CMS Football Picks Up Dominant 27-0 Road Win over Cal Lutheran

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Justin Edwards rushed 37 times for 229 yards and two touchdowns, and the CMS defense held Cal Lutheran to only 143 yards of total offense to get the shutout as the Stags earned a 27-0 road win over the Kingsmen on Saturday evening at William Roland Stadium.

With the win, CMS improves its record to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the SCIAC as it stays in the hunt for at least a share of the league title with the win. Cal Lutheran slips to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in conference play with the loss. 

Edwards went over 200 yards for the second time this season, after also rushing for 204 yards in a 29-21 non-league win over Chapman. Teammate Jacob Fenton almost joined him last week against Whittier, but settled for 188 yards on 18 carries, behind a Stag offensive line that continues to dominate in the trenches. Although the running game did most of the damage, quarterback Zach Fogel completed all five of his passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns, including a 60-yard pass to tight end Nick Parise and a 28-yard scoring strike to Anderson Cynkar. 

The offense was only half the story in the Cal Lutheran win, though, as the defense dominated on its side of the ball to earn the shutout, the first for the Stags since a 37-0 victory over Occidental in 2017. Dylan Porter had 14 tackles for CMS, nine of which were solo and 2.5 of which were for losses, while Michael Colangelo, Ben Cooney and Jacob O'Connell each had interceptions. 

CMS set the tone right out of chute with a quick seven-play, 89-yard drive on the first possession of the game. Edwards carried for nine yards, Cynkar had a 23-yard rush, and Edwards carried for 25 yards to the Cal Lutheran 30. The Stags stayed with the hot hand from there, as Edwards carried three more times for nine yards, 15 yards and a six-yard touchdown to make it a 7-0 CMS lead just 3:47 into the game. 

Cal Lutheran moved the ball just into CMS territory trying to answer on its first possession, but Stiles Satterlee broke up a pass, Ryan Enney and Mason Hernandez stuffed a run for only two yards, and an incomplete pass forced the Kingsmen into a 4th-and-8 at the CMS 44, and they punted it away. 

The punt pinned CMS deep in its own end, and a 15-yard Edwards rush gave the Stags some breathing room, but they ended up having to punt it back. The Kingsmen drove to the CMS 29, but Colangelo stopped the drive with an interception on 3rd-and-11. Cal Lutheran forced a quick turnover to get the ball back on the CMS 35, but the Stags again came up with the big takeaway to preserve the 7-0 lead, this time with O'Connell earning his fourth interception of the season on the CMS 12-yard line. 

The Stags then went on their second long drive of the game, going 88 yards in 11 plays. Edwards had a pair of 11-yard runs, and then an 18-yard carry to the Cal Lutheran 37. On fourth-and-one at the Cal Lutheran 28, the Stags went for it, and Fogel found Cynkar for the touchdown to put CMS up 14-0 with 3:47 left in the half. The Kingsmen then got into CMS territory for the fourth time, but the Stags earned their third interception of the half, this time with Cooney picking it off with 54 seconds left to preserve the 14-0 lead going into the break. 

In the second half, the Stag defense carried the momentum over by holding Cal Lutheran to a quick three-and-out, with Christopher Wicke and Colangelo breaking up passes. The second and third drives for the Kingsmen had similar results, and after the third one, CMS used a one-play, 60-yard drive as Fogel found Parise for a touchdown to make it a 21-0 CMS lead with 3:22 left in the third. 

Colangelo then ended the next Cal Lutheran drive with a sack, and the Stags marched 54 yards in 10 plays, with Edwards carrying the ball 10 straight times, the last a one-yard plunge for his second score of the game with 9:27 left to make it 27-0.

The shutout was the last thing at stake, as Cal Lutheran put together its only drive of the second half to get down to the CMS 30 with just over five minutes to play. However, Porter and Enney combined on a sack, and then Chris Wicke had another one to force Cal Lutheran back into its own territory with a 4th-and-31, which ended the final Kingsmen threat. 

CMS held Cal Lutheran to just 2.5 yards per play, with the Kingsmen needing 57 plays to get their 143 yard total. Cynkar had four catches for 52 yards and a touchdown, giving him a touchdown in six of his first seven collegiate games (four receiving, two rushing). 

The Stags will be back in action next weekend when they return home to face La Verne for a 1 p.m. contest at Zinda Field.