Robinson Tries to Hold His Season Together

Curtis Robinson has been in pain in nearly every football game he has played for Chapman, but now he is dealing with an injury he might not be able to overcome.

Robinson, a senior quarterback from Pomona, twisted his knee while being tackled in the first half of the Panthers’ game with Claremont-Mudd Sept. 23. He says doctors have told him the knee is sprained. Chapman Coach Ken Visser says he has been told the anterior cruciate ligament has been stretched.

Either way, Robinson hasn’t given up on his final season of college football. He is working to rehabilitate the knee while avoiding further tests by doctors.

“Honestly, I don’t want to find out any bad news,” Robinson said. “It’s almost better to wait and try to play with it before I say I need to hang it up.”

Last year, Robinson separated his shoulder in Chapman’s first game and was hampered all season. Even so, he accounted for 1,188 yards in total offense and 17 touchdowns, both team highs. He was on track to surpass those totals this season before the injury (He has accounted for 457 yards and seven touchdowns in three games.)

“My pain tolerance is pretty high,” Robinson said. “It’s never been a problem for me to play with an injury, to play through the pain, but this is a totally different feeling. This is a major joint in your body.

Even so, Robinson believes he is making progress. He can walk without pain; it’s running that still hurts.

Robinson says he doesn’t worry that he is risking permanent damage to the knee. “Once you start worrying you start playing differently,” he said. “And when I’m on the field, I just go 100 miles per hour, 100%, and if I can’t do that, I don’t want to be out there.

“I don’t want to go out there just for myself. I have to make sure I will be able to help my teammates and then feel good about my performance.”

Visser said Robinson’s status will be assessed each week, but he doubts Robinson could return any earlier than Oct. 28 against Redlands.

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With Robinson out, Josh Bravo will make his second start Saturday, when the Panthers play at Chico State. Bravo, a junior transfer from Fresno College, completed seven of 11 passes for 80 yards with no interceptions in a 47-6 victory over Occidental Saturday.

Visser says Bravo, who was 18-4 in two years as a starter at Fresno, is a capable replacement. “Curtis is a quicker option quarterback than Josh and he throws a deeper ball,” Visser said. “But Josh is very tough, a good leader and does a lot of things well. He runs our offense pretty darn good.”

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Chico State, a non-scholarship Division II program, probably will be Chapman’s toughest opponent the rest of the season. The Wildcats (1-2-2) have tied their last two opponents--Sacramento State and Sonoma State. The score was 21-21 each time. Quarterback Steve Lopez, who played at Cerritos College, has passed for 1,428 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Chapman (3-1) added Chico State to its schedule when Pomona-Pitzer decided it would rather not play the Panthers. Chico State was the only team Chapman could find that had this week as an open date, Visser said.

It happens to be Chico State’s homecoming game, so might the Wildcats be looking at Chapman as a sacrificial lamb?

“They are going to be very good,” Visser said, “but this lamb may have some horns.”

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Cross-country: Southern California College’s Nikee Pool continues to make progress this season. Pool finished second in the University Open Division at the Stanford Invitational Saturday.

Pool, a junior from Great Bend, Kan., ran the 5K course in a personal-best 18 minutes 21 seconds, six seconds behind Kelly Flathers, an unattached runner. Pool beat all her Golden State Athletic Conference competition, including defending conference champion Miriam Niednagel of Westmont, who took sixth place in 18:48. Azusa Pacific’s Mathea Kok was fifth (18:42).

“It was just an incredible effort for Nikee,” SCC Coach Bryan Wilkins said. The SCC women, ranked 19th in the NAIA, finished eighth of 23 teams.

Jason Schaefer, a senior on the Vanguard men’s team, finished 16th in 26:32 for five miles and helped SCC, ranked 15th, finish sixth of 23 teams.

Notes

The Chapman women’s soccer team Monday became only the second team this season to beat Cal Lutheran, winning, 3-2, in Orange. Cindy LeClair scored for Chapman (6-3). Cal Lutheran, tied for first in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, dropped to 9-2-1. . . . Miles Takahashi, a senior on the Chapman water polo team, was named the most valuable player of the Caltech tournament after helping the Panthers to victories in two of three games. Takahashi scored 14 one-point goals and three two-pointers as Chapman lost to Occidental, 12-8, and beat Caltech, 29-11, and Cal Maritime, 24-7. Juan Felsman scored 17 one-point goals for Chapman (5-8). . . . Shawna Parkinson, a junior outside hitter on the Panther women’s volleyball team, was named to the all-tournament team at the Mizuno Invitational at UC San Diego. Parkinson had a career-high 25 kills, only one hitting error and a hitting percentage of .500 in a five-game victory over Occidental. Chapman (9-4) won three of four matches in the event, losing to La Verne in five games. . . . The Concordia men’s soccer team ended a 17-game losing streak by beating Christian Heritage, 3-0, last week. Chris Miller, Steve Steele and Todd Gibson scored for the Eagles (1-9, 0-2 in the Golden State Athletic Conference).