Chapman Secures SCIAC Football Championship with Win over CMS

ORANGE, Calif. - One year after the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team clinched a SCIAC Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a win over Chapman, the Panthers returned the favor by securing a title of their own with a 41-17 win over the Stags on Saturday evening at Chapman Stadium.

With the win, the 16th-ranked Panthers remain undefeated at 8-0 overall and 6-0 in SCIAC play. CMS sees its record slip to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the conference with the loss. 

First-year quarterback Hank Harvego completed six of his 11 passes for the Stags, while first-year running back John Willard had nine carries for 63 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown run. Sophomore safety Stiles Satterlee had a big day defensively for CMS with 11 solo tackles, while first-year safety Michael Colangelo had nine tackles (eight solo). 

Chapman led 27-0 at the half, getting off to a quick start by recovering a CMS fumble on the Stags' first possession and using the short field to go 39 yards in six plays to score on a 15-yard run from Marcos Reyes. The Panthers had a more deliberate drive to score their second touchdown, converting three third-down plays to go 49 yards in 10 plays and take a 13-0 lead on the second play of the second quarter. 

Duncan Heger picked up an interception for the Panthers at the CMS 44-yard line and again the Panthers were able to get a touchdown on a drive that started on the Stag half of the field, moving ahead 20-0 on a Tanner Mendoza rush with 9:26 left in the half. The Panthers then went 81 yards for their fourth rushing touchdown of the half to take a 27-0 lead into the break. 

Sophomore kicker Alessando Maiuolo got CMS on the board in the second half after Colangelo returned a kickoff 85 yards to the Chapman eight-yard line. CMS was unable to punch the ball in the end zone, and Maiuolo connected from 24 yards out. Nico Ragas then ran back the ensuing kickoff 94 yards to the CMS end zone with 10:04 left in the third quarter for the final Chapman score of the day. 

Senior Garrett Cheadle capped off a 12-play, 85-yard drive for the first CMS touchdown of the day on the first play of the fourth quarter. Senior running back Christian Curcio started the drive with a 26-yard carry, and Willard then carried four straight times for 19 yards. Harvego completed a pass to Cheadle on 3rd-and-7 for a first down, and Curcio had a six-yard carry on 3rd-and-2 at the Chapman 10 to get the ball down to the four-yard line. Three plays later, Cheadle was able to get it over the goal line to make the score 41-10. 

Junior cornerback Cade Moffatt broke up a third-down pass to force Chapman to punt, and Harvego found junior wide receiver Carter Henderson twice in a row for 31 yards. Willard then had a 13-yard run to the Chapman 28, and after an incomplete pass, Willard ran it in from 28 yards out to close out the scoring. 

CMS will be back in action next weekend when it faces Pomona-Pitzer at Zinda Field in the annual Sixth Street Rivalry game to close out the 2019 season.