Cal Lutheran Uses Seniority to Win, 29-24

Battered, bloody and nearly out of breath, the Cal Lutheran College football team reached a mountain top Saturday at Mt. Clef Stadium.

The Kingsmen defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 29-24, in front of 1,230 fans to break into the win column of the Western Football Conference standings.

CLC (1-4, 6-5) finished the season with a winning record for the 21st time in the 24-year history of the football program and registered its first conference victory after 23 years as an independent.

“This win meant so many things that I can’t say them all,” said senior Noel Hicks. “I feel like we won the $2 million lottery.”

Pushing and prodding the team the final few minutes of the game and of their college careers were a determined group of Kingsmen seniors, including:

Greg Harris, who caught a pass over his shoulder in the corner of the end zone with 7:30 remaining for the winning touchdown. “I couldn’t ask for more,” he said. “My last catch for Cal Lu was a game-winner.”

Ken Wood, who had an incredible 21 tackles and sacked Cal Poly quarterback Robert Perez for a 10-yard loss on the Mustangs’ final possession with six minutes left in the game.

Shawn Tippit, who hauled Perez to the ground as the quarterback threw an incomplete pass on third-and-13 with 5:31 remaining.

Leo Briones, who carried seven times for 47 yards on CLC’s final possession, mostly behind the blocking of senior tackle Tim McClelland, to wind the clock down to 35 seconds before Cal Poly regained the ball. “I felt like John Riggins,” he said.

Tom Sweeney, a starting defensive tackle who hit a towering 49-yard punt that backed Cal Poly to its 10 with 28 seconds to go. “I put four years of spirit into that kick,” he said.

Hicks and sophomore quarterback Tom Bonds made the plays necessary to get CLC in a position to win in the fourth quarter. Hicks gained 78 yards and scored two touchdowns on 19 carries, caught four passes for 28 yards and returned two kickoffs 78 yards for 184 yards total offense.

Bonds threw for 327 yards--191 in the second half--and completed 21 of 45 passes. Wide receivers Harris (seven catches for 109 yards) and Joe Fuca (four for 109) each had more than 100 yards for the second straight game.

“We moved up to the WFC and took some lumps,” CLC Coach Bob Shoup said. “But a finish like this makes the season more than successful. This is a great win for the college.”

The winning CLC drive began at the Kingsmen 20 with 10:24 left. Bonds hit tight end Darren Gottschalk for 24 yards, and following two major penalties against Cal Poly, Briones carried three straight times for 14 yards to set up the pass from Bonds to Harris.

After CLC’s Kurt Lohse and Cal Poly’s Art Gonzalez traded first-quarter field goals, both offenses revved up. The Mustangs, who rushed for 263 yards, twice marched 80 yards for scores in the second period. Cal Lutheran scored between those drives on a 13-yard run by Hicks following a 48-yard Bonds-to-Fuca bomb. Cal Poly led at halftime, 17-9.

Action during the first six minutes of the third quarter resembled one of those electric football games in which players buzz around a metal field with the power turned up. Three touchdowns were scored in six minutes, each following a quick, long drive.

CLC took the second-half kickoff and went 66 yards on seven plays for a touchdown to cut its deficit to 17-15. Receptions of 17 and 10 yards by Harris set up a 34-yard scoring pass from Bonds to Gottschalk. A pass attempt on the PAT fell incomplete.

Cal Poly scored less than two minutes later when Perez hit Clark Sorenson in the end zone with a 39-yard pass to increase the Mustang advantage to 24-15.

Bonds, who threw for 2,427 yards this season, needed 2:41 to move the Kingsmen 75 yards and cut the Mustangs’ lead to 24-22. Passes of 25 yards to Fuca, 11 yards to Hicks and 19 yards to Gottschalk set up a one-yard scoring run by Hicks.

When Jim Gleed, who led Cal Poly with 103 yards rushing, broke a 54-yard run early in the fourth quarter, it appeared the Kingsmen may have run out of gas. But sophomore defensive tackle Rueben Solorio sacked Perez on third down moments later to force a punt, and CLC marched in for its winning score.

After Sweeney’s booming punt with 35 seconds left, Perez’s desperation bomb was intercepted by junior safety Todd Leavens.

Both teams had 438 yards total offense.

Cal Poly, which finished 2-3 in the WFC and 4-7 overall, had defeated CLC in each of the school’s four meetings. In 1984, the Mustangs finished the season by trampling the Kingsmen, 48-0, and in 1973 won, 63-14.