La Verne Will Open League Season Against Oxy

The University of La Verne will be trying for its first win of the year when it opens its Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football season with a game against Occidental at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Eagle Rock.

That does not figure to be an easy assignment considering that Occidental has won two straight conference titles and holds the early lead in the SCIAC race at 1-0 and is 1-2 overall.

Occidental defeated Pomona-Pitzer, 24-14, in its conference opener last week while La Verne dropped to 0-2 with a 44-9 non-conference loss to Cal Lutheran.

La Verne will face an Occidental squad that has one of the top rushing attacks in the conference behind running back Gary Little, who has gained 226 yards in 28 carries. The Tigers also have a solid passing combination of quarterback Tony Werbelow and wide receiver Rob Leinbach. Werbelow has completed 34 of 64 passes for 298 yards and Leinbach has 12 receptions for 122 yards.

La Verne has been led by quarterback Mark Brown, who has completed 25 of 63 passes for 310 yards and one touchdown. The Leopards have rushed for only 56 yards in their first two games and are last in the conference in total defense.

In another SCIAC game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (0-2) will be seeking its first win of the conference season when it visits winless Whittier (0-2).

Claremont suffered a 30-13 loss to the University of San Diego last week and Whittier lost to Humboldt State, 29-6.

Claremont has been led by quarterback Mike Pembroke, who leads the SCIAC in passing yardage. He has completed 28 of 62 passes for 357 yards and one touchdown and has a top receiver in Darin Carlsen, who has a conference-leading 14 catches for 204 yards and one touchdown.

Caltech of Pasadena has added two coaches to its athletic staff.

Wendell Jack, an assistant football coach at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, is football coach and John D’Auria, pitching coach at Caltech since 1982, is the new baseball coach.

Jack, who has coached for nine years at the high school and college level, was also strength and conditioning coach at Claremont. The Diamond Bar resident is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach.

D’Auria will take over as baseball coach for Dan Bridges, who has been named athletic director at Caltech. A graduate of Cal State Los Angeles with a master’s degree in education from Azusa Pacific, the Sierra Madre resident played baseball in the Detroit Tigers farm system.

Jack and D’Auria will also be physical education instructors.

“Both of these men will equip Caltech students with the tools to be competitive and inspire our athletes to do their very best on the field of play,” said Warren Emery, who will retire as the school’s athletic director at the end of the month.

After dropping its California Collegiate Athletic Assn. opener last week, the Cal Poly Pomona men’s soccer will visit the Pacific Northwest for a three-game trip that starts Friday.

The Broncos, who have a 2-3-1 overall record and are 0-1 in the CCAA after a 2-0 loss to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last week, will visit Seattle Pacific at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Seattle University at 3 Saturday and Puget Sound at 3:30 Monday.

Seattle Pacific entered this week at 3-4-1, Seattle was 3-2-1 and Puget Sound 1-5.

Pomona has been led on offense by senior midfielder Mike Thompson, a former star at Los Altos High in Hacienda Heights who has three goals and six points.