THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Pomona-Pitzer Football team held off Cal Lutheran with a 14-13 road win on Saturday night at William Rolland Stadium.
Season Impact
Pomona-Pitzer (4-2, 3-1 SCIAC) has now won three straight SCIAC games and remain in the hunt for a berth into the SCIAC Championship game.
Stat Leaders
Domminic Catalano completed 22 of 31 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 11 times for 34 yards, including a long of 21. Brennan Dragomer led the ground game with 45 yards on 11 carries, and Mitchell Rodenbaugh added 40 yards on 10 carries.
Connor Conneely led all receivers with five catches for 74 yards and both touchdowns. Nick Matthews made three catches for 41 yards, and Jack Sobota had three catches for 31 yards. Nicholas Buchenau added two receptions for 30 yards.
Colin Miller led the defense with nine tackles, seven of them solo, plus a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Leo Ryals made seven tackles and William Weber added six with a tackle for loss. Colby Cooley intercepted a pass and broke up another, while Bo Molinelli also had a pass breakup. The Sagehens held Cal Lutheran to 224 total yards and 71 rushing yards.
How It Happened
Neither team scored in the first quarter. Cooley ended the Kingsmen's best early threat by intercepting Joe Farley at the Pomona-Pitzer 17 with 54 seconds left in the quarter.
Cal Lutheran broke through late in the second quarter with a 12-play, 75-yard drive capped by Farley's 1-yard run at 1:52. The Sagehens drove into range before halftime, but Aidan Streidl's 41-yard field goal attempt was blocked as time expired, and Pomona-Pitzer went into the break down 7-0.
The Sagehens answered in the third quarter with a 10-play, 79-yard drive. Catalano found Sobota for 19 yards, hit Matthews for 26 on third-and-9 and connected with Buchenau for 13 to set up first-and-goal. He then threw a 3-yard touchdown to Conneely, and Streidl's extra point tied it at 7-7 with 6:08 left in the third quarter.
Cal Lutheran took a 10-7 lead on a 31-yard Dylan Armendariz field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter. Pomona-Pitzer responded right away with a seven-play, 65-yard drive. Dragomer ran for 13 and 8 yards and Rodenbaugh added 7 before Catalano found Conneely for a 20-yard touchdown that put the Sagehens ahead 14-10 with 11:25 left.
The Kingsmen recovered a fumble on a sack deep in Pomona-Pitzer territory, which set up Armendariz's 36-yard field goal to cut the lead to 14-13 at 8:00 and a fumble on the ensuing kickoff return gave Cal Lutheran the ball back at the Pomona-Pitzer 41, but the Sagehen defense held. Armendariz's 43-yard field goal attempt went wide at the 5:00 mark. Pomona-Pitzer then took over and ran out the final five minutes with a 10-play drive to seal the win.
Up Next: Pomona-Pitzer will next host Azusa Pacific on Saturday, October 24th at 7:00 p.m
