Football suffers last minute loss at Oxy
LOS ANGELES – It wasn't until the final minute that the Chapman University football team fell behind. After Chapman (1-4, 1-2 SCIAC) led for the majority of the game, Occidental scored the final 22 points of the game to come away with the 35-27 win.
Senior Jeremiah McKibbins had his biggest game of the season with 134 yards and two touchdowns on 24 attempts. Sophomore Mac Vail was 15-of-26 for 244 yards and a pair of TDs in his first career start.
Occidental (3-2, 2-1 SCIAC) tied the game near the end of the third quarter and both teams battled throughout the fourth but neither could break through until the end. Both defenses came away with game-saving stops. The Chapman defense stood up the Tigers offense on fourth-and-10 from Chapman's 37 yard line, forcing an incomplete pass.
Occidental returned the favor as Chapman's next drive reached Oxy's 34 yard line. A Chapman penalty and a pair of fumbles pushed the Panthers all the way back into their own territory where they were forced to punt.
Chapman forced another Oxy punt but was pinned on its own 20 and went three-and-out on the ensuing drive. Cordell Harris' 18-yard return was nearly doubled with another crucial Chapman penalty that set up Oxy on the Chapman 21. Three plays later Bryan Scott found Devin Bullock for the game-winning 18-yard TD.
On the ensuing kickoff, Chapman was penalized again, forcing the drive to start at its own 10 yard line. Vail immediately found Myers for a 22-yard pass but the Panthers couldn't convert on fourth down in the next series and turned the ball over on downs.
Chapman's offense stalled in the second half, finding the end zone only once on McKibbins' two-yard TD run that capped its first drive of the second half. After the score, Chapman led 27-13. Occidental's Kwame Do scored the Tigers' next two TDs to tie the game.
Do had 212 yards rushing on 35 attempts and scored another TD in the first half.
Chapman struck first, taking advantage of a short field when junior Ben Wadors forced a fumble near midfield. Vail capped the drive with an 11-yard TD strike to senior Sean Myers. After Oxy scored but missed its extra point, Vail found sophomore Noah Rivard for an 85-yard TD pass.
Oxy pulled back within one before McKibbins' found the end zone on a five-yard run near the end of the first half and again on a two-yard run in the third.
The Panthers return to Ernie Chapman Stadium next week for a SCIAC showdown with Cal Lutheran at 7 p.m.
by Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director
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