Claremont, Calif. - The Occidental Football team used two second half field goals from Marc Kuzbari for the winning margin as it captured a 13-7 win over Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday in the home finale for the Sagehens on Saturday afternoon at Merritt Field.

The loss snaps a two-game win streak for Pomona-Pitzer, which fall to 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the SCIAC on the year. Occidental improves to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the SCIAC, while winning its 10th straight in the rivalry with Pomona-Pitzer, which dates back to 1895 (dubbed "The Battle for the Drum").

It was a strong effort by the Sagehen defense in defeat, led by senior middle linebackers Kyle Roskamp (12 tackles - pictured) and Nick Sbardellati (10 tackles), who were two of the 10 seniors honored pregame as part of Senior Day ceremonies.

Pomona-Pitzer tied the score at 7-7 with 14 seconds left in the second quarter after freshman quarterback Alex Bresler led a two-minute offense down the field on a seven-play, 70-yard drive. He twice found sophomore wide receiver Jack Pietrykowski for long gains, and then completed the drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass to junior Guy Scherzer, who made a touch catch in the right side of the end zone for his first career points.

However, after senior defensive end Brett Lingle had a key sack in the third quarter, Occidental took the lead on a 38-yard field goal from Marc Kuzbari on a line drive which barely cleared the crossbar after the timing was thrown off on the hold with 3:25 left in the third.

Roskamp had a pair of big tackles on second and third down in the red zone to stop the next Occidental drive at the Pomona-Pitzer 15, but Kuzbari connected again from 32 yards to push the lead to 13-7 with 10:33 left in the fourth quarter.

The last chance for the Sagehens came when they took the ball over on their own 35 with 5:30 left in the game. Bresler threw a 12-yard pass to Pietrykowski and a 15-yard pass to sophomore Brett Harper to get the ball into Occidental territory. He then found senior cornerback Weston Staubus, who played on both sides of the ball for the first time, on an 11-yard pass to the Occidental 29, and competed a pass to Scherzer on fourth down to get the ball to the Tigers 16 with just over 2:00 left.

However, Harper was stopped for a one-yard carry, and the next three passes fell incomplete as Occidental was able to get the final stop it needed to preserve the win. Kwame Do, who had 155 yards rushing on the day, got one final first down on the ground to seal it.

Bresler finished with 219 yards passing and a touchdown for the Sagehens, who were missing senior receivers Duncan Hussey and Ryan Randle with injuries. Pietrykowski stepped up admirably with 79 yards on five catches, while Staubus had three catches for 44 yards in his first game at wide receiver, while also intercepting a pass on defense. Harper had 53 yards rushing and 51 yards receiving.

The four-man linebacking corps led the Sagehen defense, as junior Matt O'Connor and freshman Brian Rauzi each had eight, in addition to the combined 22 from Roskamp and Sbardellati.

Pomona-Pitzer will next be in action when it travels to league-leading Redlands next weekend for a 7 p.m. contest before ending the year at CMS on Nov. 16.