Football falls at George Fox

ORANGE, Calif. – The first play set the tone as the Chapman University football team ran away with a 56-13 victory over La Verne. The Panthers scored on their opening play and led 21-7 before the end of the first quarter.

Nathaniel Espinoza found Spencer Corona behind the defense for a 63-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage and the Panthers were off to the races. Corona broke a tackle and sprinted into the end zone for a 7-0 lead just seconds into the game.

Espinoza went on to go12-for-19 with four touchdowns in the victory. Marcos Reyes turned in an 89-yard night on just seven carries, averaging over 12 yards per rush. As a team, Chapman collected 495 yards of total offense on the way to a season-high scoring total. The ground game averaged 6.7 yards per rush while the passing game averaged over 20 yards per completion.

In addition to his 89 yards, Reyes found the end zone three times. He punched it in from a yard out in the first quarter. In the second, he capped a three-play drive with a 35-yard scamper into paydirt. He also scored from eight yards out in the fourth.

Espinoza found four different receivers for a touchdown. Tanner Mendoza kept his scoring streak alive with a 16-yard catch-and-run. Quentin Biebel hauled in a 34-yard TD catch and John Krall caught a long 43-yard pass for a TD.

Ryan Haith brought in his second interception of the season after a deflection from Cooper Ahlers sent the ball up in the air. The Panthers also had another four sacks in the game without giving one up. Kade Jordan had one of those sacks as part of his nine-tackle night. He dopped 2.5 tackles for loss as the Panthers caught the Leopards behind the line 11 times in the blowout.

La Verne scored once in the first and once in the second but never scored in the second half as Chapman's 42-13 lead continued to balloon into a 56-13 win.

Chapman will look to keep momentum into next week when they open the SCIAC schedule with a 7 p.m game againt Pomona-Pitzer on Homecoming night.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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