Chapman Cooks at Home, 31-14

The Chapman football team took care of one of its last major milestones--its first home game in 62 years--easily defeating Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 34-14, Saturday night.

A crowd of 4,194 jammed into a stadium that was thought to hold 2,500 and watched the Panthers dominate Claremont. It was an enthusiastic gathering. Chapman fans cheered everything from pregame calisthenics to the final gun.

Between, they were treated to some fine running by Chapman’s Darnell Morgan and plenty of outstanding Panther defensive plays.

With Chapman starting quarterback Curtis Robinson on the sideline because of a separated shoulder, local favorite Todd Gragnano got the start. Gragnano’s last start was for Los Alamitos High in the 1989 Southern Section playoffs, so the game plan was to keep it mostly on the ground.

Morgan took care of that part, rushing for 200 yards and two touchdowns in 31 carries. His final touchdown with 11 minutes 44 seconds left to play gave the Panthers (2-0) their final margin of victory.

Gragnano had a few shaky moments. His first pass was intercepted, in one series he mishandled the snap on consecutive plays and on another his fumble was recovered by Claremont. Gragnano, who received a scholarship at Nebraska and saw some mop-up action for the Huskers in 1991, completed only six of 16 passes for 63 yards and one touchdown.

But Chapman Coach Ken Visser was satisfied with Gragnano’s performance.

“I was proud of Todd Gragnano today because that man hasn’t really played for three years,” Visser said. “All week he knew that our game plan was to run and he came in and did a good job.”

Gragnano was helped early by his defense and special teams. Linebacker Michael Simmons intercepted a pass by John Shipp on Claremont’s first drive, leading to a 20-yard field goal by Bill Hamlin. On the kickoff, Eric Huerta stripped Chris Rattay and Cody Verdugo picked up the fumble and ran 18 yards for a 10-0 Chapman lead.

Shipp, who passed for a Division III-high 377 yards last week in a loss to Cal Lutheran, cut the lead to 10-7 with a 78-yard touchdown pass to Burnell Roques.

The Panthers’ Darnell Rubin returned the kickoff 52 yards and Gragnano handed the ball off once to Aaron Meschuk and four times to Morgan on the 38-yard drive. Morgan finished it off with an 11-yard touchdown.

It was 17-7 with 4:26 left in the first quarter, and from there with one exception, Chapman’s defense shut down the Stags (0-2).

Shipp, who passed for 289 yards, completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Michael Cook as time expired in the first half.

But the Panther defense was harassing him at every turn, physically and orally.

Chapman sacked him 10 times, eight in the first half, and never gave him much time to find his receivers. Defensive lineman James Grove got to him three times and wasn’t shy about letting the Claremont quarterback know it. Toney Eggleston also had three sacks.

“When I was sacking Shipp, I kept telling him that his ship was sunk,” Grove said. “He was getting mad and saying some things I don’t think you want to print.”

Shipp, a senior who played at Golden West College and Westminster High, completed 14 of 33 passes but never was in sync after the half. Much of that was because of the Panther defensive line.

“The thing that’s great about our offensive line is they keep coming and coming--they have great tenacity,” Visser said.

Even so, the Panthers kept a wary eye on Shipp, who completed 11 passes for 179 yards to Cook.

“Boy, I’m glad we don’t have to play that guy anymore,” Visser said.