Tigers, Bulldogs to battle in SCIAC showdown

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Oct. 8, 2009) – Entering this weekend the Tigers and Bulldogs have met on the gridiron 100 times. Occidental holds a 51-47-2 record and has won the last five meetings between the two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foes. With both teams ranked among the Top-25 in the nation, the Bulldogs at No. 22 and the Tigers ranked No. 24, it is sure to be another close battle on Patterson Field come Saturday evening.

Team Notes:
Last weekend both teams won their respective SCIAC openers. The Tigers defeated the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags 42-14 behind a 20-for-29 passing effort by senior quarterback Scott Saunders who threw for four touchdowns and 252 yards. Redlands tore past the University of La Verne, 51-24 as their senior quarterback Dan Selway threw for five TDs and 323 yards on 22-for-32 passing.

Offense:
Occidental senior receiver Jason Lehman caught five passes in the game and three were for touchdowns of 19, 24 and 30 yards. Classmate Jordan Inabnit caught the fourth score through the air, a 21-yard completion. Senior running back Jason Haller added two rushing TDs to cap off the scoring with Neil Martin hitting 6-for-6 PAT attempts.

Redlands looked to four different receivers for touchdowns through the air as Brendan Barkate caught two with Brian Putman (who caught 11 passes for 212 yards), Evan Reuter and Daniel Allen each grabbing a TD pass as well. Daylan Swedlow rushed for a 1-yard touchdown while Joe McMillan nailed a 41-yard field goal and Mike Nicolini ran back a punt return 30 yards for the final score of the game.

Defense:
The Tigers’ defense was led by Josh Beck and Zac Perkins who had 8.0 tackles apiece. Among Beck’s tackles were two for a loss of 11 yards. Kyle Spaulding and Greg Holsworth finished with six apiece. Spaulding and Wertheimer combined for a sack while Hildensperger added a sack, pushing the Stags back eight yards. To go along with the offense he produced today, Inabnit also blocked a punt out of bounds for the Tigers.

The Bulldogs’ defense was led by Jared Fink who finished with 2.5 sacks for a loss of 17 yards as UR combined for six sacks. Scott Garner recorded a team-leading nine tackles (six solo) with Nicolini tallying eight. Ian Sluss had five tackles, all solo, and one quarter back hurry. Josh Herrera also had five solo stops and Rudy Vidales added six tackles.

Special Teams:
Occidental punter Alex Groh put the Stags on their own one yard line as time wound down in the first quarter before adding a 56-yard punt, his second longest of the season,  in the second quarter. Also stepping up for the special teams was Jordan Washington who, in addition to his three catches, ran back a kickoff 76 yards, adding two punt returns for 26 yards. Nick Saraceni ran back two kicks for 38 yards.

Redlands spread out punting duties with Selway taking two and Wes Norris and Josh Boyd also getting one chance apiece. Nicolini took four punt returns and one kick return for the Bulldogs while Tyler Aubrey had a kickoff returns for 33 yards and a punt return for two yards while Sluss had one kick return for 12 yards.

For those who are unable to make it out to the game you can watch the game live at KADYtv.com and listen as Craig Dunkin, Tim Walsh and Kevin Walsh call the game for you at oxybroadcast.com. Kickoff is slated for 7:05 p.m.