THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Three unanswered touchdowns by the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team turned a tie game late in the third quarter into a runaway, 42-21 win for CMS over Cal Lutheran on Oct. 31 at William Rolland Stadium. With the win, CMS (5-2, 4-1 SCIAC) stays in second place in the SCIAC standings, one game behind La Verne who defeated Chapman earlier in the day.
Against Cal Lu (4-3, 2-3 SCIAC), the Stags' offense was fueled by the running of sophomore running back Andrew Segre (CMC) who had a career-high 213 yards rushing on 41 carries and three scores. His three touchdowns tied a career-high (La Verne – 2014) while the 213 yards rushing completely eclipsed his previous career high of 87 yards (Whittier – 2014).
Late in the third quarter and the game even at 21, a 9-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Trey Reynolds (CMC) to senior wideout Tyler Stanek (CMC) in the back corner of the endzone gave CMS a 28-21 advantage with 3:24 left in third quarter. Stanek's touchdown gave CMS the lead for good. CMS then tacked on two more touchdowns – one by Segre and one by sophomore tight end Chris Cziesla (CMC) – for the 42-21 win. Cziesla's touchdown was a 21-yarder from Reynolds and successfully concluded a 19-play, 92-yard drive that ate up over 11 minutes of clock in the fourth quarter and sealed the win for the Stags, their first in Thousand Oaks in over a decade.
Reynolds had an efficient evening passing, throwing for 284 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions. 98 of his passing yards were to Stanek.
In the first half on the opening possession of the game, CMS marched down the field for a touchdown with an 8-play, 69-yard drive that spanned the first three-plus minutes of the game. Segre punched in the touchdown on a 1-yard run that gave CMS a 7-0 lead after the extra point with 11:50 left in the first quarter. Big plays on the drive that set up the touchdown were a 35-yard pass from Reynolds to Stanek and a 20-yard run by Segre.
On Cal Lu's first possession of the game, CMS forced a 3-and-out that included a sack by junior defensive lineman Jake Glasser (CMC). CMS had three sacks on the night, the others coming from sophomore defensive back Robby Weissenfels (CMC) and senior defensive lineman Andrew Sova (CMC).
With the ball back in its hands, CMS tacked on its second touchdown in as many drives to take a 14-0 lead with 3:35 left in the first quarter. Reynolds scored a 1-yard rushing touchdown to cap a 12-play, 73-yard drive.
Senior defensive back Will Shannon (CMC) got the ball right back for CMS with his first interception of the season but CMS wasn't able to capitalize.
Late in the second quarter, Cal Lutheran scored its first touchdown of the night, a 15-yard touchdown pass from Adam Friederichsen to Trevor Wood with 1:08 before halftime.
Cal Lu evened the score at 14-14 to start the second half as Ushali Ellison returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for the touchdown.
Less than three minutes later, the Stags moved back ahead at 21-14 as Segre broke several tackles up the middle and scored from nine yards out. Cal Lu again tied it up, at 21-21, with 8:59 left in the third quarter when Adam Friederichsen hit Alix Moise Jr. for a 16-yard scoring play.
Including the sack, Weissenfels had a team-high nine tackles, eight of which were solo tackles. Freshman linebacker Mitchell Allen (CMC) also had an interception for CMS. The Stags had 531 yards of total offense to just 295 by Cal Lu.
CMS is on the road again for its next game, at Whittier on Nov. 7.
Box score
By Chris Watts
Director of Athletics Communication
Claremont McKenna College
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