Cal Lutheran Gets the Win as Solorio Gets the Save, 28-24
It is an unexplainable phenomenon. Perhaps something from another dimension.
Rueben Solorio, a defensive tackle for Cal Lutheran College, has this strange knack for intercepting passes.
He had three last season, another in the Kingsmen’s intrasquad scrimmage this year, and in the closing minutes of Cal Lutheran’s tense 28-24 win Saturday over San Francisco State at Cox Stadium, Solorio did it again.
With dangerous Rich Strasser at the controls, San Francisco had the ball with 2:06 remaining, trailing by what would be the final score. Strasser, who hails from Burbank, had already passed for nearly 300 yards and had brought the Gators back from an earlier deficit.
Enter weirdness, Solorio style.
Kingsman defender Sean Tippit hit Strasser as he attempted a pass from his 22-yard line, and the football flipped toward Solorio’s hands.
Asked to explain his uncanny knack for pilfering passes from the middle of the line, Solorio shrugged and said, “Right place, right time.”
The Kingsmen ran out the clock for their second road victory in two weeks and filed onto a bus for a long ride.
Where are they headed? There’s a signpost up ahead. Next stop. . . .
At halftime, when CLC led, 21-9, on the strength of three touchdown passes from quarterback Tom Bonds, the Kingsmen probably didn’t imagine they would need Solorio’s magic to pull out the win.
They certainly played in the third quarter like the win would take care of itself. Last week, in a 28-7 victory over Sonoma State, Cal Lutheran scored three times in the third quarter. It did not start a trend.
San Francisco marched for touchdown drives of 48 and 62 yards, with Strasser hitting 10 of 14 passes for 122 yards in the quarter.
The only bright spot for Cal Lutheran was a 51-yard punt return by Todd Leavens. Bonds fumbled on the next play, however, a gaffe that CLC Coach Bob Shoup described as “walking on stage with your zipper open.”
Bonds atoned soon enough, hitting Joe Fuca for 26 yards and scrambling for successive gains of 23 and eight yards on CLC’s final scoring drive of 68 yards.
Tracy Downs, who for the second straight week was the leading Kingsman ball carrier, punched over from the one with 10:48 remaining in the game for the decisive touchdown.
The CLC defense, which was without captain Earl Bentancourt, proceeded to keep the Gators out of the end zone the rest of the way. Bentancourt, a linebacker, hyper-extended a knee Thursday in practice and may miss another game.
Bonds nearly directed the offense to another score with four minutes remaining when he foreshadowed Shoup’s zipper comment by hitting Greg Harris on a 48-yard fly pattern to bring the ball to the Gator 24-yard line.
Consecutive completions to tight end Darren Gottschalk went for naught when Gottschalk fumbled the second catch out of the end zone for a touchback.
After San Francisco controlled the ball most of the third quarter, Cal Lutheran needed a big play to shift momentum. Robert Marti, a senior from Royal High, provided the lift with a 61-yard kickoff return when he took a handoff from Noel Chesnut and reversed field. His dash immediately followed the Gators’ final score.
In the first half, San Francisco didn’t appear polished as two punt snaps were errant and a punt return was fumbled.
Cal Lutheran capitalized quickly on two of the fumbles, scoring on the next play both times.
After Sean Demmon recovered a fumbled punt by Gator Carl Edmond, Bonds hit fullback Leo Briones on a swing pass down the right sideline for a 38-yard score and a 7-0 Kingsmen lead with 3:25 gone in the game.
Two possessions later, Gator center Chris Saxen snapped the ball over punter Scott Leets’ head. On the next play, Bonds hit Harris with a 41-yard scoring pass down the right sideline. Kurt Lohse kicked all four CLC PATs.
Harris, always a deep threat, caught four passes for 145 yards. Following the game, he spoke of the chemistry between Bonds and himself.
“‘Sometimes when my number is called in the huddle,” he said, “Tom looks me in the eye and asks me how bad I want it. I tell him, “Just hit me deep.’ ”
After Gator running back Keith Yeager, who gained 130 yards on 12 carries, galloped 65 yards around right end to make the score 14-7, Bonds got busy again.
Targets: Harris and Briones.
Harris hauled in a 51-yarder, then, after a swing pass to Noel Hicks for 16 yards and a dart over the middle to Gottschalk for 11, Bonds hit Briones for the third Kingsmen touchdown of the first half.
Strasser answered a few minutes later with a 31-yard completion to Yeager. The hookup set up a 44-yard field goal by Leets with 16 seconds remaining in the first half.
A senior from Burroughs High, Strasser, who like Bonds is 5-10 and 175 pounds, is strong on scrambling out of trouble to make a completion. He hit 25 of 47 passes for 336 yards.
Strasser’s favorite target is his former Burroughs teammate, wide receiver Ron Teitel. Also a 5-10 senior, Teitel caught five passes for 100 yards, including a desperation 51-yarder on the game’s final play.
Bonds, who Shoup said is as good as Strasser “and two years younger,” completed 16 of 22 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns. The 19-year-old sophomore was not intercepted.
Strasser had one interception--Solorio’s--and it was hardly explainable.
