P-P Football Rallies Past Rhodes, LAst Second Field Goal Gives Hens First Win
By Joey Richards
Sports Associate

It was the type of drive, Elway-esque in character, that can unite teams and turn around seasons.

With the score tied 24-24 Saturday against Rhodes College of Tenessee, and just 2:12 remaining in regulation, Pomona-Pitzer’s football team took over possession on their own 20-yard line. Ten plays and 73 yards later, P-P place kicker Eric Nielsen ’03 booted the game-winning field goal through the uprights with a mere half-second left on the clock, sealing the Sagehens’ first victory of the year.

“That play was pretty intense, to say the least. There was never a moment in my mind that we would lose. That drive showed a lot about our character,” said running back Jeremy Lim ’03.

With the ball on the Rhodes’ seven-yard line, and Pomona-Pitzer out of time outs, Nielsen sprinted onto the field as time was running and nailed the 25-yard field goal, causing the home-crowd to erupt in cheers.

Nielsen saved the day for a P-P team that was on the verge of blowing a fourth quarter lead for the second time this season.

The Sagehens led 24-7 with ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but gave up 17 unanswered points in the next 7:40, setting up the nail-biting finish.

On September 7, the ‘Hens faced a similar situation against La Verne, as they led 16-7 with under three minutes to play, but ended up losing 17-16 on a last-second field goal.

The victory improves P-P’s record to 1-2 and drops Rhodes College to 1-3.

After a scoreless first quarter, the Sagehens jumped out to a 14-0 lead on a pair of 10-yard touchdown runs from Lim and John Staples ’04.

Rhodes made it on the board with 1:13 left in the first half on a 1-yard touchdown run to tighten the score at 14-7. Samples would counter with his second touchdown run, this one from one-yard out, late in the third quarter.

The story of the afternoon was the Sagehen running attack. Pomona-Pitzer gained an impressive 330 yards on the ground, en route to 536 total yards for the ballgame, by far their largest offensive output of the season. Both Samples (33 carries for 153 yards) and Lim (29-144) rushed for well over 100 yards.

“We knew we would have a shot at running a good option attack because they don’t see a lot of outside-running in their conference. We knew where we had to attack [Rhodes’] defense, and we executed,” said Lim.

Pomona-Pitzer’s running attack effectively kept a strong Rhodes offense off of the field. P-P controlled the ball for almost 37 minutes of the game, compared to 23 for the visitors.

P-P let Rhodes stay in the game with four costly turnovers, all occurring deep in Rhodes’ territory. In Pomona-Pitzer’s first four possessions of the game they scored one touchdown, but fumbled twice inside the Rhodes’ 30 and were intercepted in the endzone. Despite garnering 249 yards in their first four possessions, the Sagehens only had 7 points to show for their work.

Pomona-Pitzer took its biggest lead of the game, 24-7, on a 32-yard Nielsen field goal with 14:50 left in the fourth quarter.

This is when Rhodes’ offense woke up. On their next three possessions, Rhodes scored two touchdowns and a field goal on drives of 55, 79, and 45 yards. Their 10-play, 79-yard drive only took 1:06 off the clock in a game where time meant everything.

Despite Pomona-Pitzer’s defensive problems, their potent offense prevailed to come away with the victory.

Quarterback John Anderson ’05 was efficient in guiding the Sagehen attack. On the afternoon he completed 10 of 18 for a total of 206 yards. Perhaps the most spectacular play of the game was a 40-yard hook-up from Anderson to receiver Matthew Hermsen ’04 on the team’s final drive. Hermsen made the spectacular diving catch to get the ‘Hens out of their own territory and eventually set up the game-winner.
For the game, Hermsen caught 3 balls for 97 yards while counterpart Colin Fahey ’06 had 5 receptions for 90 yards.

“We have more skill in the receiving corps than last year and more experience in the offensive backfield. We’re less experienced at the quarterback position this season, but getting better each week. All around we’re better skilled than last season,” said head coach Roger Caron.

Now, the Sagehens will try to build on this emotional victory when they host an historically-strong Redlands team, Saturday.

“We’re sick of losing. Last year was frustrating because we had the personnel but just couldn’t make it click. Now we’re playing more as a team, and that’s carrying us,” said Lim.

Last week Redlands used a powerful passing offense to pound a strong Chapman team 34-9.

“We need to have better mental preparation on the defensive end. The key to the Redlands game is to run the ball effectively and control the clock,” said Caron.

Any way you slice it, things are looking up in Sagehen football country this year, and their victory against Rhodes could give the emotional boost the program needed.