CMC75 Moments: From 1-8 to 8-1, 1986 Football Wins SCIAC Title
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moment, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
1986 Football: Stags 28, La Verne 23 (SCIAC Title Clincher)
There was heavy drama heading into the final day of the regular season in the battle for the 1986 SCIAC title. After back-to-back shutouts over Pomona-Pitzer and Redlands, CMS was locked in a three-way tie with Occidental and La Verne at 3-1 at the top of the standings, and faced the Leopards with the winner guaranteeing itself at least a share of the league crown.
La Verne got the early upper hand and took a 17-7 lead in the second quarter on a 74-yard touchdown pass, but fullback Tom Jozwiak and quarterback Mike Pembroke had touchdown runs to close out the half and put the Stags ahead 21-17 at the break. Pembroke added his second rushing touchdown in the third quarter to make it a 28-17 lead, and after the Leopards closed to 28-23 with a touchdown 4:59 left in the third, nobody could score the rest of the way as CMS held on to capture the conference title, a remarkable turnaround after finishing 1-8 in 1985 (later changed to 2-7 when Occidental forfeited its win).
Chris Dabrow added 127 rushing yards and a touchdown to set single-season CMS records with 1265 yards and 16 rushing touchdowns (the TD record still stands).
The news got doubly good when the score came in that Occidental had dropped its game at Whittier, with the Poets winning on a 17-yard touchdown pass with just 22 seconds left, meaning that CMS finished alone atop the league standings, and at 8-1 overall, matching 1970 for the best record in program history. Dabrow was named the SCIAC Player of the Year and was joined on the first-team All-SCIAC team by Chris Eaves, Brian Kent, Rick Hatfield and Robbie Kay, while Greg Jordan, Jon Hawkins, and Bryan Sparling and Jeff Sullivan were on the second team.
CMS would go on to tie for first in 1987 with a 4-0-1 league mark to repeat as champions, while Dabrow broke his own CMS rushing record with 1486 yards, which also still stands. Dabrow, Hawkins, Kent, Greg Jordan, and Mark Hoyt were first-team All-SCIAC in 1987, while second-team honors went to David Strikkers, Dan O'Keefe, Tony Gray, Mike McCorkle and Rory Wilson.
Chris Dabrow:
It was coming down to the wire with the last game of the year and we knew what was at stake. I think what gets missed with the focus and all of attention we got on offense was our defense won that game. They put up a defensive stand with La Verne inside the 20-yard line at the end of the game, and there was a fourth-down play where we had a key sack to seal the victory (I want to say it was Bryan Sparling or Brian Kent). It was definitely a big team win. I guess that's what set us apart that year is we were able to pull together and win some of these games when the year before although we were somewhat loaded with seniors, we went 1-8. Then we turned around in '86 and made a run for the championship and then later that night – after the La Verne game – we found out that Oxy went down to Whittier.
What set this season apart from past seasons was that it was a group of guys that stayed around in the summer and worked out. The 1-8 season didn't sit well with us returning. There were a handful of guys from Orange County from some pretty successful high school programs and so we just took it upon ourselves to work hard. We weren't flashy, we were a ball control offense. I had a really good line. They weren't huge but they were good. If they got me five yards, my job was to get eight. I was more of an inside runner and took some hits so when I look back on that, our O-line was pretty good and our defense was pretty good and that gets overlooked a lot of times when we get together, although the defense doesn't let us forget that.
We certainly knew we could improve upon the 1-8 season. Some things changed. We went from a passing, spread offense to a running game. I don't think we knew we had something real special until the first game when we beat up Redlands (a 27-10 win) and we had a lot of success running the ball and then it just built from there.
Probably the best part of this was the team was all together after the La Verne game when we found out that we had won the outright championship, so that was pretty cool.
1986 Football Roster
Head Coach: John Zinda
Assistant Coaches: Mike Maynard, Pat Murphy, Mike Toomay, Hank Johnson, Chris Parkson
Kevin Arnold (Fr., WR, CMC)
Geoff Bagatelos (So., DB, CMC)
Jon Bagatelos (So., DB/WR, CMC)
Dale Bathum (Jr., RB, CMC)
Drew Buccino (So., DB, CMC)
Matthew Burroughs (Fr., QB, CMC)
Mel Carlisle (Fr., WR, CMC)
Darin Carlsen (Fr., WR, CMC)
Mike Carroll (Sr., OG, CMC)
Robert Cole (So., OT, CMC)
Chris Dabrow (Jr., RB, CMC)
Eric Driggers (Sr., DL, CMC)
Chris Eaves (Sr., OT, CMC)
Jim Faley (So., LB, CMC)
Dan Hanesworth (Sr., RB, HMC)
Richard Hatfield (Sr., LB, CMC)
Jon Hawkins (Jr., C, CMC)
Matt Hobbs (Fr., LB, CMC)
Mark Hoyt (Jr., LB, CMC)
Greg Jordan (So., C, CMC)
Tom Jozwiak (Sr., LB/FB, CMC)
Robbie Kay (Sr., DB, CMC)
Brian Kent (Jr., DL, CMC)
Ken Krause (Fr., OT, CMC)
Jon Linscott (So., DL, CMC)
Frank Maramuto (So., OT, CMC)
Tom Marsh (So., WR, CMC)
D'Andre Maxey (Fr., DB, CMC)
Michael McCorkle (Fr., DB, CMC)
Lance McKee (Sr., TE, CMC)
Paul Neault (Jr., DL, CMC)
Kevin O'Connor (Fr., LB, CMC)
Dan O'Keefe (So., TE, CMC)
Mike Pembroke (So., QB, CMC)
John Poulos (Sr., LB, CMC)
Steven Pratt (Jr., LB, CMC)
John Reilly (Sr., LB, CMC)
Joel Reynolds (Fr., OG, CMC)
Michael Shin (Fr., LB, CMC)
Michael Skeate (Sr., P/K, HMC)
Colin Smyth (Fr., DB/WR, CMC)
Bryan Sparling (Jr., DL, CMC)
David Strikkers (So., OG, CMC)
Jeff Sullivan (Sr., DB, CMC)
Peter Thum (Fr., OG, CMC)
Patrick Van Duser (Fr., DB, HMC)
Rodney Wilson (Fr., QB, CMC)
Eric Wingfield (So., P/K, HMC)
1987 Football Roster
Head Coach: John Zinda
Assistant Coaches: Mike Maynard, Pat Murphy, Mike Toomay, Hank Johnson, Chris Parkson
Geoff Bagatelos (So., DB, CMC)
Jon Bagatelos (So., DB/WR, CMC)
Dale Bathum (Sr., RB, CMC)
Tim Bray (Fr., WR, CMC)
Drew Buccino (Jr., DB, CMC)
Darin Carlsen (So., WR, CMC)
Robert Cole (Jr., OT, CMC)
Chris Dabrow (Sr., RB, CMC)
Louie Diaz (Fr., DB, CMC)
Derek Elmore (Jr., DB/WR, CMC)
Jim Faley (Jr., LB, CMC)
Tony Ferrentino (Fr., DB, CMC)
Tony Gray (Jr., LB, CMC)
Chris Guay (Fr., OL, HMC)
Jon Hawkins (Sr., C, CMC)
Matthew Helsius (Fr., LB, CMC)
Matt Hobbs (So., LB, CMC)
Mark Hoyt (Sr., LB, CMC)
Greg Jordan (Jr., C, CMC)
Brian Kent (Sr., DL, CMC)
Andrew Kully (So., P, CMC)
Chunyop Lee (Fr., P, CMC)
Gregory Lesser (Fr., OL, CMC)
Jeff Liebert (Fr., WR, CMC)
Jon Linscott (Jr., DL, CMC)
Frank Maramuto (Jr., OT, CMC)
Tom Marsh (Sr., WR, CMC)
Michael McCorkle (So., DB, CMC)
Sean McQuown (Fr., K, CMC)
Forrest Nabors (So., LB, CMC)
Paul Neault (Sr., DL, CMC)
Dan O'Keefe (Jr., TE, CMC)
Bill Owsley (Jr., WR, CMC)
Reed Pangborn (Fr., RB, CMC)
Tony Patti (Jr., OL, CMC)
Mike Pembroke (Jr., QB, CMC)
Steven Pratt (Sr., LB, CMC)
Dan Privett (Fr., LB, CMC)
George Racette (Fr., OL, HMC)
Joel Reynolds (So., OG, CMC)
Brian Roberds (Jr., DB, HMC)
Jason Rockhill (Fr., LB, CMC)
Mark Ross (Jr., DL, CMC)
Michael Shin (So, DL, CMC)
Colin Smyth (So., TE, CMC)
Drea Solan (Sr., WR, CMC)
Bryan Sparling (Sr., DL, CMC)
David Strikkers (Jr., OG, CMC)
Peter Thum (So., OG, CMC)
Michael Van Driel (Fr., DB, HMC)
Patrick Van Duser (So., DB, HMC)
Trey Wafer (Fr., C, CMC)
Stan Wilcoxen (Fr., WR/DB, CMC)
Rory Wilson (So., LB, CMC)
Pete Young (Fr., TE, CMC)