No. 9 Cal Lutheran snaps Chapman's home win streak
ORANGE, Calif. – The No. 9-ranked Cal Lutheran University football team scored 45 straight points, including 28 unanswered in the third quarter alone to defeat host Chapman University 61-31 at Ernie Chapman Stadium on Saturday night. A week after clinching their third straight SCIAC title, the Kingsmen won for the seventh consecutive time while handing Chapman its third straight loss. The setback also snapped the Panthers' six-game home winning streak.
Cal Lutheran (7-1) – ranked No. 9 by D3Football.com – compiled 534 yards of total offense, split in half between its ground (271 yards) and passing games (263 yards).
The Kingsmen trailed 17-10 after the first quarter before scoring on seven of their next eight possessions, including six touchdowns, to take a 55-17 lead into the fourth. Cal Lutheran took the lead for good with 7:20 remaining in the first half when senior QB Jake Laudenslayer threw a 63-yard scoring pass to junior WR Eric Rogers to give the Kingsmen a 24-17 advantage. It was the first of two touchdown passes Rogers would catch in the game as he finished with four catches for 121 yards.
Another key player in the middle of the 45-point outburst by the visitors was senior RB Daniel Moser who also ran for two scores and finished with 86 yards on 10 carries. His 19-yard run to open the second half gave Cal Lutheran a 34-17 cushion with 12:44 remaining in the third quarter.
Laudenslayer completed 16 of 21 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for a team-high 100 yards on 13 carries.
It was a different story in the first quarter, where Chapman (4-4) started fast by scoring on three of its first four possessions to take a 17-10 lead. Junior K Mauricio Alfonso drilled his seventh field goal of the season on Chapman's first drive of the game – a career-best 46-yarder – to give the Panthers an early 3-0 lead. Alfonso is two shy of tying the Chapman record for field goals in a season.
Trailing 7-3 midway through the first, sophomore QB Michael Lahey carried the ball 61 yards for his second rushing touchdown of the season and gave the Panthers a 10-7 lead with 8:40 on the clock.
On their next possession, with the score tied at 10, senior QB Bret Visciglia capped a nine-play, 74-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to junior WR Kali'i Kunitomo with 18 seconds remaining in the quarter to put Chapman up 17-10.
With the game well in hand for Cal Lutheran, the Panthers tacked on two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Sophomore RB Jon Harris scampered 7 yards for his second touchdown of the season with 7:34 to go in the fourth quarter.
On Chapman's final drive, Lahey got loose and ran 64 yards to the Cal Lutheran 6 yard line and two plays later finished the drive with a 1-yard scoring run for his second TD of the game. Lahey earned a game-high 126 yards rushing on just three carries. The Panthers amassed 411 yards of total offense, the second straight week Chapman's offense has gone over 400 yards and lost.
