CLAREMONT, Calif. - Cal Lutheran rushed for 372 yards and seven touchdowns while defeating Pomona-Pitzer 62-7 on the road Saturday night. Daniel Mosier highlighted the running game equaling a program record with four rushing touchdowns.
Box Score: CLU 62, PP 7 - F
Mosier reached the end zone on three separate occasions in the first quarter with scoring runs of 16, 49, and three yards respectively. He tied the school record with his fourth of the game midway through the second quarter putting Cal Lutheran up 28-0. Mosier racked up his 118 yards and four scores on only 14 carries.
"Our offensive line did a great job tonight," said Head Coach Ben McEnroe. "Andrew Pankow had a great game, especially on some trap plays...Our normal starting lineman Gio Lapp played at fullback due to some injuries, and at one point we had four freshmen and a sophomore on our (offensive) line and were still able to run the ball effectively."
The Kingsmen ran at will scoring seven of their nine total touchdowns on the ground. Three different Cal Lutheran quarterbacks rushed one in for a score including Jake Laudenslayer, Kevin Ramay and Zach Shultis.
Laudenslayer completed 8-of-14 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown. Shane Paulson took a wide receiver screen from 13 yards out for the score that put CLU up 41-0.
Cal Lutheran did not attempt a pass in the second half of Saturday's game and has thrown just three total second half passes over the last three games. The Kingsmen have outscored the opposition 118-3 in the first half of the past three games and let the running game go to work during the second half.
It had been Pomona-Pitzer running back Luke Sweeney receiving the national attention as the leading rusher in Division III. He averaged over 203 yards per game heading into tonight's game but was held to just 56 yards by the Cal Lutheran defense. Overall the CLU defensive unit held Whittier to only 108 total offensive yards and just 45 on the ground.
"Our number one goal was to stop Sweeney," said McEnroe. "We committed a lot of players to stopping him putting our secondary, especially our corner backs in isolated situations. (Defensive Coordinator) Beattie had a great gameplan and we are fortunate to have a talented unit."
Defense and special teams set up the CLU offense with a short field on several occasions. Only two of the Kingsmen touchdowns came on scoring drives that started on their side of the field. After the offense scored its final first half touchdown to go up 41-0, the defense got a score of its own.
On the final play of the half Luis Villavicencio took an interception back 49 yards for the score. Both starting corner backs snatched an interception with Justin Haulcy-Bateman halting a Sagehens drive that had reached CLU territory.
Pomona-Pitzer's two highlight plays feature a 14-yard touchdown pass from Luke Ferguson to Ryan Randle late in the game to avoid the shutout. Ferguson finished the game completing just 7-of-26 passes for 63 yards.
The other big play was a blocked extra point attempt late in the first half. The non-converted point after try cost kicker Peter Keks sole possession in the CLU record books of most PAT's in a single game. He has tied the record twice this season following an 8-for-8 game against Whittier on Oct. 8.
Coach McEnroe remains undefeated in conference road games extending his streak to 14 following the win over Pomona-Pitzer. The victory also stretched the program's active SCIAC win streak to 18 games.
No. 12 Cal Lutheran (5-1, 4-0 SCIAC) will host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. during Homecoming Weekend.
