Redlands’ Football Dynasty Finally Is Ended, by La Verne

In recent years, football teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Assn. have earned a reputation for running wild offenses.

Occidental runs a triple option. Whittier runs the option from multiple sets. La Verne has a ball-control passing game. Claremont-Mudd runs a one-back offense. Pomona-Pitzer and Cal Lutheran run multiple sets.

Maybe part of it was best use of personnel.

Equally likely, though, coaches were looking for a way to topple Redlands’ single-wing offense, which helped the Bulldogs go undefeated in conference play the last three years.

This year it worked.

La Verne won the title outright for the first time in the 72 years of the program.

Redlands had key losses to graduation in the offensive backfield and several injuries on defense. Redlands ended up losing three games.

Last year, La Verne quarterback Willie Reyna set several records with the Leopards’ pass-first approach. Reyna never had the luxury of a running game, so it wasn’t enough to beat Redlands. When he graduated after last season, many expected a drop-off.

This year, the offense balanced. Running back Danny Pasquil led the SCIAC in rushing with 120 yards a game, and quarterback Ryan Campuzano passed for 12 touchdowns and averaged 169 yards.

So it wasn’t too surprising when La Verne beat Redlands two weeks ago. But that did not diminish the significance: It was the most important game of the season--maybe in school history--because it guaranteed the title.

“I’ve been involved with La Verne for about 32 years and I’ve never seen a victory as big (as the one over Redlands),” La Verne Coach Rex Huigens said.

Big, because it eliminated Redlands from the SCIAC race.

Big, because it meant that, even if La Verne lost its final game, the Leopards would win the title because they had beaten Occidental earlier in the season.

Despite the conference title, La Verne (7-2 overall, 6-0 in conference) was not invited to the NCAA playoffs. The NCAA invites participants according to regional ranking, and La Verne is not ranked.

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One the most intriguing rivalries in the nation is the one between Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd.

Not many noticed the results of the game between the schools on Nov. 6, but they did in Claremont.

Claremont-Mudd defeated Pomona-Pitzer, 30-26, ending a 25-game winless streak. The last time Claremont-Mudd won a football game was Nov. 3, 1990, when the Stags beat Whittier, 27-22, in the second-to-last game of that season.

The Stags stopped a string of 22 consecutive losses when they tied Menlo College in mid-October, 34-34.

The intrigue?

The schools share the same campus although the Claremont-McKenna, Mudd and Scripps colleges are very distinct from the Pomona-Pitzer colleges. They have different athletic facilities and athletic departments, but it is not uncommon for students from the Pomona-Pitzer colleges to share classes with students from the Claremont colleges.

“This is unique in that the kids share same classes, go to same parties,” said John Zinda, Claremont-Mudd football coach and athletic director. “They can eat at any of dining halls--so they even eat together.”

The Claremont-Mudd football program was on the brink of elimination last spring, but the school’s trustees decided to invest more in the program rather than dissolve it.

“Without the recommitment, we would not have won,” Zinda said.

The victory was so big that both sets of goal-posts came down. One went during a frenzied celebration of alumni shortly after the game and the other went later that evening.

As the athletic director at a school with a limited budget, Zinda was not happy to see either set fall. The goal posts cost $2,000 each.

“The first set, well, we are deciding how we’re going to charge the alumni--it’s an in-house thing,” Zinda said. “The second set, that one is kind of like vandalism. The other one is like spontaneous emotion. We’re investigating. We will recycle the aluminum from the old ones and whatever we get back we will apply to the new goal posts.”

Fortunately, they have some time before they spend the money. Claremont-Mudd concluded its season with a 44-9 loss at Cal Lutheran.

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Westmont is having the most successful season in school history. All five of its fall sports teams are ranked nationally and four won conference titles.

The Warriors won the Golden State Athletic Conference titles in women’s cross-country (ranked No. 5), men’s soccer (No. 9), women’s soccer (No. 13) and women’s volleyball (No. 6).

The men’s cross-country team (No. 18) finished second to Azusa Pacific.

“I would like to take all the credit,” Westmont Athletic Director Ron Mulder said with a laugh. “But it is really the result of the guy before me (Chet Kammerer, whom Mulder succeeded last year), the coaches and the kids.

“Our focus really isn’t winning--we want to--but our focus is on the kids and building leaders. We’re blessed with good kids, but obviously we have some athletes.”

The men’s and the women’s cross-country teams will travel to the NAIA national meet in Wisconsin next Saturday to compete for the national title.

In men’s soccer, the Warriors beat The Master’s, 1-0, to win the District III championship and will play for in the national tournament at San Antonio this weekend.

In women’s soccer, Westmont won the District III title but lost in the NAIA West Regional last weekend.

The volleyball team, top-seeded in the District III tournament, defeated Bethany in the first round and will play Point-Loma Nazarene Friday.

College Division Notes

The Redlands water polo team won the SCIAC championship after going 10-0 in conference play. Occidental finished second with a 7-3 record and Claremont-Mudd third (7-3).