Football drops to Pomona-Pitzer, 21-20

Football drops to Pomona-Pitzer, 21-20

Photo by Katie Pyne

LA VERNE, Calif. — Pomona-Pitzer made just enough plays down the stretch to edge the La Verne football team, 21-20, on Saturday afternoon at Ortmayer Stadium.

La Verne falls to 1-7 overall and 1-5 in the SCIAC. Pomona-Pitzer improves to 6-2 and 5-1.

Dallas Parent found daylight and ran for a 68-yard touchdown, Eric Rembecky converted the extra point attempt and the Leopards took a 20-14 lead as third quarter expired.

But Pomona-Pitzer quarterbacks Edward Sias and Karter Odermann combined to engineer a 12-play, 88-yard touchdown drive capped off by a two-yard run by Odermann to put the Sagehens up, 21-20 with 8:41 left in the game. The Leopards turned the ball over on downs on their next drive as the Sagehens snuffed out a fake punt.

La Verne pinned the Sagehens in at their own seven-yard line with a punt and forced them to punt with 40 seconds left, giving itself one final shot to win the game. But in an aggressive attempt to block the punt, the Leopards ran into the kicker and gave the Sagehens a first down. With La Verne out of timeouts, Pomona-Pitzer took a knee to end the game.

After being held to under 100 yards rushing in each of the last two games, Dallas Parent gained 120 on 10 carries and scored a touchdown. Robert Fernandez finished with 24 yards and a score on a toss play in the second quarter.

The Leopards got off to a good start, going up 10-0, in the second quarter on the touchdown run by Fernandez and took a 13-7 lead into the break as Rembecky made two field goals in the half. But Odermann hooked up with Kevin Masini for a 23-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the second half and the Sagehens held on.

Zachary Tomlinson passed for 212 yards as he went 12-of-26.

Sias completed 16-of-20 passes for 168 yards and Odermann was 5-for-7 with two touchdowns. Odermann added 47 yards and a score on the ground.

Before the game, the Leoapards celebrated the careers of their 26 seniors with a brief pregame ceremony.

The Leopards conclude their 2016 season on the road at Whittier next Saturday.