SALEM, OR. – The Pomona-Pitzer Football team opened its 2025 season with a dominant 41-17 win over Willamette on Saturday afternoon at McCulloch Stadium.

The Sagehen offense was led by Grady Russo who threw for 325 yards (18-26) and three passing touchdowns while also adding 13 carries for 109 yards and two rushing touchdowns for five total on the day.

Mitchell Rodenbaugh was also a big rushing threat for the Sagehens with 85 yards off of three carries while Matthias Olson had 91 yards receiving with Brennan Dragomer at 84 yards and a touchdown, Jackson Walker with 77 yards and a score and Jack Sabota with 54 yards and a touchdown as well.

Pomona-Pitzer's defense forced three interceptions (credited to Colin Miller, Brady Kagan and Elliott Graziano) and registered multiple sacks by Graziano, Jacob Whiting, Jonathan Curry, Samuel Wyatt, Zachary LeBlanc and Alexander Rustay.
 
The Sagehens started strong with 19 points in the first quarter. Russo started the scoring with a 16-yard pass to Sabota to take a 6-0 lead. Russo punched in the next score himself with a two-yard run to make it 13-0 and after a Bearcat score, the Sagehens responded with a five play, 58-yard drive with a 42-yard strike to Walker to make it 20-7 after one quarter of play.
 
Russo got his second rushing touchdown to open the second quarter from 10 yards out to push the lead to 27-7 and then a defensive score for the Sagehens in the third from Graziano off of a 6-yard interception made it 34-10.
 
Pomona-Pitzer ended their big scoring debut with an exclamation point as Dragomer broke free for 80 yards off a pass from Russo to give the Sagehens a big win on opening day.
 
Up Next: The Sagehens will return for their home opener against Lewis & Clark on September 20^th at 12:00 p.m.