Forced to Its Knees, Cal Lutheran Wins : College football: Kingsmen avoid repeat of last year’s loss-causing fumble by downing the ball and holding on for 10-9 victory over Azusa Pacific in opener.

Tough crowd out at Cal Lutheran.

They definitely do not forget.

The Kingsmen had a one-point lead, the ball and a first down with 26 seconds to play in their nonconference football opener against Azusa Pacific on Saturday in Thousand Oaks and still the home fans were restless.

“Don’t hand off!” they pleaded. “Take a knee!” they screamed.

Were these friendly reminders?

Adam Hacker, Cal Lutheran’s quarterback, followed orders.

He took the snap at the Azusa Pacific 46, stepped back two yards and knelt.

“Good call!” a fan roared.

After Azusa Pacific used its final timeout, Hacker repeated the action and the clock expired, preserving Cal Lutheran’s 10-9 victory.

“We definitely did the right thing this time,” Hacker said of the final two plays. “We even practiced extra doing that yesterday.”

Had Cal Lutheran chose the same strategy last season, it would have consecutive wins against Azusa, a longtime rival from the Kingsmen’s days in the NAIA.

Given a similar situation a year ago, Coach Joe Harper elected to have Hacker hand off to a running back. The ball was fumbled, Azusa recovered, and Michael Wade kicked a 45-yard field goal as time expired to give the Cougars an unlikely 34-33 victory.

“We did it right this time,” Harper said after winning the rematch.

But were it not for Pete Marine, the Kingsmen would have been scrambling rather than stalling at the end.

Marine scored Cal Lutheran’s only touchdown on a 38-yard punt return with 9 minutes 29 seconds to play.

After deftly sidestepping four defenders to earn some running room, Marine picked up a bone-jarring block from Justin Monical as he made a break down the right sideline.

Dan Leffler’s extra point provided the margin of victory.

“We were going for the block,” said Marine, who high-stepped the final 10 yards with an arm raised. “I knew the coverage would be on me quick, but once I got away from them at first, I got some great blocks.”

Trailing for the first time, Azusa Pacific rebounded by driving from its 20 to the Cal Lutheran 17 in the next six minutes, but the march stalled there.

Jack Manu, Azusa Pacific’s junior quarterback, provided most of the excitement on the last-ditch effort. In maneuvering the Cougars deep into Kingsmen territory, he rushed three times for 43 yards and completed a pass for 17 yards.

However, after consecutive losses set Azusa Pacific back to the 27, Manu missed a wide-open Dan Mitchell with a third-down pass in the right flat.

On the next play, Wade had a chance to beat the Kingsmen--again from 45 yards--but his field-goal attempt fell far short.

Taking over at its 28 with 2:39 to play, Cal Lutheran ran out the clock as Hacker connected with Marine for timely gains of 10 and nine yards.

Hacker, a junior left-hander, completed 13 of 24 passes for 133 yards with one interception. Marine finished with seven receptions for 79 yards.

Azusa had 289 yards in offense to Cal Lutheran’s 195, but the Cougars were shut out after the first quarter.

James Dixon scored on a one-yard run to cap a seven-play, 65-yard drive on Azusa’s opening possession. Wade missed the extra point, but late in the first quarter he built the Cougars’ advantage to 9-0 by making a 38-yard field goal.

Cal Lutheran’s offense sputtered with the exception of a 13-play segment just before halftime. The Kingsmen drove from their 15 to the Azusa 22 in 3:28.

With nine seconds on the clock, Leffler converted a 39-yard field goal.

Azusa was turned away inside the Cal Lutheran 25 four times in the final three quarters. “Our defense clutched up and did it,” Hacker said. “They won us the game today.”

Linebacker Lance Martin, a Thousand Oaks High graduate who transferred from Northern Arizona, led Cal Lutheran with 16 tackles. Linebacker Cory Undlin had 15 tackles and Chris Peltonen, a Moorpark High graduate, added 14.

Among the big individual defensive plays for the Kingsmen was a fumble recovery at the Cal Lutheran 15 by James Mason in the second quarter and John Wilson’s block of a 32-yard field-goal try by Wade in the third period.