Game Leaders
Team Stats
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Time of Poss.
ORANGE, Calif. – A dominant performance from the Chapman University football team led to a 42-13 win over previously unbeaten Cal Lutheran on Saturday. The defense stifled Cal Lutheran's offense and scored its third touchdown of the season on the way to stay undefeated in the SCIAC.
Senior Chris Tsirtsis returned an interception 97 yards for a touchdown – the longest pick six in Chapman history – to end the bit of momentum that Cal Lutheran had built toward the end of the game. It was his second interception of the season and also give him the Chapman record for interception return yards in a single season.
While Tsirtsis' interception erased any doubt of the outcome, the Panthers had another dominant opening half effort. Chapman built a 21-0 lead in the first half and led 28-0 after scoring a touchdown on their opening drive in the third.
The defense set the tone from the first series after a Chapman fumble on the first play from scrimmage gave Cal Lutheran a short field. On second down, senior Dillon Keefe brought down Nick Lasher for his eighth sack of the season (the first given up by Cal Lutheran this season) and the Kingsmen had to punt from inside the Chapman 40.
With the defense coming up big, Chapman's offense came to life when senior Nico Ragas took a handoff and ran around the left sideline for a 54-yard touchdown. The Panthers added a 20-yard touchdown from Marcos Reyes early in the second quarter and a 29-yard TD pass from Reed Vettel to John Krall.
The defense limited the Kingsmen to just five first downs and 86 yards in the first half. Lasher was 6-of-16 for 58 yards while the running game produced just 28 yards on 14 carries. Vettel was 7-of-11 for 112 yards in the first half while the Panthers racked up 140 yards on the ground.
Chapman ended the game with 462 yards of offense compared to 310 from Cal Lutheran. Chapman had three sacks without allowing one from the Kingsmen defense.
In the second half, Reyes scored for the second time when he punched in a TD from two yards out. Cal Lutheran got on the board with 6:05 left in the third with a 33-yard from Lasher to Jackson Taylor. Spencer Corona answered later in the fourth with a 15-yard TD strike from Jonston MacIntyre. With Cal Lutheran driving again, Tsirtsis picked off Lasher on the three-yard line to make it 42-7.
Junior Ryan Haith led the team with 10 tackles. Keefe had a five tackles with a sack and another tackle for loss to go along with three QB hurries.
The win sets up a battle of the final two undefeated teams in SCIAC play next week when Chapman travels to Redlands for a 7 p.m. kickoff.