Problems Continue for Sagehen Football as 37-0 Shutout by Redlands Drops Hens to 1-3 on Season
By Drew Perraut
Sports Writer

After their win against Rhodes College last week, the Pomona-Pitzer football team took the field Saturday with a renewed sense of confidence for their game against the University of Redlands.

Unfortunately, their hopes for another win did not come to fruition in a game where, as Jonathan Samples ’04 admits, “we were very inconsistent.”

Redlands played well, taking advantage of every error made by the P-P offense to rack up touchdowns.

Aaron Perez ’06 summed up Saturday’s match by saying, “They got off to a fast start. The turnovers at the beginning of the game really hurt us and set the tone for the game.”

As Perez indicated, the early moments of the game were the worst for the Sagehens. After only three minutes of play, Redlands had made its mark on the scoreboard, gaining a rapid lead of ten points.

Back in control of the ball after the Redlands kick-off, P-P began to gain ground, but as the offense moved forward, Quarterback John Anderson ’05 threw a long pass which was intercepted by Redlands defenders, a play which would be repeated several times during the course of the afternoon. At first, the Sagehen defense proved effective at keeping Redlands in check, but on a first down, a Bulldog receiver broke through the lines, caught a pass, and sprinted, unchecked, 74 yards for a touchdown, followed by a field goal.

But P-P’s problems were far from over. On the first play after the touchdown, Redlands blitzed the Sagehen offense.

When the referee blew his whistle , Redlands had regained control of the field. The Bulldogs were close enough that advancing was unnecessary, so they simply threw a pass into the endzone. Then they made their field goal, closing a disheartening first quarter with a score of 0-24.

The start of the second quarter saw the Sagehen offense hungry for ground but unable to make it all the way down the field. Anderson threw a long pass to gain yards, but it was intercepted by the quick hands of a Redlands defender.

Jonathan Chock ’04 slammed into the interceptor, breaking his advance, but on second down, the Redlands quarterback threw a 40-yard pass which netted the Bulldogs another touchdown. Mercifully, their field goal missed its target.

During the next series of P-P offensive plays, Jonathan Samples ’04 did an excellent job of gaining ground for the Sagehens, but on the subsequent play, he had to be removed from the game after receiving a concussion from a particularly strong blow.

Despite the loss, the Sagehens drew closer and closer to the goal line. Benjamin LaCross ’03 made an excellent catch for a first down on the six-yard line, and the crowd’s energy rose in expectation of a P-P score.

The Hens pushed, but the Redlands defense refused to give way. P-P had the ball at the four-yard line, then the two, then there were only inches to go. However, those inches proved too far and the ball was returned to Redlands.

The P-P team regrouped during half time and played much better football during the second half. The Sagehen defense was much stronger and prevented any other maneuvers by the Bulldogs.

Although P-P came close several times, the offense was never able to go the final distance, and the fourth quarter ended with a score of 0-37.

The size of Redlands was a dilemma for the Hens. They arrived with nearly two players for every one member of the P-P team.

But Coach Caron said that the real keys to improving the team’s chances are “better decisions by the quarterbacks” and training the defense to “tackle better.”

Hopefully, things will pick up for the team against the University of Chicago, which Coach Caron says will now “take each week one at a time.”