Cal Lutheran Can’t Climb Out of Hole

Cal Lutheran did not lose Saturday night, it just ran out of time.

Trailing, 24-3, in the second quarter, the Kingsmen (0-2) rallied but were defeated, 38-31, in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at Redlands.

The Kingsmen were victimized by three long plays--passing plays of 75 and 71 yards and an 83-yard run--and committed two key mistakes, an interception returned for a touchdown and a personal foul on a punt which led to a touchdown.

Wade Smith of Redlands returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to give the Bulldogs (2-1) a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

After Cal Lutheran countered with Ryan Geisler’s 33-yard field goal, Jeff Thomas hooked up with Michael Hustead on a 75-yard pass play to set up Frank Lewis’ one-yard touchdown run.

Brandon Ford of Redlands scored on a one-yard run midway through the second quarter.

The Bulldogs were forced to punt, but the drive was kept alive when Cal Lutheran committed a personal foul that gave Redlands a first down.

The Kingsmen, who ran a no-huddle, four-receiver offense the entire game, answered on Dorian Stitt’s five-yard touchdown run just before halftime.

His eight-yard touchdown run capped the opening drive of the second half to cut the Kingsmen’s deficit to 24-16.

However, Ford raced 83 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown on the next play from scrimmage.

After a Cal Lutheran punt, Thomas connected with Hustead on a 71-yard touchdown pass play to give the Bulldogs a 38-16 lead midway through the third quarter.

Cal Lutheran rallied on Chris Czernek’s nine-yard scoring pass to Chris Dingman late in the third quarter, but the Kingsmen were stopped on their next possession at the Bulldogs’ five-yard line with 10 minutes left in the game.

Czernek completed a 57-yard touchdown pass to Justin Magruder as time expired.

Czernek completed 23 of 40 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions.

Stitt carried 26 times for 138 yards and the Kingsmen out-gained the Bulldogs, 427-406.

Coach Scott Squires took no solace in the fact that his club’s two losses have come against Pacific Lutheran, defending NCAA Division III champion, and Redlands, defending SCIAC champion.

“Every game is a tough game in our mind,” Squires said. “We did not protect the football as well as we could have, but we cleaned up from the [Pacific Lutheran] game. We want to be a little bit more of a fast-break team than we were [Saturday night], but we just need to keep building.”

Thomas completed five of 11 passes for 196 yards for Redlands.

Ford had 19 carries for 158 yards and Hustead totaled 146 yards on two receptions.