CMS Football Battles To End in 31-15 Loss to No. 23 Whitworth

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team last faced Whitworth in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, after its first-ever bid, and after putting up a tough fight early, the game got away from the Stags late as the Pirates won 48-6. Although CMS came up on the short end again in the rematch on Saturday, the storyline was different, as the Stags dug down after a slow start and were able to challenge the Pirates late, before settling for a 31-15 defeat at Zinda Field.

CMS slips to 2-1 with the loss after opening the season with two convincing wins over Pomona-Pitzer and Lewis & Clark, while Whitworth improves to 3-0 with the win.

The Stags trailed 14-0 midway through the first quarter, 24-0 at the half, and then fell behind 31-0 after the Pirates scored on their first second-half possession. From then on, though, CMS was able to make up some ground and pull to within 31-15 midway through the fourth quarter, and had the ball with a chance to put a miraculous comeback in the picture before Whitworth was able to hold on.

Anderson Cynkar caught a touchdown pass for the third straight game to start his collegiate career, this time from 14 yards with 28 seconds left in the third quarter to get the Stags on the scoreboard and cut the lead to 31-7. 

CMS then was able to cut the deficit even further when Jacob Fenton scored his first collegiate touchdown, scampering in from 13 yards out with 6:49 left in the game. Holden Thomas found Cynkar again for a two-point conversion to make it a two-possession game at 31-15. 

The Stags went for the onside kick, but the Pirates were able to secure possession. The CMS defense held Whitworth to three-and-out, though, with Emmett Thomas King III recording a tackle for a three-yard loss and Joey Asta breaking up a third-down pass, giving the Stags some life. After a Whitworth punt, they took over on their own nine-yard line and got it into Pirates territory at the 49, before turning it over on downs with 3:17 to go. 

The defense stepped up again to stuff Whitworth on 3rd-and-2 as Mason Hernandez and Dylan Porter combined on the tackle, but CMS was pinned back on its three and was only able to drive as far as its 46-yard line before turning it over with 1:21 remaining. 

Cynkar finished with six catches for 64 yards to lead the offense, while Thomas threw 53 times, totaling 260 yards of passing offense.

Stiles Satterlee led the defense with nine tackles, and also forced a fumble at the one-yard line that Asta recovered in the CMS end zone to deny Whitworth a scoring chance. Kirby Baynes also intercepted a pass in the end zone to stop another Pirates drive in the red zone. 

The Stags will be back in action next Saturday when they host Chapman in a non-SCIAC game, beginning at 1 p.m.