Photo: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. (Oct. 16, 2021) – A pair of big plays in the second quarter breathed new life into the Whittier College football team on Saturday night when the Poets took on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges at Memorial Stadium.

First, the Whittier special teams pounced on a high snap after the defense forced the Stags to go three-and-out. The ball rolled into the Stags' own end zone where junior defensive lineman Nicholas Hanamaikai (West Covina, Calif. / Bishop Amat) recovered it for the touchdown. Hanamaikai also had a hand in forcing the three-and-out, sacking the opposing quarterback for a loss of six yards on second down. Four minutes later, the Purple & Gold caught the Stags off guard on the opening play of their fifth drive of the game. Sophomore quarterback Sebastian Pimentel (Whittier, Calif. / California) dished the ball out to senior wide receiver Moises Gonzalez (Long Beach, Calif. / Long Beach Poly) on what, at first, appeared to be a screen pass. However, Gonzalez, still behind the line-of-scrimmage would opt to chuck the ball down the field, finding a streaking Hakim Williams Jr. (Covina, Calif. / Covina) with multiple yards of separation on his defender, making a 75-yard touchdown look as routine as can be.

The Poets' defense would continue to have its moments throughout the game. Junior linebacker Matt Buchanan (Los Banos, Calif. Pacheco) had one of his strongest statistical games of the season, accruing a sack, forced fumble and an additional tackle for loss to go with 13 total tackles. Meanwhile, junior defensive back Andres Ruvalcaba (Chino, Calif. / Salesian) also hit double-digit tackles, with six solo, one tackle for loss, and a beautiful break-up in the secondary.

Head Coach Mike Neale and the Poets will be back at home on Saturday, Oct. 23 to host the University of La Verne at 7 p.m. in a rematch of the first game of the 2021 season.

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