CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Cal Lutheran football team stumbled out of the gate and were unable to complete their comeback in a 37-30 loss to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Saturday afternoon at Zinda Field.
The first drive for the Kingsmen began with two rushing plays for a loss of yards, a sack for a loss of nine yards, and on fourth and 25 CLU had their punt blocked by CMS linebacker Nick Nasse. The Violet and Gold recovered in the endzone but conceded the Safety to give the Stags a 2-0 lead.
To cap off a rough first quarter the Kingsmen had yet another punt blocked and Nick Isham threw an interception that Victor Bunce ran back to the house for CMS to give the Stags a 9-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
CLU turned things around to start the second quarter as Isham threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Alix Moise to complete an 11-play 60-yard drive lasting over five minutes.
After that touchdown, the momentum was all in favor of CMS as they rattled off 14 unanswered points behind a 16-yard rushing touchdown by Shane Pico and a 67-yard passing touchdown to Tyler Stanek from Trey Reynolds.
Down 23-9, Cal Lutheran cooked up a big play of their own, with Isham tossing a 40-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Worthley to head into halftime down 23-13.
The Kingsmen outscored the Stags 17-14 in the second half but it was too little to late for CLU.
Worthley caught two more touchdown passes in the half to give him three in the game to go along with 122 yards on seven receptions. Isham connected with Worthley on a 5-yard score in the third quarter and on a 7-yard touchdown with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Ultimately, critical mistakes down the stretch cost the Kingsmen the game. After a Diego Marquez 32-yard field goal brought the Violet and Gold within a touchdown at 30-23, Isham threw another pick six, this time Geno Quaid ran the interception back 20 yards for the score and 37-23 advantage.
Isham threw for 299 yards on 28-of-37 passing, four touchdowns but two costly interceptions. Ricky Johnson and Isaac Seymour carried the load in the backfield rushing for 49 and 41 yards, respectively. Behind Worthley, David Rico was the top receiver with seven receptions and 52 yards in the game.
CLU produced more total offense than the Stags, totaling 391 yards compared to 371. The Kingsmen passed for 299 compared to 234 for CMS, however the Stags led the running game with 137 yards as opposed to 92 for CLU.
Cal Lutheran (2-5, 2-3 SCIAC) will return to William Rolland Stadium next Saturday, Nov. 8 to face Occidental at 7:00 p.m.
Box Score: CMS 37, CLU 30
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