Upset Provides Magic Moment for Whittier

Whittier pulled off a major upset when it beat Redlands, 28-21, in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football game at Redlands Saturday.

The loss ended an 18-game winning streak in conference games for Redlands.

“I’m getting tired of people calling me to see if it’s true,” Redlands Coach Mike Maynard joked from his office Monday. “It is true. They came in here and beat us. We didn’t play that badly. No excuses.”

Whittier Coach Ken Visser said that “without a doubt” it was the biggest victory he has had in his four years at Whittier. Whittier is 2-4, 2-2 in SCIAC games.

Sophomore running back George Marquecho ran for two touchdowns and caught two touchdown passes. Marquecho rushed 24 times for 78 yards and had 127 yards receiving.

Whittier, which runs the option, did not put in any new plays for game.

“All we did is say that we were going to practice with more intensity all week--that we were going to prepare to win,” Visser said. Of course nobody knows the future, but we wanted to prepare with that attitude.”

Redlands (4-1, 2-1) entered the game ranked No. 3 in the West Region. The top four ranked teams from each region will go to the Division III playoffs.

“I doubt we will be in the top eight now,” Maynard said. “The only chance for the playoffs now is to roll over the conference. But that’s going to be awfully hard to do.”

Redlands will play a nonconference game at Azusa Pacific on Saturday in the first night Whittier will play Claremont-Mudd, which ended a 22-game losing streak when it tied Menlo College, 34-34, last Saturday.

*

Cal Poly Pomona’s four freshmen women’s basketball players are improving after a single-car accident last week, but three had to drop out of school for a quarter because of the severity of their injuries.

Lori Talley was driving teammates Michaela Ross and twin sisters Tiffany and Taffany Maxwell. The four live in the same dorm and were returning from dinner when the accident occurred at about 8:30 p.m. Oct. 11.

Talley said she heard noise from the engine and then lost control of the car, which hit a curb and crashed into a tree on Temple Avenue in Pomona. The cause is still being investigated.

Ross and the Maxwells had to drop out of school for the quarter to recover from the injuries.

Ross suffered a partially collapsed lung, a broken pelvis, a fractured lower vertebrae, a broken right wrist, a broken right ankle and dislocated and broken toes. On Thursday she was in surgery for 6 1/2 hours to put a pin in her thumb and a plate in her ankle.

Tiffany Maxwell was released from the hospital last Thursday. She suffered a broken arm and a gash to her leg that required more than 40 stitches.

Taffany Maxwell suffered a broken bone below the left eye and was released Wednesday.

Talley suffered a severely sprained wrist and cuts from the wind shield and was treated and released the same night of the accident. She is expected to be back in school today and be ready to play this season.

“The focus of our program right now is on the health of these young ladies,” Pomona Coach Darlene May said. “This is a devastating thing for anyone to go through, especially four 18-year-old women.”

The Maxwells planned on redshirting before the accident, so it won’t affect the program in terms of playing time.

Even though Pomona has five seniors returning, Ross was expected to contribute this season.

“She has abilities that few freshman have,” May said. “She was probably going to average 20 minutes per game, which is significant for a freshman.”

*

Azusa Pacific’s men’s cross-country team won the Golden State Athletic Conference championship at Newport Beach, their first conference title in the eight years of the GSAC.

The Cougars took the top four spots to easily beat five-time champion Point Loma Nazarene, 19-58. It was the first time that Azusa Pacific defeated Point Loma Nazarene since 1983, a span of 20 meetings.

Tony Bergman won with an eight-kilometer time of 25 minutes 39.50 seconds, Anthony Fisher (25:46.62) was second, John Gachau (25:57.57) was third and Jeff Burns (25:57.97) was fourth.

The Cougars are ranked No. 4 in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics coaches’ poll, the highest ever for the school or a GSAC member.

Westmont won the women’s title for the fifth-consecutive year. Genevieve Graff-Ermeling won the individual title by running the five kilometers in 17:50.78, a GSAC championship meet record and a course record for the Back Bay course in Newport Beach.

College Division Notes

As expected, Biola will join the GSAC effective for the 1994-1995 season. Biola is currently an independent school in the NAIA. The move was prompted by the recent NAIA decision to award national and regional playoff bids to conference champions instead of district champions. Cliff Hamlow, the GSAC Commissioner, said that addition of Biola was a long time in coming. “They (Biola) were with us back when we were planning the GSAC, clear up to the point where we said we (what are now the GSAC schools) were going to go forward and form it. But then they decided not to join. They may have felt the autonomy was important.” That, and the fact that the conference title was meaningless in terms of going to the NAIA regional and national playoffs. “We felt that all this time they should have been with us,” Hamlow said. “They have great rivalries with (Azusa Pacific) and Westmont. We are glad to have them.”

In women’s soccer, Cal Poly Pomona senior midfielder Allison Thompson tied a school record by scoring her 30th career goal. Shannon Payne (1989-92) set the record.