CMS Football Picks Up Seventh Win with 30-13 Victory over Cal Lutheran

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Justin Edwards ran for 122 yards and two touchdowns to go over 3000 yards for his career, and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team hit seven wins for the sixth time in the last eight seasons as it captured a 30-13 road decision at Cal Lutheran on Saturday night.

With the win, CMS moves to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the SCIAC, but missed out on a chance to play in the SCIAC Championship game as Chapman was able to win over La Verne to finish tied with the Stags in the Surf Division, with the Panthers earning the tiebreaker. CMS instead will close out the season next Saturday at Redlands as the two second-place teams will meet in the finale. 

Edwards came into the game with 2885 yards and passed the 3000 yard mark on a 16-yard run in the fourth quarter before finishing the game with 3007. He becomes only the third running back in program history to reach that milestone, joining Ryan Gocong (4044 yards from 1999-02) and Chris Dabrow (3276 yards from 1984-87). 

Cal Lutheran led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, but Walter Kuhlenkamp found Ben Kim for an eight-yard touchdown pass with 9:08 left in the half to give CMS the lead for good. After Quintin Craig blocked a punt, Edwards scored on his first touchdown of the day from 18 yards out to push it to 14-3, and Rich Brutto capped off the half with an 18-yard field goal to make it a 17-3 lead at the break. 

The Kingsmen closed to within 17-10 and got within the red zone with a chance to tie, but CMS was able to get the stop and force Cal Lutheran into a 32-yard field goal to make it a 17-13 game with 3:03 left in the third. Kuhlenkamp then came through with a huge 45-yard pass to Anderson Cynkar down to the Cal Lutheran 10-yard line. Edwards ran for seven yards on the final play of the third quarter, and then picked up the final three on the first play of the fourth to put CMS back ahead 24-13. 

Joey Asta finished off the next Kingsmen drive with a third-down sack. Edwards had big runs of 26 yards and 16 yards to get CMS down to the Cal Lutheran five-yard line, but the Kingsmen defense held and the Stags settled for a 24-yard Brutto field goal. 

On the first play of the next drive, though, Chase Cioe came through with an interception and ran it back 40 yards to the Cal Lutheran two-yard line. CMS was stuffed on three plays, but Brutto made it a three-score lead by kicking his third field goal from 21 yards out with 3:33 left to seal it. 

Kuhlenkamp finished 16-23 passing for 185 yards in the win, while Asta had eight tackles and a sack and Emmett Thomas King III had five tackles and a 19-yard sack.

CMS will head to Redlands next weekend with a chance to tie the program record with its eighth win of the season.