They’re the Only Games in Town

Football coverage of the Southern California small colleges is usually eclipsed by the major programs, but today it’s about all the sporting news that’s left to print.

While most major events have been either postponed or canceled in the wake of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, two local college games will be played today, at 1 p.m., as scheduled.

In a matchup of Division III independents, Colorado College will play at Pomona-Pitzer, while Cal Lutheran plays at La Verne in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.

A decision on whether Chapman is going to play at Whittier, once coached by George Allen, had not been made as of Friday afternoon.

“We are on,” Pomona-Pitzer Coach Roger Caron said Friday. Colorado College, located in Colorado Springs, will bus to the game.

“If our kids and our administration or our coaches did not want to play, we wouldn’t play,” Caron said. “But the kids want to play.”

Tim Downes, athletic director at Caltech and acting commissioner of the SCIAC, said schools in his conference were given the choice to play or not.

Citing logistical and philosophical reasons, Redlands postponed its weekend trip to Whitworth (Wash.) College. Claremont-Mudd, another Division III SCIAC member, was willing to make the trip to play at Puget Sound, but the Washington state school decided it did not want to play.

Occidental College’s game at Lewis and Clark College in Portland was canceled because Occidental could not get a flight out of Los Angeles International Airport.

Azusa Pacific, an NAIA school, postponed its game at Rocky Mountain College in Montana.

In a statement released on Azusa Pacific’s Internet site, Athletic Director Bill Odell said: “We are joining other college football programs and the nation to mourn and honor those who lost their lives this week.”

Downes said the SCIAC did not have an official opinion on whether games should be played in the wake of national tragedy.

“It’s a difficult decision,” Downes said. “Is it the right decision? I don’t know. I don’t know.”