Big-Play Defense Leads CMS Football to 28-6 Win over Chapman

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Kirby Baynes opened the scoring with a 72-yard interception return for a touchdown, and Michael Colangelo and Ben Cooney forced key fumbles inside opposite five-yard lines in the second half, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team captured an emphatic 28-6 win over Chapman on Saturday afternoon at Zinda Field.

Justin Edwards paced the Stags offense with 156 yards rushing on 26 carries and two touchdowns. With the win, CMS moves to 4-1 on the year and 2-0 in the conference as it establishes itself as a strong contender for the SCIAC title in the early part of the league schedule. Chapman, which was averaging 37 points a game coming in but was held to just two field goals by the CMS defense, falls to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in league play. 

The Stags led 14-6 at the half, and the Panthers appeared to be ready to score a touchdown and give themselves a chance to tie it up with a two-point conversion late in the third quarter. However, on 2nd-and-2 from the eight-yard line, Colangelo delivered a hit that popped the ball loose at the five, and it came free into the end zone where it was recovered by Jacob O'Connell for a CMS touchback, keeping the score 14-6. 

The Stags then drove into Chapman territory, but were forced to punt, and Samuel Brewer pinned Chapman at its own five-yard line. After Caleb Chang batted down a pass to force second down, Cooney came up with another big forced fumble as he knocked the ball loose where it was recovered by Joe Posthauer at the one-yard line. The CMS offense then took the field, and one play and one yard later, had a touchdown from Edwards to make it a 21-6 game. 

CMS forced Chapman into a three-and-out and the Stags were pinned on their own one-yard line after a punt, but drove 99 yards in 10 plays to seal the win. Edwards ran for 46 yards to get the ball up to the midfield stripe, and then capped off the drive with two straight five-yard runs after a pass from Walter Kuhlenkamp to Daniel Rosenberg on 3rd-and-6 brought the ball down to the 10-yard line. 

Cooney then helped finish off the final Chapman comeback efforts with an interception at the one-yard line with 3:41 to play, and the Stags ran out the clock. 

An interception also started the scoring for CMS, as Chapman went for it on 4th-and-13 from the CMS 37-yard line, and Kirby Baynes stepped in front of the pass at the 28 and returned it the distance for his second pick-six of the season. Chapman actually had the ball for the entire first quarter on offense (other than the 10 seconds Baynes had it) but trailed 7-0 going into the second quarter.

Ken Baleri connected on a 43-yard field goal to pull Chapman with 7-3, after Michael Houk had a quarterback hurry on third down. The Panthers got the ball back with a short field with a chance to take the lead, but Colangelo stuffed a run on 2nd-and-4 from the eight-yard line and Jack Holden broke up a pass in the end zone. 

The Stags extended their lead to 14-6 with 1:50 left in the half, when Brian Loudermilk Jr. got around the right edge and ran in from 32 yards out. Chapman tried to get something going with its two-minute drill, but Joey Asta came up with a key sack after the Panthers crossed into CMS territory to help kill the drive and allow CMS to keep its 14-6 lead going into the break. 

Christopher Wicke had 11 tackles to lead CMS, which has still not allowed a touchdown at home after shutting out Whittier in its only other contest at Zinda Field this year. Stiles Satterlee had nine tackles and Colangelo added eight, while Cooney had six tackles to go with his two caused turnovers, and Asta had five tackles and two sacks. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Cal Lutheran for a 1 p.m. contest at Zinda Field.