LA VERNE, Calif. – Cal Lutheran football (5-0, 3-0 SCIAC) won on a game-winning touchdown for the second-straight week after quarterback Joe Farley's 23-yard scramble gave the Kingsmen the lead with 56 seconds left in the game, which the Kingsmen won 23-19. Cal Lutheran defeated La Verne (0-4, 0-3 SCIAC) for the third time in the past two seasons and now stands at 5-0 for the first time since 1982, excluding a 2021 win after Pomona-Pitzer forfeited due to COVID.

Cal Lutheran was able to move the ball on its opening drive, but its offense stalled the the ULV 22-yard line. The Kingsmen's 40-yard field goal attempt was no good, resulting in an empty first drive for the Kingsmen.

La Verne punted after a few plays, but the Kingsmen return man muffed it and the Leopards recovered at the CLU 15-yard line. The special teams miscue led to a La Verne touchdown, as Cal Lutheran faced an early 7-0 deficit in the first quarter.

A nice return from JD Sumlin gave Cal Lutheran solid field position at the CLU 42-yard line, and the Kingsmen offense soon faced a 4th-and-3 at the ULV 37-yard line. Farley's pass went incomplete, and the Kingsmen turned it over on downs.

On the Leopards' first series of downs on the ensuing drive, Jeremiah Alemayehu and Hunter Hall stopped the La Verne rusher on 4th-and-1 to regain possession for Cal Lutheran.

The Kingsmen offense responded by advancing deep into Leopard territory, but again stalled at the ULV 15-yard line. Matthew Montegna, reigning SCIAC Special Teams Athlete of the Week, trotted out for another field goal attempt, this time knocking it through the uprights from 33 yards out, cutting La Verne's lead to 7-3 with 11:40 remaining in the first half.

Both offenses traded scoreless drives the rest of the second quarter, and Cal Lutheran entered halftime down 7-3.

La Verne came out of the break with a bang, scoring an 88-yard touchdown on its first play from scrimmage. Logan Bowers blocked the PAT kick, keeping the score at 13-3 in the Leopards' favor.

Both offenses traded punts, but the Kingsmen were finally able to put together a touchdown drive midway through the third quarter. Farley made a couple of clutch deliveries, with a 17-yard strike to Tyler Woodworth on a 3rd-and-10 and an 8-yard completion to TeNorris Merkel on a 4th-and-4 in La Verne territory. Sumlin finished off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown plunge, but the PAT kick was blocked, resulting in a 13-9 deficit for Cal Lutheran with 3:52 left in the third period.

The Kingsmen defense carried the momentum by forcing a quick three-and-out, and the offense responded with a lightning-quick, 3-play touchdown drive. On 2nd-and-13 from the CLU 35-yard line, Farley found Merkel for a 45-yard pickup, and Gabe Landless followed that up with a 20-yard rushing touchdown. Montegna was able to convert the PAT to give Cal Lutheran a 16-13 advantage with just 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

The Leopards countered with a nice touchdown drive of their own to regain the lead, but Bowers again blocked the PAT kick, wildly being the third blocked PAT of the game and Bowers' second. La Verne led 19-16.

Cal Lutheran suffered a quick three-and-out, giving the La Verne offense the opportunity to burn some clock. On 4th-and-9 from the CLU 33-yard line, the Leopards elected to punt it back to the Kingsmen offense with 3:12 left in the game. Down three, Cal Lutheran needed to go 80 yards down the field to keep its perfect record intact.

Mehki Delouth started the drive with four straight rushes for 14 yards, including a clutch 4th-down conversion. Two plays later, Farley hit Merkel for an 18-yard gain into Leopards' territory. Two more plays later, Jake Baiz was the recipient of a 25-yard pass from Farley, setting the Kingsmen up with a fresh set of downs at the ULV 23-yard line. Sumlin got a first-down carry, but didn't pick up any yardage, and Cal Lutheran called timeout with 1:05 remaining in the game.

On the first play out of the timeout, Farley dropped back to pass, stepped up to evade a pair of La Verne rushers on both edges of the pocket, tucked the ball, and started running to his right. He would go untouched into the endzone on a heroic 23-yard scramble to give Cal Lutheran the lead with just 56 seconds left in the game. Montegna nailed the PAT, and the score read 23-19 in favor of the Kingsmen.

La Verne was able to get all the way to the CLU 39-yard line with 2 seconds remaining, but a final heave was broken up by Gannon Greenan, and Cal Lutheran escaped with a gutsy 23-19 victory on the road in a SCIAC showdown.

Cal Lutheran ran the ball well all game, as Delouth (107 yards), Landless (61 yards, 1 TD), Sumlin (60 yards, 1 TD), and Farley (22 yards, 1 TD) picked up 250 of the team's 256 yards on the ground.

Merkel (3 catches, 71 yards) and Baiz (3 catches, 55 yards) both made an impact as pass-catchers. Merkel added a 6-yard run.

Bowers led the defense with seven total tackles (0.5 TFL) and two blocked kicks. Drew Nees continued his impressive season with six solo tackles (1.0 TFL) and two pass breakups. Devon Goosby made a huge strip-sack on La Verne's final drive, but the Leopards recovered the fumble. AJ Townsend made five solo tackles and added two pass breakups to lead the Cal Lutheran secondary.

Kyle Howie punted four times, putting three of those inside the 20. Two of his punts went for over 50 yards as Howie averaged 46.8 yards per punt.

Sumlin (2 returns, 57 yards, long of 25 yards) and Delouth (1 return, 25 yards) did well as kickoff returners, and Zach Rogozik delivered a 17-yard punt return.

This is Cal Lutheran's first 5-0 start since the 1982 season, and it will look to build upon such a successful start on homecoming weekend next Saturday when it hosts Chapman at 7pm.