Small Colleges : This Leopard Has the Size and Strength

The strongest college football player in the state does not play for USC, UCLA or any other Division I program.

He doesn’t even play for a Division II school.

He’s 6-foot 4-inch, 300-pound defensive tackle George Gipson of the University of La Verne--which has a Division III program.

If you have any doubts about Gipson’s strength, consider that he has bench pressed 515 pounds and lifted 740 pounds in the squat--both in competition.

Gipson’s combined two-lift total of 1,255 pounds was more than enough to claim the title in a recent survey of players in the state by California Football Magazine.

“Strength-wise he’s probably stronger than any lineman in college football,” said Rex Huigens, La Verne assistant coach.

Unfortunately, the weight room is about as far as Gipson’s enormous strength has taken him as a player.

Gipson, a 24-year-old senior, has been limited to reserve duty for the Leopards, and Huigens describes Gipson’s football skills as “very, very raw.” His physique does produce a lot of stares from opponents and onlookers, though.

“He’s bigger than the kind of kid we usually have,” Huigens said. “He’s big and he’s proportioned real well. You look at him and think he’s only 250 pounds.

“He just hasn’t played enough football. He’s willing to learn but he just hasn’t learned the natural instincts. He hasn’t learned how to stay low to the ground. He has a lot of smaller players get underneath him.”

Gipson, who played two years at Chaffey College in Ontario before transferring to La Verne about three years ago, might be further along as a player had he not suffered a serious knee injury while working as a bouncer at a night club. That sidelined him for a season.

It happened when Gipson went to the aid of another bouncer who was skirmishing with two men outside the club. Gipson pursued one of the men, who tried to flee in his truck, and was clipped in the knee by the truck.

Huigens said the knee injury has slowed Gipson’s football career. But it has not stopped Gipson from lifting weights.

“I only wish he had played a lot more football,” Huigens said “But if he had, he probably wouldn’t be playing for us.”

After suffering 11 consecutive losses over the last two seasons, the Redlands football team probably didn’t think it would be easy to snap the streak. But Saturday’s 30-27 win over Pomona-Pitzer bordered on the bizarre.

The lead changed hands four times in the fourth quarter--twice in the final 10 seconds.

It appeared victory had eluded the Bulldogs again when Pomona-Pitzer went ahead, 27-24, on a 28-yard pass from quarterback Ed Irick to Patrick Hee with 10 seconds remaining.

But, after returning the ensuing kick to their 42-yard line, it took the Bulldogs only six seconds and two plays to drive 58 yards for the game-winning touchdown. Quarterback Chris Hagle’s 42-yard pass to Fernando Guana provided the winning touchdown on the last play of the game.

There was a touch of coincidence in the outcome, since Pomona-Pitzer was the last team to lose to the Bulldogs, 28-17, in the final game of the 1985 season. The Sagehens will have another chance against Redlands when the teams meet in their season finale Nov. 14 at Pomona-Pitzer.

Forwards Joey Kirk of Cal State Northridge and Johnny Lima of Cal Poly Pomona, who battled to the wire for the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. soccer scoring title last year, are at it again.

Going into this week’s play, Kirk has 25 points on 11 goals and 3 assists, and Lima has 20 points on 7 goals and 6 assists. Kirk outscored Lima for top honors last year, 40-38.

Lima, a junior from San Gabriel, closed the gap considerably with five goals in recent wins over Cal Lutheran, 2-1, and Metropolitan State of Denver, 4-1. Kirk was held scoreless in Northridge’s 3-1 loss to Westmont, and scored a goal and had two assists in its 4-0 win over Cal Lutheran. Lima’s five goals gave him the Pomona career record with 24 goals. The previous mark was 21 goals by Scott Lacher in 1984 and 1985.

Small College Notes

Claremont-Mudd established itself as the early favorite in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football race when it beat Occidental in overtime Saturday, 33-30. The Stags (1-1) were led by all-conference running back Chris Dabrow, who rushed for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns, including the game-winning score. . . . Mary Holycross, four-time NCAA Division II All-American tennis player who graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in June, has been named the school’s tennis coach. Holycross, 23, led the Broncos to consecutive third-place finishes in the Division II tournament the last two years. . . . Perennial volleyball power Cal State Northridge, which finished second to UC Riverside in the Division II tournament last year, leads a list of Southern California teams that are ranked in the latest Division II women’s volleyball poll. The Matadors are ranked No. 1, Cal State Bakersfield is No. 12, Cal Poly Pomona is No. 14 and UC Riverside is tied for No. 15 with Navy.

The Biola women’s volleyball team, which tied for seventh at the National Assn. for Intercollegiate Athletics’ national tournament last year, is off to another strong start. The Eagles, led by outside hitters Liane Lewis and Gloria Tafoya, started the week ranked No. 15 with a 12-3 record after defeating Mt. St. Mary’s last week. . . . Cal State Los Angeles, led by junior Benny Cruz, received its highest ranking ever in men’s cross-country when it was voted No. 4 in the nation and No. 1 on the West Coast in a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division II poll. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is ranked No. 6 and Northridge No. 9. . . . Five-time defending national champion San Luis Obispo is ranked No. 1 again in Division II women’s cross-country. Northridge is ranked No. 3, thanks primarily to sophomore Darcy Arreola, who finished third in a time of 17 minutes 25.6 seconds against Division I runners in the 5k Aztec Invitational Saturday in San Diego.

Kent Sullivan of Cal Lutheran set a Western Football Conference record when he punted 14 times for 533 yards in his team’s 23-13 win over San Francisco State.