CLU Finishes No. 12 Occidental, 43-25

Richards leads CLU defense in conference upset

Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007 2:18 am

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The California Lutheran University football team went on the road to defeat the nationally ranked No. 12 and formerly conference undefeated Occidental College Tigers, 43-25 on Saturday night. The Kingsmen forced six turnovers converting those for 28 points as Cal Lutheran moves atop the SCIAC standings with a perfect 4-0 conference record.

Following a punt by both squads on their respective opening offensive possessions, a 22-yard pass from R. J. Benedict to Danny Hernandez on third down was the major play in setting up a 46-yard field goal from CLU kicker Connor Pearce. After forcing another Occidental punt, the Kingsmen scored the first touchdown on the night as Louis Montaño sprinted for a 61-yard touchdown, the longest CLU rushing play this season.

The Tigers caught a break starting its final possession of the opening quarter at the CLU 31, but could manage just a 22-yard field goal cutting the deficit to seven.

Later in the second quarter the Kingsmen recovered a Tigers fumble and three plays later Montaño scampered for his second touchdown of the night, a 34-yard dash.

CLU’s Josh Richards was making big plays the entire game. One of multiple game changing efforts include one of his four sacks, a forced fumble and fumble recovery on a single play with 20 seconds remaining in the first half.

With 10 seconds remaining, no timeouts and 20 yards from a touchdown, Benedict lofted a pass to the back corner of the end zone to wrap up the half leading 23-3.

A pumped CLU coaching staff recalled a 2006 game against these same Tigers in which the Kingsmen led big at the half, only to fall late in the game 28-27. “We’ve got to finish” echoed in the locker room at the half.

History (at first) looked to be repeating itself as the Tigers received the second half kickoff and proceeded to score on its opening two possessions, making the score 23-17 with 5:24 left in the third period.

CLU looked dazed and was forced to punt for the third consecutive second half possession. A mishandled punt and Kingsmen recovery at the Occidental 15-yard line set up CLU inside the red zone. Benedict, who threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns, found Chris Hammond just over the goal line for the score.

The Tigers were clawing back but failed to convert a fourth down and short yardage play, giving possession back to the Kingsmen. CLU came out with a wide receiver screen that went for 68 yards and a touchdown and gave Cal Lutheran a 36-17 lead.

Occidental tried to run a very similar play to open its next offensive series, but Richards from his defensive end position jumped the route and took an interception 16 yards for a score.

Matlock led the Kingsmen with 8 catches for 163 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Occidental wide out Rocky Ciasulli had a stand out performance for the Tigers snatching 15 balls for over 100 yards and accounted for all three of his team’s touchdowns.

CLU linebacker Austin Jones wrapped up a game-high 11 tackles (all solo). Safety Garrett Redd recorded 7.5 tackles including a sack to go along with an interception and return for 15 yards.

Saturday’s win marks the first time CLU has defeated Occidental since the 2002 season.

Cal Lutheran (4-3, 4-0 SCIAC) will stay on the road next Saturday, November 3 to take on Pomona-Pitzer Colleges at 1 pm.