WHITTIER, Calif. — The Cal Lutheran Kingsmen football team paid tribute to the 12 victims of the Borderline shooting by writing all of the names on the back of their helmets. The Kingsmen went on to defeat the Whittier Poets by a final score of 58-21 at Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon.
Cal Lutheran had an offensive explosion against Whittier and the defense was also point and only allowed three scores. This is the second straight year that the Kingsmen have put up 50-plus points against the Poets.
The Violet and Gold offense totaled 531 yards with 347 coming on the ground. The Kingsmen were impressive and averaged an astounding 10 yards per play. They scored on all five times in the red zone. Cal Lutheran put up the 58 points in only 23 minutes.
The defense only allowed 346 yards on the day. The Kingsmen held the Poets to 5-of-15 on third downs. Cal Lutheran also recorded four tackles for loss, including three sacks, and added two interceptions.
The Kingsmen offense was effective and it started with the running game. Jabar Byrd and Chris Anderson both rushed for over 100-plus yards. Byrd had 114 yards and a score while Anderson had 113 yards and two scores.
Eli Peters and Urael Blackshear each added a score as the Kingsmen recorded five rushing touchdowns on the day. All four recorded an average of 11-plus yards per carry. Byrd had 11.4, Anderson tallied 12.6, Peters recorded 13.3 and Blackshear had 16.5.
Peters continued his good day with two passing touchdowns. He was 6-for-10 with 107 yards. Hayden Smith also saw some time and was 4-of-5 for 71 yards and a score. Nine different Kingsmen caught a pass. Ty Riley (19 yards), Michael Magana (35 yards) and Kayden Clements (22 yards) recorded the touchdown receptions.
Mason Evans and Izayah Mora led the defense with eight tackles apiece. Both also tallied five solo tackles. JW Windsor and Connor McDermott were next with seven tackles each. McDermott also tallied one tackle for loss. William Kelly and Zion Brown both had six tackles. Kelly, Tecoy Porter and Trey Brown each had a sack.
JD Lang and Colby Garcia both recorded an interception in the win. Garcia returned his interception 40 yards, which helped set up a score for the Kingsmen.
Christian Antezana made his only field goal of the day from 35-yards out. He was also 6-for-7 on extra point attempts. Morgan Salzwedel was also 1-for-1 on extra points.
Cal Lutheran got out to a huge lead and were up 17-0 after the first quarter. Peters rushed and threw for a touchdown. He ran in the ball from 19 yards out. Later in the quarter he connected with Magana for a 35-yard touchdown. Antezana added a 35-yard field goal in between the touchdowns.
After Whittier scored the first touchdown of the second half. The Kingsmen answered with two more touchdowns and had a 30-7 lead. Anderson rushed for an 18-yard touchdown and Clements followed that up with a 22-yard touchdown reception. Anderson scored his second touchdown a little bit later with a 1-yard rush and CLU had a 37-14 lead at the half.
The Kingsmen shout out the Poets in the third quarter and scored two more touchdowns. Byrd had a big 43-yard run for a score and Riley caught a touchdown pass to put CLU up 51-14. Blackshear put up the last touchdown on the day with a 35-yard rush. The Poets added one last score as the Violet and Gold won the game 58-21.
The win capped off the 2018 season for the Kingsmen. CLU finished the year 4-6 and 3-4 in SCIAC play.
Box Score: CLU 58, WC 21
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Release byRyan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director