Southland Roundup : Harper Gets Off Bench to Boost Northridge

Lance Harper’s 32-yard touchdown run with 8:20 left in the game gave Northridge a 15-10 victory over Sonoma State Saturday night in front of 4,125 fans at North Campus Stadium in Northridge.

Harper, a senior from San Fernando, missed the last seven games of last season after sustaining a serious knee injury, subbed in for starting tailback Albert Fann.

Sonoma, which had only 55 yards in offense during the second half, took the lead on a one-yard scoring pass from Mike Zorn to Brad Frost five minutes into the third quarter.

Fann scored on a two-yard run with 13:08 left to cut Sonoma’s lead to 10-9. He also set up Northridge’s game-winning score with a 32-yard run from the Matador 22 to the Cossack 46.

Then Harper took over for the winded Fann, scoring the winning touchdown on a sweep to the left side.

“The coaches have been kind of questioning my running,” Harper said. “They were saying I wasn’t running hard enough. Coach (Mark) Banker told me not to dance before I hit the hole. Just hit the hole and go. Dance later.”

San Diego 19, Whittier 0--Todd Whitley scored on a seven-yard run five minutes into the game and Dave Bergmann kicked four field goals to boost Toreros at San Diego.

On the possession following Whitley’s touchdown, Bergmann kicked a 23-yard field goal, the first of three in the first half, to give the Toreros a 10-0 lead.

Bergmann added kicks of 34 and 40 yards in the second quarter as San Diego (2-0) led 16-0 at halftime. His longest field goal of the game, a 46-yarder, came three seconds into the fourth quarter. Whittier dropped to 0-1 with the loss.

Menlo 10, Claremont-Mudd 8--A fourth-quarter field goal from John Bantmann and last-minute fumble recovery by safety John Till gave Menlo the win at Atherton.

Trailing 10-8 with 1:35 left in the game, Claremont wide receiver Darin Carlsen caught a 37-yard pass from quarterback Mike Pembroke on the Menlo five-yard line, but fumbled. Till recovered to preserve the win.

Menlo rolled to a 7-0 halftime lead and then increased that lead to 10-0 on Bantmann’s field. But Claremont fought back scoring on a 16-yard pass from quarterback Mike Pembroke to wide receiver Darin Carlsen.

Cal Poly SLO 29, Humboldt St. 16--Tom McCook kicked three field goals in the third quarter as the Mustangs rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit at San Luis Obispo.

McCook kicked field goals of 37, 42 and 36 yards as Cal Poly (2-0) closed to 10-9 after three periods.

Pomona Pitzer 13, Colorado College 0--Robert Perez kicked two field goals and quarterback Greg Silver fired a touchdown pass to Todd Tuney in the second quarter to lead the Sagehens at Claremont.

Silver, who was eight for 17 passing for 100 yards, hit Tuney on an eight-yard scoring strike to give Pomona Pitzer a 7-0 lead. Perez followed with field goals of 28 and 30 yards to boost the lead to 13-0.

Pomona Pitzer (1-0) also was led by running back Chris Smith, a freshman from Crenshaw High school, who rushed for 142 yards in 28 carries. Colorado College dropped to 0-2.

St. Mary’s 26, Cal Lutheran 10--James Javier and Kevin Lemmo scored on runs of one and seven yards, respectively, in the fourth quarter to lead the Gaels at Thousand Oaks.