REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Football team (4-2, 2-1 SCIAC) came out victorious on Homecoming Saturday night as they held on to beat Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) 16-14.
The Bulldogs got off to a good start as their defense forced a three and out after Adrian Silva (Bell Gardens, CA) picked up a sack for a six-yard loss.
After a punt on offense and forcing a P-P turnover off a Shepard Cope (Murrieta, CA) interception at the Sagehen 30, the Bulldog offense got on the scoreboard with a 33-yard field goal from Kadyn Butcher (Vancouver, WA).
Following another Sagehen punt the Bulldog offense went 14-plays covering 65 yards that ended in a 32-yard Butcher field goal. During the drive Tobey Schmidt (Tustin, CA) completed a pass to Donovan Maxey-Parler (Sacramento, CA) for nine yards and then Julian Walker (Fontana, CA) for 13 yards. Jakai Torres (Baltimore, MD) also had rushes of a combined 24 yards.
With 6:55 on the clock Redlands got the ball at their own 11 yard line. On the back of completions of 21 and 25 yards to Julian Borrayo (Covina, CA) the Maroon and Grey were able to get inside the Sagehen 20. Despite the strong drive they would settle for a field goal by Butcher that made it 9-0.
The subsequent possession lasted just under a minute and a half for P-P, which gave Redlands :32 seconds to work with and the ball at the Sagehen 46.
Instead of running the ball to see how many yards they could get to avoid making a mistake up 9-0, the Bulldogs took a deep shot with Schmidt finding Kev Markossian (La Verne, CA) for a 46-yard touchdown, which made it 16-0 at the half.
The Bulldogs maintained their strong play in the third period until a fumble deep in their own territory gave the Sagehens the ball at the Bulldog eight. Three plays later they were in the end zone, and they converted the two-point conversion to make it an eight-point game, 16-8.
In the fourth quarter it was another Bulldog fumble that could have cost them as the Sagehens took over at the Redlands 25. The threat was quickly extinguished as Jax Lee (Richland, WA) picked off a pass from his defensive end position to get the ball right back to the offense.
Both teams traded possession with little ball movement until another Bulldog turnover, an interception this time, gave the ball back to the Sagehens at their own one-yard line. The Sagehens needed only one play to get into the end zone, but on the game-tying two-point try the Bulldogs got the stop to maintain the lead, 16-14.
In the final 7:49 the two teams managed to combine for three punts and an Enrique Ybanez (Ontario, CA) interception.
That pick came when P-P had the ball at their 49 with :30 seconds remaining. Their quarterback took a shot down the right side, but Ybanez slid over the top and caught the pick and got three yards on the return to allow the offense to take a knee and end the game.
Offensively the Bulldogs totaled 19 first-downs with 372 yards of total offense. They had 154 yards rushing and another 218 through the air. Schmidt finished with 218 yards with a touchdown. On the ground he got 65 yards from Torres, 53 from Mark Mitchell III (Fontana, CA), and 46 from Maxey-Parler. His main target through the air was Borrayo and Markossian with 77 and 53 yards, respectively.
Defensively, the Bulldogs held the Sagehens to just 179 yards of total offense, which included -23 yards rushing. Silva had seven tackles, two tackles for a loss (TFL), and a sack. Tate Keddington (Boise, ID) made five stops with a sack. Jaylen Ephraim (Fontana, CA), Cope, and Ybanez all had a pick and combined for 10 tackles. Anthony Hall (Seattle, WA) had two sacks, and Aaron Muniz (Fontana, CA) had the Bulldogs sixth sack.
A big shoutout to the U of R offensive line who posted another solid performance in the trenches. This group included Dominic Vargas (Riverside, CA), Pedro Navarro (Beaumont, CA), Isaac Williams (San Bernardino, CA), Benjamin Fitchett (La Habra, CA), Blayke Michael (Las Vegas, NV), and Tight End JT Solis (Sylmar, CA). Butcher made three of his four field goals and had an extra point for 10 total points on the night.
Redlands will now travel to No. 25 California Lutheran University next Saturday, October 25 when they face off with the Kingsmen at 7:05pm.
