Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
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Time of Poss.
LA VERNE, Calif. — The University of La Verne football team ran roughshod over Chapman en route to a 49-42 win on Saturday afternoon at Ortamyer Stadium.
La Verne improves to 6-1 overall and remains undefeated in SCIAC play at 5-0. Chapman falls to 2-5 and 2-3.
The Leopards ran for a season-high 421 yards and scored all seven of their touchdowns on the ground on a Chapman defense that had given up only 146.5 rushing yards and a total of two rushing touchdowns coming into today's game.
Travis Sparks-Jackson gained 197 yards and scored three touchdowns, Dallas Parent rushed for 126 yards and found the end zone twice and quarterback William Livingston ran for 102 yards and added two touchdowns.
The Panthers held a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and maintained the two-touchdown advantage after a 24-yard Jeremiah McKibbins touchdown with 3:43 left in the first half.
La Verne quickly moved the ball down the field on the ensuing possession and Sparks-Jackson punched in a seven-yard touchdown with seven seconds remaining in the first half to get the Leopards within 28-21.
Second half was all La Verne as the Leopards, as they have done all season, pounded the opposition into submission. The Leopards scored four rushing touchdowns in a row—five unanswered going back to the first half—to take a 49-28 lead in the fourth quarter, effectively sealing the game.
"We get better as the game goes on up front," La Verne head coach Chris Krich said of the offensive line's second half performance. "We gained some confidence and we just don't get tired. Our guys are always plugging away and we work hard in practice so we can last in these kind of games."
La Verne went with the run on eight of the first nine second half plays and Livingston capped off the drive with a six-yard scoring run.
Livingston then kept the ball a read-option play on the first play after a Chapman three-and-out and took it to the house for 63 yards to give the Leopards their first lead of the game.
La Verne then made a big red zone stop on the ensuing Chapman possession and Parent ripped off a 90-yard run on the next play to give the Leopards a two-touchdown lead.
Sparks-Jackson wrapped up La Verne's scoring with a 46-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
"It took us a little bit of time to find out what they were doing," Krich said. "[Chapman] did a great job of out-scheming us early and we just had to make a couple of adjustments as we went. Once we figured things out, we were able to put the ball in the end zone a few times."
Anthony Penalber was all over the place on defense, notching 3.5 tackles for loss including 1.5 sacks. Matt Canlas had a sack and had two tackles for loss.
McKibbins, the reigning SCIAC Male Athlete of the Week, had 232 yards and four touchdowns.
La Verne returns to action next Saturday at Pomona-Pitzer.