SPOKANE, Wash. – The Chapman University football team fell 35-28 at No. 20 Whitworth. Gio Ursino rushed for over 100 yards for the second consecutive game but the Panthers dropped to 1-1 on the season.
The Panthers could not overcome some miscues that ultimately helped Whitworth launch ahead after Chapman took the initial lead. Of Whitworth's five touchdown drives, three covered 31 yards or less as the Pirates were set up with short fields multiple times.
A blocked punt in the second quarter set up the Pirates on the five yard line and they scored on their first play to take a 14-7 lead. An interception in the third resulted in a two-play, 31-yard drive into the end zone for a 28-14 lead. In the third, the Pirates returned a punt down to the 25 to set up another two-play march into the end zone.
The Chapman defense held the Pirates to just 123 offensive yards in the second half and only allowed the Pirates to score on the two short drives. On the other end, the Panthers outgained the Pirates 441-285. However, 14 penalties for over-100 yards, two turnovers and a blocked kick proved too much to overcome.
Ursino ran for 135 yards and 19 carries and a touchdown while Kade Zimmerman caught five passes for two touchdowns. He put the Panthers on the board in the first with a 20-yard catch and brought the Panthers back within a touchdown in the last two minutes with another 24-yard touchdown. Quentin Biebel caught a 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Alexander Terriquez led the defense with nine tackles while Kyle Sieben had six tackles, including two for a loss. Terriquez led a stout Panther defense against the Whitworth run. The Pirates managed just 77 yards on the ground. The defense came up with a big stop in the first quarter after a fumble put the Pirates on the five. Zecariah Dunham came up with two big stops up the middle on first and second down. Terriquez and Kade Jordan combined for a stop on the one on third down and Jordan brought down the running back at the line of scrimmage on fourth down to keep Whitworth off the board.
Luke Peterman followed with a 31-yard run on third down to get the Panthers some breathing run and then led Chapman on a 10-play, 99-yard drive to open the scoring with a 20-yard TD toss to Zimmerman.
The Panthers head to Redlands next week to open SCIAC play with a Sun-Surf crossover game at 7 p.m.
