LA VERNE, Calif. (Oct. 9, 2010) – For the first time in 2010 the Occidental College Tigers hit the road, but it was apparent that they felt right as home at the University of La Verne. The Black and Orange opened up a quick 7-0 lead on their opening drive en route to a 30-0 shutout in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play today at Ortmayer Stadium.
The air attack, which included a 25-for-33, 353 yard overall performance for quarterbacks Luke Collis and Ryan Rodriguez got off to a hot start from the get-go. Collis found Nate Sulliven for his first pass of the day before hitting Wes McDaniel for a 53-yard touchdown three plays later. Joshua Mun added the point after to put the Tigers up 7-0 after just 2:46 in the opening stanza.
Two possessions later Collis found Matthew Tuckness for a 23-yard touchdown, which Mun capped off with his second PAT of the game. Oxy needed just 1:48 to move the ball 65 yards on the drive.
Occidental held the Leopards to a three and out on the ensuing possession and took over with 3:07 to play in the first quarter. At the ULV 34 yard line time expired and the teams swapped sides of the field. On the second play of the second quarter Collis hit freshman Chandler Tunney for a 30 yard TD pass, giving the Black and Orange a 20-0 advantage.
After ULV field goal chance sailed wide left, Oxy had one more chance to score in the opening half and they capitalized on that opportunity. The drive started with Collis' second 50 plus yard completion when he found Tuckness for 51 yards from the Tigers' own 26 yard line. On fourth and 11 the Tigers called on Mun who connected for a 40 yard field goal, putting Occidental up 23-0 at the intermission.
The final scoring drive of the game occurred mid-way through the third quarter when Collis capped off his four-touchdown day with a 10 yard completion to Bobby Phillips. On the drive he also found Phillips for 12 and six yard completions adding a 20 yard pass to Nate Sullivan.
In the final period of play neither team scored, but Oxy controlled the football, maintaining possession for 11:25. Rodriguez found Nic Arnold for a 13-yard gain on third and 11 as the Tigers combined to go 10-for-16 on third down conversions. Oxy was 1-for-2 on fourth down conversions in the game.
While Collis had many options today, Phillips was his favorite target, completing five passes for 77 yards. He his Tuckness and McDaniel four times apiece for 85 and 70 yards, respectively. Sullivan also nabbed four tosses for 44 yards. Tunney caught two for 44 yards. Federico Giacomello also caught two passes while Kevin Nagy finished with three.
On the ground Oxy looked to McDaniel for 84 yards as he led all players with 154 total all purpose yards on the afternoon. Tunney added 13 kick return and 17 punt returns to his line to finish with 74 all purpose yards for the Tigers. Freshman Mark Reid got the first touch of his collegiate career, gaining four yards.
Defensively Dillon Tucker led the pack with seven tackles, while he broke up two plays and accounted for one of the two interceptions by the Tigers. Cody Remmick picked off the Leopards in the ULV end zone for a touchback. Kyle Spaulding had two tackles, one was for a loss of seven yards and broke up a play, nearly handing ULV their third interception of the afternoon Justin Garza had a tackle for a loss of two and Kevin May, who finished with six total tackles, four solo, had a TFL as well. Greg Holsworth turned in a six tackle day with five solo stops to lead the Tigers.
The Tigers held the Leopards to 288 total yards of offense and out of the end zone. Oxy has posted at least one shutout in each of the last four seasons.
Occidental (3-1, 2-0 SCIAC) will return home on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 7:00 p.m. when they host the winless Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (0-4, 0-1) in SCIAC action as the teams play for the coveted Drum. The Oxy-PP rivalry dates back to 1895, which marks the longest-running rivalry in Southern California.
Article by Tracy Maple, Sports Information Director