THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.— Cal Lutheran football dropped its third straight game as the Redlands Bulldogs piled up 249 rushing yards and claimed the Smudge Pot trophy on Saturday night 33-14.
After opening Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play 2-0, the Kingsmen are now 2-3 and 3-5 overall.
Cal Lutheran and Redlands first started playing for the Smudge Pot in 2012 and the Kingsmen won the trophy the first year. Since then, the Bulldogs have won the past seven years.
Redlands jumped out to a 13-0 lead at the break as Cal Lutheran kept the game close in the first half. The Bulldogs added to their lead in the third quarter as they returned an interception for a touchdown.
Cal Lutheran got on the board on the ensuing possession as Jackson Taylor busted through the defense for a 78-yard score. It is his longest rushing touchdown of the year.
After Redlands added another score, to push the lead back to 20, Cal Lutheran answered to cut the lead back to a two-score game. Cesar De Leon connected with Cameron Jones for a 45-yard touchdown as CLU trailed 27-14 with 10:53 left in the game.
The Kingsmen had a chance to get the lead to one-score as the defense held on their next try. However, an interception from De Leon led to a Redlands touchdown and the lead was at 33-14. That was all the soring as Redlands took the Smudge Pot trophy home.
Taylor averaged 12.1 yards per carry as he tallied 97 yards and the touchdown. Jones caught six passes with a long of 45 and the one score. De Leon was 14-for-27 as he threw for 191 yards, one touchdown, but three interceptions.
Ethan Pulley led the defense with 13 tackles, including 0.5 sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss and forced two fumbles. William Kelly matched Pulley with nine tackles and added one for a loss, Connor McDermott tallied 11 tackles, eight of which were solo and Zion Brown and Caleb Casimere both recorded nine. Casimere led the squad with two tackles for loss.
Redlands had the advantage for time of possession with 37:18 compared to 22:42, they out-rushed CLU 249 to 95 and recorded four forced turnovers to the Kingsmen's one.
Cal Lutheran will look to get back to .500 in SCIAC play next Saturday, Nov. 9. The Kingsmen will travel to La Verne with kickoff set for 5 p.m.
Box Score: UR 33, CLU 14
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director
