A furious rally from a 21-point halftime deficit proved just enough for the Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens to avenge last year's inaugural SCIAC Football Championship defeat to Chapman University with a 37-34 win to seal the program's second-ever NCAA automatic qualification bid.
Box Score
The defending champion Panthers stormed out to a 21-0 lead with a balanced offense scoring on its first three drives and chewing through the clock over a blistering first 19 minutes.
Tyler Pacheco punched in a touchdown from the 3-yard line and
Joey Yellen connected with
Quentin Biebel to double the margin on the first play of the second quarter. A 25-yard punt after a three-and-out gave the ball right back to the Chapman, who drove the 28 yards needed to go up by three possessions with
Luke Peterman running it in from four yards out as he filled in briefly for Yellen.
Grady Russo finally hit
Quinten Wimmer on a 30-yard pass to for the Sagehens' first score with just 2:22 remaining in the half, but Chapman answered right back with an 11-play, 74-yard drive that culminated in another Yellen touchdown throw to
Kade Zimmerman.
With their backs to the wall, the Sagehens immediately took complete control of the game in the third quarter. Russo capped a five-play, 73-yard drive with a 35-yard pass to
Jackson Walker and then broke free for a 22-yard score on the ground to suddenly make it a one-possession game again just six minutes later.
Jack Walker split the uprights after a short-field drive of another 32 yards to make it 28-23 with 2:23 left in the third quarter and it was not much longer until the Sagehens finally took their first lead of the game on an 18-yard back-shoulder lob to
Sander Wimmer midway through the fourth quarter.
Refusing to succumb despite the immense momentum shift, Chapman chewed another five minutes off the clock with an eight-play, 90-yard drive after a penalty on the kickoff return.
Gio Ursino pushed a pile into the end zone to put the Panthers back in front 34-29, with both teams' failed two-point conversions canceling out. Pomona-Pitzer somehow engineered a 10-play drive that included a key Russo run with three spins to break tackles for 11 yards on 3rd-and-3. The drive went the full 75 yards down the field in just 2:53 to put Russo in position to hit the same lofted throw, this time to
Quinten Wimmer, for his fifth total touchdown of the day and another go-ahead score. Chapman began the ensuing drive on the 33-yard lineand connected on passes of 22 and 11 yards, but with just six seconds left on the clock were forced to resort to a 51-yard field goal that had the distance but fell wide right to end the game.
The Sagehens will await their matchup in the newly expanded 40-team NCAA Championship which will be announced as part of the NCAA.com Selection Show on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. PT.
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