Box Score Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
LA VERNE, Calif. – Saturday afternoon was a story of two halves for the Whittier College Football team as they held the high powered offense of La Verne to just 13 points in the first half before the Leopards would go on to add 31 in the second en route to the 44-3 victory.
Whittier remains winless on the season as they drop to 0-5, 0-3 SCIAC, while La Verne improves to 4-1, 3-0 SCIAC and are now alone atop the SCIAC Standings.
The Purple & Gold were held to a season low 163 yards of total offense (101 Passing/62 Rushing) and earned one field goal from Eric Voss (Temecula, Calif.) that came at the 6:24 mark in the first quarter and from 42 yards out. The Poets were kept out of the redzone the entire game with the closest opportunity coming late in the fourth quarter when they got to La Verne's 25 yard line. Senior Joseph Anderson (Cypress, Calif.) had a completion to Brandon Takata (Santa Fe Springs, Calif.) on 4th and 4, but the LV defense came up with a stop right in front of the marker earning a turnover on downs.
In the first half the Poets defensive unit came up big with two forced fumbles and picking up another that kept the game close coming from Matthew Condon (Corona, Calif.) and Timothy Hillman (Calabasas, Calif.). But the Purple & Gold were unable to capitalize on any of them as La Verne survived the threats.
On Whittier's first drive of the first quarter, Anderson had the ball knocked loose and the Leos recovered on the WC 12 yard-line and Alex Villalobos would punch it through the middle to put ULV in front 7-0. With 19 seconds remaining in the half, and Whittier looking to go into the half trailing 7-3, William Livingston found Alex Arellano down the right side for a 38-yard hook-up that gave the Leopards a two possession lead.
The second half was all La Verne. Travis Sparks-Jackson scored a 46-yard touchdown on the third play from scrimmage of the half and the Leopards wore down the Poets with three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Destin Cabatbat finished the game off by ripping off a 36-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds remaining in the game.
The Poets offense just couldn't get anything going as they saw La Verne total 12 tackles for losses of 54 yards and three sacks. Anderson was 18-of-35 for 100 yards, Sam Bettencourt (Downey, Calif.) rushed seven times for 36 yards, and Takata led the receiving core with three catches for 36 yards with a long being of 27.
Gregorio Verdugo (San Diego, Calif.) led the defensive unit with 12 tackles (5 solo/7 assisted), Diego Villasenor (Linda, Calif.) totaled 10 tackles (4 solo/6 assisted), and Miles Tabarez (Los Angeles, Calif.) had his breakout game of his career with 7 tackles (5 solo/2 assisted), which included two sacks for a combined nine yards lost.
Whittier will look for their first win of the season this Saturday, October 24 as they host Pomona-Pitzer beginning at 5:00pm during Homecoming. Festivities will begin at 12:30pm on the baseball field.
