Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – In the longest standing rivalry game in Division III West of the Mississippi; the Occidental College Tigers reclaimed the coveted "Shoes" Saturday evening as they held on for the 23-17 victory over Whittier College.
Since 1946 the Poets and Tigers have played for a pair of bronzed cleats, worn by 1940 Whittier graduate Myron Claxton, in a rivalry game that has grown to be called the "Battle for the Shoes".
On the Thursday evening prior to the scheduled meeting of the teams in 1939, members of the Occidental football team stole the All-American running backs shoes from the locker room, forcing Claxton to play in his work boots. Even so, Claxton, an Orthogonian led the Poets to a 36-0 victory as they went on to win the SCIAC title that year.
Following the game Claxton, who was the final draft pick of the Giants in the 1940 NFL draft, went over to the Oxy sideline and retrieved his shoes, "bringing them home". Seven years later members of the Franklin Society had the shoes bronzed and the teams have played for the coveted "Shoes" trophy ever since.
Since the introduction of the trophy Occidental holds a 36-35 record. During the six year span from 2001-2006 Occidental retained possession of The Shoes. In November 2007, Whittier and Occidental combined to score 128 points with the Poets re-claiming The Shoes after posting a 67-61 upset win over the Tigers in Whittier. Over the last 26 years Oxy has earned 24 victories to the Poets' nine.
Occidental College and Whittier College have met on the gridiron 107 times during their histories. Overall Occidental holds a one game advantage for the all-time record between the two institutions at 53-52 with two ties coming in 1910 and 1916. The two teams first met in 1907, the first year Whittier fielded a team. There were no games played between the two teams in 1909 or 1918. Additionally, during the war years of 1943-45 athletic competition was put on hold.
On the Poets first possession, Marcell Blow (Lompoc, Calif.) fumbled giving the ball to the Tigers with great field position, but the Poet defensive unit stood strong forcing a three and out. Whittier would find the end zone on their second possession however when Steven Rivera (El Monte, Calif.) found a wide open Romell Smothers (Brea, Calif.) who sprinted in from 23 yards out capping off a 12-play, 80-yard drive that covered 5:08.
After another three and out forced by the Poet defense, Smothers would get the ball on the punt and would fumble giving the Tigers the ball deep in Poet territory. But on 4th and 2, the Purple & Gold defense stood strong getting the ball on downs. After two incompletions, Whittier faced a 3rd and 8 from their own eight yard line and on the ensuing play, Rivera would be sacked in the endzone for a safety putting the Tigers on the board.
This play would prove significant as the momentum shifted as Oxy would rattle off 23 unanswered to go in front 23-7. In the third, the Poets would get a 41 yard field goal from Eric Voss (Temecula, Calif.) that stopped the bleeding. They would add a score in the fourth behind a seven yard run from Blow that pulled them within six but that's as close as they would get as Rivera would get picked off on the final series with 3:40 to play that secured the win for the Tigers.
Rivera threw for 186 yards on 14-31 passing and a score. Erek Brown (San Dimas, Calif.) led the rushing attack with 10 attempts for 59 yards, while Blow finished with 24 yards and a touchdown. Justin Vlahos (Bakersfield, Calif.) for the second straight week led the receiving core with four catches for 60 yards.
Defensively, Trevor Phillips (La Habra, Calif.) finished with a team high 11 tackles (7 solo, 4 assisted), while Diego Villasenor (Linda, Calif.) had 9 (5 solo, 4 assisted). Josh Pride (Oakland, Calif.) collected an interception on the evening and Nathan Blaikie (Whittier, Calif.) and Phillips each recorded sacks.
Whittier drops to 1-2, 0-2 SCIAC and looks to bounce back as they welcome in the University of La Verne this Saturday, October 18 at 5:00pm to cap off Homecoming Weekend. Homecoming Festivities will go from 12:30pm-4:30pm on the baseball field prior to the game.
