In this tumultuous world full of suffering and pain, where life, in its bleaker moments, seems to lose any type of meaning whatsoever, 2000 screaming fans were offered a fleeting moment where those larger dilemmas in life paled in comparison to the events taking place at Claremont McKenna’s Zinda Field. It took an overtime period to decide the outcome of the game between the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) Stags, but the Hens prevailed 24-21, to beat the Stags for the fifth straight year. Unfortunately for the Stags and their fans, they will probably regress into depression once again while the Sagehens and their faithful following will enjoy yet another year of celebration at CMS’s expense.

Joseph Koch Ryan Hattersley ’01 cuts back and fools the droves of defenders who desperately try to stop him.

For the past five years the Stags have been unable to beat the Sagehens, and this year seemed like their best chance to reverse that trend. Playing with thirteen returning seniors, the Stags had a formidable squad going into Saturday’s game. Their chances were magnified by the fact that the Sagehens were missing key offensive and defensive starters who had been integral to their previous victories.

Coach Roger Caron reflected on the game, saying: "The whole storyline was set up for us to lose, and we won."

It was a muggy, slightly overcast afternoon and both the home and visitor’s bleachers were packed with people. On their first possession, the Stags advanced the ball into Hens territory and attempted a field goal. It ricocheted off the cross-bar. That was all the Sagehen fans needed to get going, and the Hens offense responded. On their next offensive series, the Sagehens marched the ball 74 yards for a twelve-yard touchdown pass from Brian Ferrette ’01 to Ben Lacoss ’03. The drive took nearly seven minutes off the clock. On that drive alone Ryan Hattersley ’01 carried the ball seven times for 25 yards.

After the touchdown, the Hens defense came out strong as well. Ari Polychronoplos ’01 came up with a big second-down sack and the Hens regained possession of the ball.

Once again the offense came up big, running the ball effectively and converting on a fourth-down punt-fake, a pass to Shawn Hochuli ’00. Hochuli subsequently ran in a 15-yard touchdown to cap off another long, time-consuming drive.

The Hen’s dominance in this game is best illustrated by the time-of-possession disparity between the teams. The Sagehens offense controlled the ball for 40 minutes of the game, compared to the Stags’ 20 minutes. This was largely due to running back Hattersley’s resilience. He finished the game with 45 carries and 152 yards rushing. After the game, struggling to talk with a severely swollen lip, he said, "There’s not a running back in the nation who would complain about 45 carries."

With the Hens leading 14-0, CMS looked to make a comeback late in the first half. But, for the second straight week, linebacker Khary Espy ’01 took it upon himself to stop a potentially game-changing drive. On the ninth play of a 63-yard drive Espy picked off an errant Stag pass on Pomona-Pitzer’s own six yard-line.

The Hens went on to drive the ball 90 yards only to turn it over on downs at the Stags three yard-line.

The second half saw the Stags rally to tie the game at 14-14 early in the fourth quarter. The one-two punch of Hattersley and receiver Jake Howard ’00 proved to be too much for the Stags’ defense, as the Hens put together another dominating drive pushing the ball 92 yards and setting up another Hochuli touchdown run.

The drive only lasted because of two more gutsy fourth-down calls proving the Hens’ undying confidence in their offense.

Hochuli finished the game with 57 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. Howard finished the game with eight catches for 107 yards.

CMS got the ball with just under three minutes remaining and down 21-14. They had one last chance and they took it. Receiver Ben Scott caught a 23 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Bryan Banta ’00 to tie the game with just over a minute left in the game. Banta finished the game with 277 passing yards and two touchdowns. His favorite receiver was Joel Weiss ’00 who caught six balls for 177 yards

The score was tied 21-21 and the game would go into overtime.

With the new NCAA overtime rules, each team gets a chance to score from the 25-yard line. Pomona-Pitzer got the first possession and, at fourth-down and seven, from the 22-yard line, young kicker Jeff Raskin ’03 was given a chance to prove himself under pressure. He hit a line drive through the uprights, seemingly willing the ball in, and handed the pressure over to the Stags’ offense. They did not respond as well as Raskin.

The Stags lost on a failed fourth down conversion, opting to pass the ball instead of kicking the field goal for the tie.

After the game, and after being spotted dancing on the field doing what looked to be an altered rendition of the Atlanta Falcons’ "Dirty Bird" dance, Coach Caron said: "We knew it would be a dogfight…we just didn’t quit. We expected them to rally. We expected those Claremont seniors to do that…I’m ecstatic that the season’s over."

This win secured the Sagehens best record (7-1) in over 50 years. It is also the largest number of winning seasons in a row for the Hens since a stretch between 1899 and 1905. Congratulations to the Pomona-Pitzer seniors on a four-year sweep of the CMS Stags.