Football Unable to hand Kingsmen First Loss

Photo by Chris Mora

Story by Sebastián Abdón Ibarra

THOUSAND OAKS, CA — The University of La Verne football team outgained the Kingsmen and picked up more first downs, but the Leopards were unable to convert those chances to points, falling in their SCIAC opener on the road to Cal Lutheran 35-14.

Nathaniel Sagastume led La Verne offensively finishing with a game-high nine catches for 123 yards. Sagastume currently leads the SCIAC with 101 receiving yards per game. Kyle Bandy announced his presence in SCIAC with a monster game. The freshman running back from Brea had 97 yards from scrimmage and was an explosive play machine. Bandy rushed for a career-high 46 yards on only four carries and had a 51-yard touchdown reception. Tyrone Williams Jr. had his best game as a Leo as he completed 60 percent of his passes and threw for a season-high 263 yards and two touchdowns. It was also the first game this season that Williams played the entire game.

On defense, Derek Guzman and Khary Sanders led the team in tackles with nine and seven respectively. Raymond Moronez had three tackles and a pass breakup.

Through most of the first half, the game was a defensive stalemate. The score remained tied 7-7 as time wound down in the first half, but the Kingsmen scored a touchdown off a six-yard rush by Julio Angel with 31 seconds left to make the score 14-7 at the break.

About four minutes into the second half Cal Lutheran (4-0; 1-0 SCIAC) added another touchdown off a short rush by Isaiah Martin and the Leopards (1-3; 0-1 SCIAC) couldn't keep pace. The Kingsmen scored two more touchdowns in the quarter to spoil the road trip for La Verne.

Spencer Pool got La Verne on the board in the first half when he hauled in an 18-yard reception to cap off a 90-yard drive. Pool ranks fourth in the SCIAC with 77.5 yards per game.

The Kingsmen were led on offense by Jackson Taylor and Nick Lasher. Taylor ran for 96 yards on 18 carries for 5.3 yards per carry. Lasher was efficient with 184 yards passing, two touchdown passes, and no interceptions.

The Leopards come back to Ortmayer Stadium on October 9 to take on the University of Redlands at 1:00 pm.