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By Ethan Spector

LOS ANGELES—The Occidental football team hosts Pomona Pitzer in the "Battle for the Drum" at Jack Kemp Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

The Tigers and Sagehens have the oldest rivalry in Southern California dating back to 1895. It is the third oldest rivalry on the west coast behind Stanford-Cal (1892) and Oregon-Oregon State (1894).

History of the Drum: In 1941, the Alumni Associations from both school got together and came up with the idea of playing for "The Drum," which is awarded to the winner of the annual Pomona-Pitzer-Occidental football game.

Oxy leads Pomona-Pitzer all time in the series 65-53-3 with Oxy winning 12 straight games from 2004-2016.

Game Preview:

Coming into Saturday's matchup the Tigers are 1-6, 0-5 in the SCIAC. The Tigers are coming off a competitive loss at La Verne. Tigers had an early lead in the game, and were neck and neck with the Leopards for three quarters. In the fourth quarter they gave up two touchdowns allowing La Verne to seal the win.

Junior quarterback Joshua Greaves had a 10 yard touchdown pass to first year John Cordova to bring the game within ten with four minutes to play. On the ensuing kickoff, Occidental recovered an onside kick but Greaves was picked off at the La Verne 10-yard line confirming victory for the Leopards.

Greaves leads the team with 600 passing yards and has four touchdowns. First year running back DJ Adams has played in all the games and has 122 rushing yards with two touchdowns to his name. First year wide receiver Andrew Jack de Avila has 238 receiving yards on 19 catches. Junior wide receiver Lucas Savoie leads the team with two receiving touchdowns.

On the other side of the ball, sophomore Jackson Caudle leads a young defensive squad with 20 solo tackles. He also leads the team with three tackles for loss. In an Oct. 20 matchup against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Caudle was the Occidental Player of the Game with two fumble recoveries, one sack, and 10 tackles.

Sophomore Raffi Titizian follows Caudle with 19 solo tackles. First year standout Arman Henry leads all first years with 18 tackles in six games.

The Sagehens enter Saturday's matchup at 5-3 and 3-2 in the SCIAC.

The Sagehens are coming off a 24-21 win at Chapman. They are led by senior quarterback Edward Sias who has 1336 yards and nine touchdowns in eight games this season. Dominick Norris leads the team with 293 rushing yards and has two touchdowns. Karter Odermann has 286 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the year. Win Hunter leads the Sagehen receiving core with 35 catches for 476 yards and five touchdowns.

Their defense is led by Alex Gold who has 28 solo tackles with two force fumble and two fumble recoveries. As a team Pomona-Pitzer has 42 tackles for a loss adding up to 222 lost yards. They have six force fumbles and seven fumble recoveries.

Senior Day:

Please join the Tigers before kickoff Saturday when they honor our three seniors. Wide receiver Carlton O'Neal, offensive mineman Matthew Trusiak and offensive lineman Austin Lee.