WHITTIER, Calif. - The Lewis & Clark football team hit the road for the third straight week, heading back to California for the second time this season, this time taking on the Whittier Poets. 

The Pioneers struck first but were unable to hold off a strong fourth quarter from the Poets who have played one less game than the Pios this season. 

Freshman Cody Rochon continues to grow from game to game, this time completing 35 of his 51 passes for a total of 263 yards, which included a touchdown to Michael Hawkins. Rochon was once again the Pioneers leading rusher with 98 yards on 26 carries. M. Hawkins led the Pioneer receivers with 86 yards on 13 receptions and a touchdown. 

Lewis & Clark bettered Whittier in the air with 291 net yards to the Poets 208. The ground game was fairly even, while the Pioneers total offense surpassed the Poets 409 to 352. 

Defensively for Lewis & Clark Andrew Traver finished the game with nine tackles, two of which were for a loss of eight yards. Stein Retzlaff ended the game with seven tackles, while Curtis Shirey had six, which included a tackle for a loss and a fumble recovery. 

After deferring at the start, the Pioneer defense shut down the Poets on their opening drive, allowing them just three plays for three yards. The offense did their part when they took the field steadily moving the chains. Starting at their own 38-yard line, Rochon connected with Josh Bocker and Jantzen Shinmoto for back-to-back complete passes. Facing third and 14 from his own 43, Rochon once again connected with Shinmoto, this time for a 30-yard catch and run that put the Pios in Poet territory. Lewis & Clark continued to push the Poets back with a handful of small yardage plays, eventually making it to the Whittier eight-yard line. Out of options the Pioneers opted for a field goal on fourth and three which was successfully put through the uprights by Colin Brown. 

Whittier capitalized with a field goal of its own on the next set of downs, tying the game at 3-3. The Lewis & Clark offense showed a lot of promise in the second quarter making it deep into Poet territory, but the young side was unable to find the end zone. 

With the game locked at 3-3 at halfttime, Lewis & Clark came out ready to go to start the third. Beginning with the ball first the Pioneers once again put together a solid possession that saw them move the chains 73 yards on 14 plays, culminating in a touchdown. M. Hawkins, who proved to be Rochon's go-to during the series, caught the ball from the freshman quarterback for a two-yard score with 8:22 on the clock. Brown followed up the drive with a good point after attempt. 

The Pioneers held control of the scoreboard through the remainder of the third quarter with the defense holding the Poets to a three and out for negative three yards on Whittier's opening drive. 

The fourth quarter saw fatigue begin to set in for the Pioneers. The Pioneers put together a good drive with 6:25 remaining that took them from their own 33-yard line to the Poet three, but unfortunately the Pios were forced to turn the ball over on downs. Lewis & Clark also strung together a good possession on the final series of the contest, but it was too late as the Poets had already put the game out of reach. 

The Pioneers have next week off and do not return to action until Saturday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. when they hit the road once again, this time taking on Puget Sound.