BOX SCORE

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Lewis & Clark football team played its first home game of the season on Saturday, taking down the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens 31-13. The Pioneers improve to 2-0 on the season, while the Sagehens fall to 0-2.

The Pioneers out threw the Sagehens 224 to 190, while also picking up 144 yards on the ground compared to Pomona-Pitzer's 61.

Pomona-Pitzer won the coin toss prior to the start of the game and chose to defer, giving the Pioneers the ball on the opening drive.

Lewis & Clark wasted no time getting started putting up seven points on the drive, that consisted of nine plays for 61-yards. Keith Welch held the ball the majority of the drive, capping it off with a 14-yard touchdown run followed by a Simon Monley point after.

Pomona-Pitzer made its way into the Pioneer end of the field on its opening drive, but were soft on the ball on second and five, with Clay Israelson forcing a fumble that was recovered by the Pios Evy VandenEkart.  Despite the defensive effort the Pioneers would not be able to capitalize on the take away giving right back to the Sagehens. 

Receiving the ball back on their own 11-yard line, the Sagehens would not be able to get anything going after nearly six minutes of possession, forcing them to punt the ball back to the Pios.

In their opening drive of the second quarter, the Pioneers marched down field but found themselves trapped on the Pomona 28-yard line facing third and 16. Monley stepped in to make a 29-yard field goal attempt to put the Pios ahead 10-0.

Both sides would struggle to get their offenses going after the Pioneer field goal. With 52 seconds remaining in the half the Pioneers played the hurry up, running three plays for 48-yards resulting in a Jake Costantino touchdown. Welch found Costantino down the middle of the field from 20-yards out, putting the Pios ahead 17-0 heading into the locker room.

The second half did not start off well for the Sagehens, with Jon Bielawicz sacking the quarterback on the first play of the half. A few plays later Pomona-Pitzer found itself punting the ball away. Taking over on their own 24-yard line, the Pioneers slowly moved the ball down the field with some help from penalties, eventually resulting in a Welch/Evan Stanbro hookup. Stanbro collected a pass from Welch for an 18-yard score.

Welch put the Pioneers up 31-0 on a three-yard carry with 6:17 to play in the third quarter, which was followed by yet another successful kick by Monley.

Peter Ianelli put the Sagehens on the board in the fourth quarter with a 13-yard pass to Yoshi Rothman resulting in a touchdown. Pomona-Pitzer earned another score moments later on an Ianelli pass to Travis Muraoka, but the Sagehens could not convert the point after making it a 31-13 game.

The Pioneers would hold onto the ball during their remaining possession letting the clock run out.

Welch finished the game 11-18 passing for 189 yards and two touchdowns. The junior quarterback also rushed for a team-high 69 yards, scoring twice. Costantino was the teams leading receiver with 102 yards to go with his touchdown, while Stanbro had two receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Lamar Curry led the team with seven tackles and an interception, while Joe Kopp and Chuck Krause each had six tackles. Kopp ended the day with two tackles for a loss and a breakup. Josh Cena came up with two interceptions for L&C, while Israelson forced a fumble that VandenEkart recovered.

The Pioneers return to action on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. when they host Macalester.