Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LA VERNE, Calif. – The Whittier College football team fell in their season finale to the Leopards of the University of La Verne on a rainy, windy day in front of a fan base of 840 at Ortmayer Stadium.
Whittier finishes their 2011 season 2-7 and 1-6 in SCIAC play matching their same record from 2010, while La Verne finishes 4-5, 4-3 in SCIAC rallying from a fourth quarter deficit to defeat Whittier 24-20.
The beginning of the game began as a defensive standstill as both teams were deadlocked at 0-0 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a strong defensive stand that included three sacks from Charles Scicli, Tyrod Anderson, and Josh Callanan and a forced a fumble by Scicli that was recovered by Karsten Tindal stopping a Leopard drive deep in Whittier territory. La Verne who was coming into the game averaging 23.9 points a game got on the scoreboard first early in the second quarter with a 24 yard pass from Thomas Arguello who found tight end Christian Winnewisser who made an outstretched catch to put the Leopards up 7-0.
Quarterback Kelly Maguire who was getting the start for the injured Chris Lopez threw for 121 yards on 12-29 passing and marched the Poets down the field on the ensuing possession thanks to Poet senior John O'Malley who came away with a punt block deep in La Verne territory, helping setup Douglas Soriano for a 26 yard field goal that cut the Leopard lead to eight.
La Verne however came back down on their next series and marched 75 yards down the field on seven plays ending in a 12 yard score to Matt Griffin pushing the Leopard margin to 14-3 heading into the half.
Coming out of the break, Whittier was poised to make a comeback and they did that in impressive fashion as Scicli forced his second fumble of the day early in the third quarter, which was recovered by Alex Mitchell on the La Verne six and on the next play from scrimmage, Whittier's Rufus Osby who totaled 31 yards rushed it in from six yards out to get the Purple and Gold within four at 14-10.
After a three and out and a big sack by Scott Dinov on a 3rd and 4 play, the Poets got the ball back with 10:17 remaining in the third and after a big first down reception by Richard Hoover, Donell Griffin Jr. found a big hole up front and rushed in the go ahead touchdown from 33 yards out to put Whittier up 17-14.
La Verne then came back down and tied up the game at 17-17 thanks to a 38 yard field goal by Alex Miller and that's where we would stand heading into the final quarter.
In the 4th quarter, Whittier got great field position with 8:35 remaining after a net yard punt of six yards by La Verne's Edgar Rodriguez. The Poets were able to gain five yards but Soriano was forced to kick yet another field goal from 37 yards out that put Whittier up 20-17.
La Verne trailed 20-17 with 6:54 remaining, and went on a game-winning drive covering 61 yards in 11 plays. Matthew Biggers outraced several Poet defenders to the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown run with 2:24 left to play that put the Leopards ahead to stay.
For Whittier, Griffin Jr. led all rushers with 89 yards, while senior Oreese Hoyes tallied 59 yards on four catches in the loss.
Defensively, Scicli tallied a game-high 15 tackles with teammate Callanan posting a pair of sacks.
Not to be overlooked was the tremendous job by punter Keaton Herrera who had nine punts averaging 43.9 yards a kick, with a long of 60, while placing six of the nine kicks inside of the 20 forcing the Leopards to start deep in their territory on each posession.
With the win the Leopards finish in a tie with Occidental and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for third place in the league standings.
Due to injuries that have plagued the Poets all season, they played hard and had opportunities to achieve wins all season over Claremont-M-S, Occidental, and now La Verne. Head Coach Kirk Jellerson remains optimistic as he looks to build upon this 2011 season as a stepping stone to next year where he returns a majority of the starters who will bring in a wealth of experience and leadership.
