The first two games for the Sagehen football team could be described as blowouts, were one inclined to use such phrasing. However, with a byethis week, the Hens wanted to make sure that they kept their momentum going last weekend against Lewis and Clark University. Lewis and Clark was something of a wildcard. Though they did not seem to have a particularly good team, or an ability to beat anybody, they had exploded for 21 points in the fourth quarter to come from behind and beat a bewildered Redlands team. Thus, if the Hens did not want to experience that same bewildered feeling, they had to be ready for four quarters of high intensity football.

As Saturday dawned cool and cloudy, it looked as though the prayers of Lewis and Clark's squad might have been answered. Indeed the lack of Southern California's typically blistering heat conditions in which the Hens' extraordinary physical conditioning might play less of a factor, could possibly lessen the Pioneers' chances of getting themselves sent back in body bags to wherever the hell they came from. Not only did the Pioneers have the weather gods on their side, but it appeared as though they had "the love" on their side as well. The three Lewis and Clark fans who packed the bleachers on that side of the field screamed their support for their team until their voices were horse and raspy and their hands were red from clapping. However, all the cheering and clapping in the world could not stop the start of the game, a moment which certainly seemed to signal the end for the Lewis and Clark football team.

Indeed, the morning line reflected the Vegas bookies' feelings that the game would end in a third straight blowout for the Hens. And as the game began, it appeared as though those three Lewis and Clark fans were definitely going to lose their money. Though technically impossible, it seemed as though every down for the Pioneers was third and 21. The Hens' swarming defense, coupled with the fact that Lewis and Clark was playing a midget at the position of running back, were the main factors behind the big fat bagel on the Pioneers' side of the scoreboard as the teams went to the locker room for intermission.

However, when the curtain went back up for the start of the second half, it appeared as though a monkey somewhere might have started typing Hamlet and things might have started going the Pioneers' way. Quarterback Brian Ferrette '01 had several passes dropped by his receivers to open the quarter, and then left a floater up for grabs in the middle of the field. That pass, which seemed unaffected by gravity, and refused to fall to the turf, eventually collided with an amazed player in the Pioneers' secondary. That same player, who managed to shake the disbelief from himself before a Sagehen player could shake it out for him, then ran the interception all the way back to the Pomona-Pitzer seven yard line.

It appeared as though the equilibrium of the game, and indeed the entire world, was shifting. Was up becoming down and left becoming right? Fortunately the laws of normalcy were returned four plays later, as after crucial stops on the first three downs, the Pioneers' beleaguered offense took one last shot at pounding the ball into the Sagehen endzone. However, on a pass play which looked like it had six points stamped all over it, Kahri Espy '01 materialized in front of the Pioneers receiver and swatted the ball harmlessly to the ground where it sat contented and happy under the force of gravity which had apparently returned. The return of gravity seemed to have crushed the Pioneers' spirit. Although they would finally score, they would never threaten a comeback. The game ended in a score of 37-13. Though this Sagehen victory would not be categorized as a blowout, it was at least a drubbing, which isn't too bad.

"The defense really stepped up a lot better in that game," said co-captain Dan Wire '01. "We played a lot better than in the first two games. We knew that they had beaten Redlands, so we didn't really know what to expect. We knew that we had to play them for four quarters and we kept our intensity up."

The defense played a great game when they needed to, as the Sagehen offense was not at full strength without Ryan Hattersley '01, who was out with a rib injury, placing the bulk of the running attack on the shoulders of sophomore Jeremy Lim '03. "We're looking forward to [Hattersley] coming back so that we can mix it up a little more," said Lim of his solo performance in the backfield. "We're showing a lot of potential but we still need to polish up. We can still be a lot better."

The Sagehens will need to be at the top of their games a week from now when they go to play LaVerne, a perennial powerhouse rival. "We're just going to have to play a solid game and keep our mental errors down," said Lim of next week's match up. "We just need to play the best game we can."