Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
LA VERNE — Bryan Scott broke the SCIAC career passing record as the Occident football team lit up the scoreboard on Saturday night.
But La Verne's two-point gamble at the end of the game paid off and Oxy couldn't hang on in a 57-56 loss to the Leopards on Saturday.
Scott was 30 for 43 with a pair of touchdowns and 390 yards. He passes, Tom Bonds, who racked up 7,773 yards for Cal Lutheran from 1984-87, as the conference's all-time leader.
He also passes the late great Andy Collins, who totaled 7,731 in three seasons, as the Occidental career passing yardage leader.
Collins, who tragically passed away at age 27, led the Tigers to three consecutive SCIAC Championships, was a three-time SCIAC Offensive Player of the Year and led Oxy to a 27-0 record in regular season games. He is widely regarded as the most dominant SCIAC football player in modern history.
Scott, a senior from Rolling Hills who has thrown for 7,835 career yards, joins former teammate Kwame Do in the record books, who just last year became the SCIAC's all-time leading rusher with 4,133 yards.
Turning Point: With a 56-49 lead and 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Scott hit Cordell Harrison the sideline, who broke free and ran into the end zone for what looked to be the game-clinching touchdown, but it was called back due to an offensive pass interference penalty.
Play of the Game: After cutting the lead to 56-55 with 1:04 left in the game on a nine-play, 92-yard drive, the Leopards converted their two-point attempt to take the lead.
Zak Tomlinson rolled out to his right and threw towards a pair of La Verne receivers at the back of the end zone. Alex Arellano leaped into the air, pulled the ball down and managed to stay in bounds.
Oxy's Best: Harris led Oxy's receivers with 10 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns. Ian Bonde caught five passes for 114 yards.
Max Gruber and Chris Rom Toribo were outstanding on the ground. Gruber ran for 114 yards and three scores, and Rom-Toribio had six carries for 109 yards and a touchdown.
Takeaways: The Tigers trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half. They were able to get back into the game with turnovers. Joey Garza, Marcus McDuffie and Benjamin Kamerin all forced fumbles that were recovered by Evan Buckwalter, Harrison Wakefield and Anthony Stanley.
Robert Twyman had an interception for the Tigers.
Season Impact: The Tigers fall to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in SCIAC play.
La Verne wins its first game of the season, going to 1-4 and 1-2.
Next Game: The Tigers return home on Oct. 22, facing Pomona-Pitzer at 7 p.m. in Oxy's Homecoming Game and the Battle for the Drum, the longest standing college football rivalry on the West Coast.
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