FOREST GROVE, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College football charged back from a 24-point deficit late in the third quarter to have a chance to cut the deficit to just three points late in the fourth, only for host Pacific University to hold on for a 34-24 win in Saturday's Oregon Cup game. 
 
THE BASICS
 
Pacific 34, Lewis & Clark 24
(Lewis & Clark 1-1) 
(Pacific 1-1) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Lewis & Clark scored the final 14 points of the game and had the ball inside the Boxers five-yard line with 80 seconds to play, only for the Pioneers to fumble for the seventh time in the game - which put the contest out of reach. 
 
It was a frustrating day for the Pioneers. Despite losing four fumbles and giving up three touchdowns of 65 yards or longer, Lewis & Clark found themselves within striking distance for the entire first half and again late in the fourth quarter. 
 
Offensively, first year quarterback Oa Kamakawiwoole led the Pioneers three passers by going 6-8 for a career-high 125 yards. Kamakawiwoole added a four-yard touchdown run and six total yards on the ground. Senior Trey Morris went 9-14 for 56 passing yards and fellow senior JT Willis added 17 yards on 4-7 passing and threw his first collegiate touchdown pass. 
 
The Pioneers rushed for 182 yards on the ground thanks to seven different players. Sophomore Chili Stephens led the team for a second-straight game with 18 rushes for 64 yards. Junior Isaac Glover added five carries for 40 yards and Willis (35 yards) and senior Devon Guest (26 yards) each finished with over 25 yards. 
 
Guest paced Lewis & Clark with five catches and added 46 yards in the air. Fellow senior Desmon Holton led the team in receiving yards with 50 on two catches and Ben Burnham chipped in two catches for 43 yards. Sophomore tight end Julius Walker corralled his first touchdown of the season on a line of three catches for 18 yards. 
 
Defensively, Charlie Valencia made a team-high six solo stops and nine total tackles. Sophomore Logan Wacker racked up seven tackles and junior Josh Arcayena was just behind him with six tackles. Andrew Baum and Leo Kessler each posted blocked kicks, Conner Hilberg registered the Pioneers lone sack and Hilberg and Thomas Reagan each recorded forced fumbles. 
 
On the opposite sideline, Pacific junior running back Brody Bantolina, who led the Northwest Conference in rushing as a sophomore, posted the best game of his career. Bantolina rushed 22 times for 256 yards and two scores and added a 31-yard kickoff return. The Boxers ended the contest with 361 rushing yards on 41 carries. 
Lucas Voss capped off the first drive of the game with a 23-yard rushing touchdown to finish off an 11-play drive. Kessler blocked the ensuing PAT to keep the score at 6-0. 
 
After seeing their first drive end due to a lost fumble, the Pioneers defense came up with a huge stop on fourth and five on the next Boxers possession. Morris led the Pioneers down the field inside the five, before Pacific recorded a big stop on third and one from the three to force a Thien Hoang 20-yard field goal. 
 
Pacific answered right back and made it 13-3 on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Braeden Titus to Josiah Chaffin. 
 
Lewis & Clark would see two more drives in the second quarter end due to lost fumbles but the score would stay the same thanks to two missed field goals from the Boxers. 
 
The scoring picked up in a big way to start the second half. After a tremendous 49-yard punt from sophomore Mateo Maehara pinned the Boxers inside their own one-yard line, Bantolina registered a 99-yard touchdown run on the next play to make it 20-3. 
 
On the ensuing kickoff, Lahusky recorded his second career kickoff return, when he took the ball back 96 yards for a score to get Lewis & Clark back within 20-10. 
 
Pacific capped off back-to-back-to-back touchdown plays with a 94-yard kickoff return from Zion Booker. In total, the two teams combined for 289 yards on three consecutive plays and three touchdowns in 31 seconds. 
 
The Boxers had the ball inside Lewis & Clark's red zone on their next possession with a chance to make it a four-score game. Reagan stripped Bantolina at the five-yard line and Logan Herman jumped on the fumble.
 
Bantolina added his second touchdown of the game with 2:33 left in the third quarter to push the hosts advantage to 34-10. 
 
Lewis & Clark answered back with their first touchdown drive of the game. Willis guided Lewis & Clark on a five-play, 64-yard drive that included a 26-yard rush from Willis and 29 yards from Glover. Willis capped off the drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to Glover to make it 34-18 with seven seconds left in the third quarter. 
 
After three-straight, three-and-outs between the two teams to start the fourth, Kamakawiwoole led Lewis & Clark down the field on a four-play, 59-yard drive. Kamakawiwoole found Holton for a 36-yard reception and then scampered in from four yards out to cut the deficit to 34-24 with 8:15 remaining. 
 
The Pioneers defense allowed a 61-yard rush to Bantolina on the first play of the next drive but then limited Voss to nine yards on four carries - including a huge stop on fourth and one at the Pioneers five-yard line.
 
Lewis & Clark nearly drove 95 yards down the field to get back within three. The Pioneers used big plays from Burnham (41-yard reception), Holton (14-yard reception) and Lahusky (11-yard reception) to get to the Boxers 17-yard line at the two-minute warning. After another fumble that Kamakawiwoole was able to pounce on, he found Guest over the middle for a first-down inside the five-yard line. Guest raced towards the end zone but was stripped of the ball and the hosts recovered in the end zone for a touchback. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Lahusky finished the game with 163 all-purpose yards including 131 kickoff return yards. 
• Both teams struggled to convert on third downs. Lewis & Clark went 1-11 on third down but a perfect 2-2 on fourth downs. Pacific finished 2-10 on third down and 2-4 on fourth downs. 
• Maehara who was making his collegiate punting debut as a sophomore, finished with five punts for 147 yards including a 49-yard punt. 
• With his five points on Saturday, Hoang is one point shy of tying Bart Brown (1989-91) for fifth place in program history for points by a kicker (84). 
• After his big game, Valencia leads the Pioneers defense with 14 tackles through two games. The junior recorded 11 tackles in six games as a sophomore and missed his first year due to injury. 

WHAT'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will wrap up non-conference play on Saturday, when they host NAIA school Montana Western at 1 p.m.