ORANGE, Calif. — Football picked up its first win of the season, in dominant fashion, handing Claremont-M-S its first loss of the year, 20-7, on Saturday, Oct. 7.

Chapman looked poised to score on the second play from scrimmage after a 51-yard return on the opening kickoff from Brandon Manzano, and a 42 yard Tyler Pacheco to Amir Adams connection put Chapman at the five. Pacheco ran it in on the next play, but it was called back for holding and the Panthers would turn it over later in the possession.

With offenses stagnant at the beginning of the game, Hunter Headlee took scoring matters into his own hands, picking off a pass from CMS quarterback Walter Kuhlenkamp and taking it 40 yards to the house. The Panthers wouldn't look back from there.

While the defense was lights out, the story of the night was Pacheco carrying Chapman's offense to victory with 141 rushing yards in his first career start. He and the Panthers took a 20-0 lead into halftime after capitalizing on another CMS mistake. 

After a pair of Ken Baierl 40+ yard field goals — breaking the Chapman record for made field goals in a career — the Stags had possession with 20 seconds remaining in the second quarter. A costly Kuhlenkamp fumble, pounced on by Alexander Terriquez, gave the Panthers and Pacheco the ball at the CMS 25. 

The very next play Pacheco took the snap and rushed 25 yards into the end zone to build the insurmountable Panther lead.

The Stags mounted a comeback in the final two quarters, but a 9:58 drive for Chapman including two third down conversions and one fourth down conversion, led straight down to the end of the game.

The much needed win for the Panthers keeps them within striking distance for the SCIAC title game, but they have work to do as they sit at 1-3 overall and 1-2 in conference play. CMS fell to 4-1 and 2-1 in SCIAC play.

Chapman will travel to Claremont next week to take on the Stags' neighbors, Pomona-Pitzer at 7 p.m.