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Occidental College

Football

Stekol Goes Off as Semones Earns First Oxy Win

Box Score

LOS ANGELESSamuel Stekol was all over the field, showing why he's Oxy's No. 1 target, and Doug Semones earned his first victory as the Occidental head football coach.

Stekol caught 13 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Tigers (1-1) to a relatively easy 35-25 win over Austin College (0-3) in its home opener at Jack Kemp Stadium on Saturday.

"Stekol's the man. He's going to catch a ton of balls this year," Semones said. "That's the guy were going to throw it to and he's going to have a huge year."

Late in the first half, Stekol caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Tommy Edwards, giving Oxy a 14-5 lead with 3:23 left. Early in the third quarter, he caught his second TD, a 29-yarder to put Oxy up 28-12 with 12:58 on the clock.

He caught short passes, long passes and was even able to set up Oxy's first touchdown with a 21-yard catch despite a holding penalty.

"This was a huge team win all around. If our defense didn't come out tonight we didn't have a shot," Stekol said. "This was really emotional for us. We all badly wanted to win this and I just did what I could."

Kwame Do put the icing on the cake, breaking out of a pile of arm tackles for a 62-yard score that gave Oxy its largest lead of the game, 35-12. It was the second consecutive career night for Do who has developed into quite a weapon out of the backfield for the Tigers. He broke last week's career high of 87 yards with 129 on 23 carries. He also caught three passes for 40 yards.

Casey Dudley had Oxy's first score with an eight-yard reception.

Cordell Harris chipped in with four receptions for 32 yards and William Stanton caught two for 28.

Edwards was 27 for 49 for 293 yards and three touchdowns, but the All-SCIAC quarterback also had a few uncharacteristic mistakes, with three interceptions in the second half, including one that was returned 30 yards for a touchdown.

On defense, Oxy was able to generate turnovers. Austin lost four of seven fumbles and Oxy defensive back Chaz Shizumura intercepted a pass in Oxy's end zone with the Kangaroos threatening midway through the second quarter.

Benjamin Kamerin forced two fumbles for Oxy and Joe Barbosa forced one.

"The defense was awesome with the takeaways tonight," Semones said. "I think that was the really the big thing was us being able to take the ball away and give our offense opportunities."

Shay Mueller had nine tackles and had a pair of punt returns for 48 yards, Ross Fiegener had nine tackles and Tommy Kim had six. Nicholas McHugh had a quarterback sack.

The Tigers have a bye week next weekend before opening SCIAC play against Redlands at Jack Kemp Stadium on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Joe Barbosa

#52 Joe Barbosa

DL
6' 3"
Junior
Kwame Do

#8 Kwame Do

RB
6' 0"
Sophomore
Casey Dudley

#3 Casey Dudley

WR
5' 10"
Sophomore
Tommy Edwards

#2 Tommy Edwards

QB
5' 11"
Senior
Ross Fiegener

#46 Ross Fiegener

LB
5' 10"
Junior
Cordell Harris

#23 Cordell Harris

WR
5' 7"
First Year
Benjamin Kamerin

#84 Benjamin Kamerin

DL
6' 1"
Sophomore
Tommy Kim

#33 Tommy Kim

LB
6' 0"
Senior
Nicholas McHugh

#9 Nicholas McHugh

LB
6' 0"
Junior
Shay Mueller

#22 Shay Mueller

DB
5' 9"
Sophomore
Chaz Shizumura

#24 Chaz Shizumura

DB
6' 0"
First Year
William Stanton

#7 William Stanton

WR
5' 9"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Joe Barbosa

#52 Joe Barbosa

6' 3"
Junior
DL
Kwame Do

#8 Kwame Do

6' 0"
Sophomore
RB
Casey Dudley

#3 Casey Dudley

5' 10"
Sophomore
WR
Tommy Edwards

#2 Tommy Edwards

5' 11"
Senior
QB
Ross Fiegener

#46 Ross Fiegener

5' 10"
Junior
LB
Cordell Harris

#23 Cordell Harris

5' 7"
First Year
WR
Benjamin Kamerin

#84 Benjamin Kamerin

6' 1"
Sophomore
DL
Tommy Kim

#33 Tommy Kim

6' 0"
Senior
LB
Nicholas McHugh

#9 Nicholas McHugh

6' 0"
Junior
LB
Shay Mueller

#22 Shay Mueller

5' 9"
Sophomore
DB
Chaz Shizumura

#24 Chaz Shizumura

6' 0"
First Year
DB
William Stanton

#7 William Stanton

5' 9"
Senior
WR