THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Entering the game Cal Lutheran and Linfield looked as equal as could be. Afterwards, the box score showed the same, with the exception of the score, which illustrated a Wildcats 33-30 victory on a 39-yard field goal with five seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
Things were as even as could have been with the Kingsmen and Wildcats accumulating nearly identical yardage on offense. LC edged CLU 438 yards to 436. Cal Lutheran had the upper hand passing with 320 yards to Linfield's 298, but the Wildcats rushed for 166 while CLU earned 116 yards on the ground. Mickey Inns threw the ball 47 times for LC and CLU senior quarterback Kevin Ramay threw 55 times. The Wildcats picked up 22 first downs, the Kingsmen converted for 24. Linfield returned four kickoffs for 65 yards and Cal Lutheran returned five for 66 yards. Each squad scored on three of four red zone chances with a pair of touchdowns. Defensively, LC had 86 total tackles and sacked Ramay five times while CLU finished with 69 total tackles and sacked Inns three times. The teams combined for 32 penalties. Both kickers had a pair of touchbacks, but the difference was in the kicking game.
Linfield scored just two touchdowns while the Kingsmen combined for four, two through the air and two on the ground, both by freshman Romello Goodman. The Wildcats, however, took advantage of Josh Kay's foot. He connected for four field goals, from 45-yards, 35-yards, 41-yards and 39-yards, three coming in the fourth quarter.
Down the stretch, a CLU punt with 1:39 to play, just after Linfield had tied the game up at 30-30, could have put the pressure on the Wildcats. Unfortunately, a shanked punt sailed just nine yards and landed out-of-bounds at the CLU45 to give LC a short field, in turn putting the pressure on the Cal Lutheran defense. Four completions from Inns set up Kay for the game-winner, despite a valiant leaping effort by Kingsmen senior Eric Rogers who jumped head and shoulders above everyone else on the field in an attempt to misdirect the football.
CLU was afforded one final play and a lateral put the ball in Rogers' hands, but LC defenders surrounded him at the CLU35 yard line to end the contest.
After the opening quarter the Kingsmen led 7-0 on a Ramay to Donald Senegal 29-yard touchdown that kicker David Sandler finished off with the point after.
Linfield won the second quarter 10-3. The Wildcats scored on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Inns to Josh Hill, who led all players with 190 all-purpose yards. They added a field goal to take a 10-7 lead early in the frame. CLU stormed back to knot things up at 10-10 entering the locker rooms as Sandler knocked down a 37-yard field goal with 22 seconds to play in the second stanza.
The teams exchanged touchdowns in the third, despite CLU controlling the clock, holding possession of the pigskin for 12:09. Linfield's Chad Coburn earned a 21-yard pick-six after intercepting Ramay, his only missed pass of the day. The Kingsmen countered with 15-yard scoring pass from Ramay to Frankie Jones with 2:16 to play in the quarter.
In the highest scoring quarter of the game, the upper hand went to Linfield. They took a 20-17 lead with 11:26 to play before Goodman rushed his way two yards into the end zone for his first of the day. Hill countered with a three yard rushing TD of his own two minutes later. On the ensuing possession Goodman got the crowd of 2,800 on their feet with a 68-yard score. While the offensive line of Jordan Austin, Ty Olson, Seth Zimmerman, Bryan Moss and Andrew Pankow made a clear path for the freshman, he used his athleticism to beat a LC defender before putting his fleet feet to work. The quarter and game concluded with back-to-back FGs from Kay.
Today the CLU defense was paced by Chris Cabrera with 12, including two for a loss. His eight solo stops were tied for a game-high. Tim Cozine, Derrick Romo and Rian Younker each finished with nine tackles apiece. Younker had three for a loss of 14 yards while Cozine and Romo recorded seven and six solo, respectively. Younker had two of the three CLU sacks with Chris Miller earning the other. Cozine also forced a fumble and Dontaie Ferguson recovered one. Both Brock Galbreth and Caius Radu picked off Inns, though neither returned the ball for any yardage.
Offensively Ramay was 31-for-55 for a pair of touchdowns. Rogers was his favorite target with 10 catches, including the longest completion of the game for 43 yards to the LC-one yard line, which set up the Goodman 2-yard rushing TD in the fourth. The senior wide receiver finished with 142 yards. Senegal snagged seven catches for 60 yards and Jones tallied five for 44 yards. Andrew Worthley caught three passes for 34 yards while Alix Moise, Vance Cramer and Goodman each had two catches. Goodman picked up 95 rushing yards on 23 touches.
Linfield (3-0) looked to Hill 22 times on the ground for 134 yards while he added five catches for 56 yards. Inns' connected with Deidre Wiersma eight times for 54 yards and Lucas Jepson seven times for 84. The Wildcats defense was led by Dom Forrest with 11 total tackles and Brandon Funk with 10 total. KeAlii Poomaihealani was responsible for 1.5 sacks for a loss of 12 yards.
Cal Lutheran (1-1) has a bye week next weekend and will return to William Rolland Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 29 to open SCIAC play. The Kingsmen will host Pomona-Pitzer on Take a Kid to the Game night. Kick-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
Box Score: LIN 33, CLU 30
