Portland State Is Latest to Bully Cal Lutheran, 28-7

Had Cal Lutheran beaten the tar out of Claremont-Mudd or another small college like it used to at homecoming, this silver anniversary would not appear tarnished.

Instead, the Kingsmen showed what some would call pluck and others would term foolishness by inviting big, bad Portland State to dinky Mt. Clef Stadium on Saturday. Cal Lutheran was defeated, 28-7, and the loss was a school-record fifth straight.

The alumni in attendance remember the guys in purple and gold winning laughers, even if the fun was at the expense of helpless little fellows from the National Assn. of Interscholastic Athletics.

The spiked beanies are now on the heads of opponents from the Division II Western Football Conference, and they bully the Kingsmen nearly every time they come over to play.

Cal Lutheran (2-5, 0-4 in conference) is 1-8 in WFC play since joining last season. Coach Bob Shoup, the winningest active coach in the NAIA with a 25-year mark of 174-64-6, is watching his remarkable winning percentage drop like a downhill run at Aspen.

Such is the cost of CLU’s ambitious step up to Division II. Shoup insists the team had no choice.

“We’ve called every school within 400 miles to play us and no one will except the big state schools,” he said as the overflow crowd filed out.

State colleges get 45 scholarships, and Cal Lutheran, a fairly expensive private school, is lucky to scrounge up 20, Shoup said. “When injuries hit, which is inevitable, the drop in quality of our reserves is more severe than for any team in our conference,” Shoup said.

The lack of depth was most apparent early in the season when quarterback Tom Bonds missed nearly three games--all losses--with an injured knee. Bonds was rushed into the lineup last week and it showed in a loss to Santa Clara. He was sacked six times and scrambled with all the grace of Bill Buckner rounding third.

Bonds, a junior NAIA All-American, did not limp noticeably this week and completed 19 of 37 passes for 207 yards. His 15-yard pass to Joe Monarrez in the fourth quarter accounted for CLU’s only score.

“We were overmatched but we played hard,” Bond said. “It’s frustrating because our enthusiasm was high and we did not play poorly.”

CLU’s only hope Saturday was that the Vikings would wilt in the Southern California heat as the game wore on. That theory proved half-baked, however. Portland State ran 23 plays and scored twice in the fourth quarter, while the Kingsmen ran just 12 plays.

“It’s been unseasonably warm in Portland,” Coach Pokey Allen said. He gazed up at the clear blue sky and added: “It sure is a nice day here, though.”

It was especially nice for sophomore quarterback Chris Crawford, who completed 26 of 38 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns. A slender left-hander, Crawford was rushed hard early on by Mike Miller and John Hynes, but he went with a shorter drop in the second half and passed for 218 yards.

The Vikings led only 7-0 at halftime, but scored on an 86-yard, 12-play drive midway through the third quarter. Crawford completed four straight passes for 66 yards on the march.

The Vikings led, 21-0, after another long drive in the fourth quarter. A Crawford pass here, a Kevin Johnson run there, and Portland State had moved 80 yards on 15 plays. Andy Ludwig caught a 22-yard pass over the middle for the score.

Cal Lutheran kept the first quarter scoreless by putting intense pressure on Crawford and gang-tackling Viking ball carriers. Sophomore tight end Barry Naone became a bail-out for Crawford every time the quarterback was pressured. Naone, the leading receiver in the WFC, had 11 catches for 107 yards.

Portland State came into the game with the worst defensive statistics in the conference, having allowed an average of 403 yards a game. The numbers were deceiving, however, because the Vikings’ nonconference schedule includes Division I-AA teams Idaho, UNLV and Weber State. A better measure of Portland State’s strength was a 41-17 win over Southern Utah two weeks ago. The biggest bully in the WFC is Cal State Sacramento, which trounced Portland State, 52-20, last week and Southern Utah State, 48-31, on Saturday.

Guess who Cal Lutheran plays next week? If you guessed Sacramento State, you are a sadist . . . and are also correct.

“Judging by the scores, I guess that makes us a seven touchdown underdog,” Shoup said.

Where are those Claremont-Mudd Stags when you need them?