PORTLAND, Ore. (Sept. 18, 2021) – The Whittier College football team found paydirt twice on the road at Lewis & Clark College, the team's first non-SCIAC game since 2019.

The Poets got on the board early, keeping an early pace with the host Pioneers. Sophomore quarterback Sebastian Pimentel (Whittier, Calif. / California) led a four-minute, 65-yard drive down the field that cut the Lewis & Clark lead in half. A 42-yard pass from Pimentel to senior wide receiver Moises Gonzalez (Long Beach, Calif. / Long Beach Poly) marched the Poets down the field, and Gonzalez finished off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run on the Pioneers' goal line on third down. The Whittier offense struck again in the midnight hour of the third quarter when Pimentel completed a pass to senior wide receiver Hakim Williams Jr. (Covina, Calif. / Covina) for a 78-yard touchdown. The long gain made up a little more than half of the senior's receiving total for the game, as he finished with six grabs for 121 yards.

Other offensive contributors for the Poets included Gonzalez, who finished with five catches for 62 yards and senior running back David Contreras (Norwalk, Calif. / Norwalk) who totaled 32 rushing yards. Defensively, the Poets got plenty of work in, with junior linebacker Enrique Santana (Inglewood, Calif. Salesian) totaling 12 tackles (six solo) and classmate Jacob Hayes (Chino Hills, Calif. Colony) picking up one of Whittier's two sacks on the day. The other sack came on a combined effort from junior linebacker Mark Martinez (Paso Robles, Calif. / Paso Robles) and junior defensive lineman Alex Ortiz-Valenzuela (Bellflower, Calif. / Warren). Another junior, defensive back Sha'Cobe Marzett (El Paso, Texas / Captain John L. Chapin) pulled in the Poets' first interception of the young season.

Head Coach Mike Neale and the Poets will return to SCIAC play on Saturday, Sept. 25 when they rematch Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on the road.

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