REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands football team (4-2, 2-1) were victorious on homecoming as they defeated Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) 16-14.
The Bulldogs got off to a good start as their defense forced a three and after Adrian Silva sacked the Sagehen quarterback for a six-yard loss.
After punting on offense and forcing a P-P turnover off a Shepard Cope interception at the Sagehen 30, the Bulldog offense got on the board first with a 33-yard field goal from Kadyn Butcher.
Following another Sagehen punt the offense went 14-plays and 65 yards that ended in a 32-yard Butcher field goal. During the drive Tobey Schmidt completed a pass to Donovan Maxey-Parler and Julian Walker for nine and 13 yards. Jakai Torres had rushes of nine, seven, and seven.
With 6:55 on the clock the offense got the ball at their own 11 yard line. On the back of completions of 21 and 25 yards to Julian Borrayo they were able to get inside the Sagehen 20. Despite the strong drive they would settle for a field goal by Butcher that made it 9-0.
The subsequent possession lasted only 78 seconds for P-P which gave Redlands 32 seconds to work with and the ball at the Sagehen 46.
Instead of running the ball to see how many yards they could get to avoid making a mistake up 9-0, the Bulldogs took a deep shot and Schmidt found Kev Markossian for a 46-yard touchdown which made it a 16-0 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs maintained their strong play until a fumble deep in their own territory gave the Sagehens the ball at the Bulldog eight. Three plays later they were in the end zone, and they converted the two-point play to make it an eight-point game, 16-8.
In the fourth quarter it was another Bulldog fumble that could have cost them as the Sagehens took over at Redlands 25. The threat was quickly extinguished as Jax Lee gobbled up a pass from his defensive end position to get the ball right back to the offense.
Both teams traded possession with little ball movement until another Bulldog turnover, an interception this time, gave the ball back at their own one-yard line. The Sagehens needed only one play to get into the end zone, but on the game-tying two-point try the Bulldogs got the stop to maintain the lead, 16-14.
In the final 7:49 the two teams managed to combine for three punts and an Enrique Ybanez interception.
That pick came when P-P had the ball at their 49 with 30 seconds remaining. Their quarterback took a shot down the right side, but Ybanez slid over the top and caught the pick and got three yards on the return to allow the offense to take a knee and end the game.
Schmidt had 218 yards with a touchdown and a pick. On the ground he got 65 yards from Torres, 53 from Mark Mitchell III, and 46 from Maxey-Parler. His main target through the air was Borrayo and Markossian with 77 and 53 yards each.
Defensively Silva had seven tackles, two tackles for loss (TFL), and a sack. Tate Keddington made five stops with a sack. Jaylen Ephraim, Cope, and Ybanez all had a pick and combined for 10 tackles. Anthony Hall had two sacks, and Aaron Muniz had the Bulldogs sixth sack.
Butcher made three of his four field goals and had an extra point for 10 total points.
Redlands will head to No. 25 California Lutheran University next Saturday, October 25 when they face off with the Kingsmen at 7 p.m.