Cal Lutheran Feels Right at Home, 59-27

In its first two games, Cal Lutheran certainly had enough big plays go against it.

This time it was Cal Lutheran that took advantage of numerous mistakes, taking a big first-quarter lead en route to a 59-27 victory over Chapman on Saturday in its home opener at Mt. Clef Stadium.

The Kingsmen had a season-high 548 yards.

Cal Lutheran (1-2) probably had a clue this would be different when quarterback Stanley Villanueva of Chapman fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Adam Wirtz of the Kingsmen recovered on the Chapman 13-yard line.

Running back Dorian Stitt ran for a touchdown on the next play.

It only got worse for Chapman (1-3).

Midway through the quarter, Stitt capped a 78-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown run for a 13-0 lead.

Later in the quarter, the Kingsmen used a 32-yard pass play from Ryan Tukua to Sean McGaughey on a fake punt to set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Eugene Sullivan.

Before the first quarter was over, they took advantage of another fumble by Villanueva to set up a 20-yard field goal by Ryan Geisler that made it 22-0.

“We came out and had a great first quarter and that really got us started,” Coach Scott Squires of Cal Lutheran said.

Chapman had difficulty figuring out the no-huddle offense of the Kingsmen.

“We’re not extremely deep and that kind of offense can wear you down,” said Coach Ken Visser of Chapman.

The Panthers trailed, 25-0, in the second quarter but responded with 20 consecutive points over the next two quarters.

After the Kingsmen led, 25-10, at the half, Chapman made it close on a 55-yard field goal by Matthew Deter and a 12-yard touchdown run by Villanueva in the third quarter.

“The defense was what rallied us,” Visser said. “We had it going there for awhile.”

Unfortunately for the Panthers, they couldn’t sustain it.

Less than two minutes after Villanueva’s touchdown, the Kingsmen used another long play--a 60-yard pass play from Chris Czernek to Sullivan.

Four plays later, Cal Lutheran scored on a six-yard pass from Czernek to Brian Woodworth for a 31-20 lead.

In falling just short of the school record of 60 points set in 1969 against Occidental, there was an abundance of superlatives.

Stitt rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns. It was the second consecutive game in which he has gone over 100.

Czernek completed 16 of 26 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns.

Geisler’s two field goals gave him the school’s career record with 29.

Most important to the Kingsmen, the victory gave a boost to their no-huddle offense.

“We hadn’t been putting up a lot of points with the new offense,” Czernek said. “But [Saturday] we showed what we can do and we finally came into our own.”

Chapman, which was hurt by five turnovers, was limited to 231 yards.

Villanueva completed 16 of 33 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown and ran for another. He lost two fumbles and had two passes intercepted.