game with 362.6, but
the Kingsmen held the Tigers to just 165 total yards with 101
passing and 64 rushing.
On the other side of the field, the Kingsmen showed off their
running game against the Black and Orange. Playing in 23 mph winds,
CLU ran the ball 58 times for 302 yards, its highest team rushing
total of the season. Deme'Trek Chambers led the Cal Lutheran ground
attack as he ran for a season-high 167 yards on 24 carries with two
touchdowns.
The Kingsmen scored on their first possession of each half. At
the intermission they led 10-0 after Jackson Damron hit a 47-yard
field goal with 1:28 to play in the opening stanza. The final
scoring of the afternoon came with 50 seconds left in the third
quarter when CLU quarterback Jake Laudenslayer connected for one of
his 12 completions on the day for a 15-yard touchdown. Overall,
Laudenslayer added 109 passing yards(12-for-21), but was
intercepted by Oxy's Cody Remmick.
Defensively, John Hansbrough led the Tigers
with nine tackles, all solo, while senior Kyle
Spaulding recorded eight in his final collegiate game.
Dillon Tucker and Brandon Ortega
finished with seven and four tackles, respectively, in his final
appearance in Black and Orange. Tucker also broke up a play for
Oxy. Casey Shibuya was responsible for the only
Oxy sack of the afternoon.
The Occidental run-game that was limited to 64 yards was led by
backup quarterback Ryan Rodriguez who ran for 26
yards on four carries. Luke Collis was 17-for-33
for just 97 yards with one interception. Matthew
Tuckness caught seven passes. Brian
Montemurro and Nick Danielson, who had
been sidelined with a knee injury since Pomona-Pitzer, lined up for
the final time today.
In a game that featured 21 total punts, Barnaby
Audsley punted 12 times with two inside the 20 yard line
and his longest of the day marked at 57 yards. Joshua
Mun kicked off just once, a touchback, and had a 44-yard
field goal attempt blocked with three seconds to play in the second
quarter.
Nick Saraceni returned three kicks for 47 yards
and Ryan Nastor returned three punts for 34
yards.
Connor Smith and Alex Josephs
suited up for the final time today while Alex
Wertheimer, Jim Hildensperger, Greg Fryan, Cory
Suess and Todd Mark were all sidelined
with injuries as their collegiate careers come to a close.
Occidental (5-4, 3-3 SCIAC) finishes fourth in the SCIAC
standings behind Cal Lutheran (6-0), University of Redlands (5-1)
and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (4-2).
Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director
