Football Narrowly Misses Win
by Colin Smith

Last Saturday, in their first home game of the season, the Oberlin College football team lost in the final two minutes to Pomona-Pitzer 25-21, before an enthusiastic crowd of 1,026. First-year quarterback Ryan Squatrito threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns and junior wide receiver Ricky Valenzuela had two touchdown catches and 113 yards receiving in the loss.
On Sept. 14, NCAC president Robert Oden announced that the conference would cancel all conference games through Sunday, Sept. 16, in the wake of this week’s tragic events. Numerous athletic events had already been canceled prior to the announcement, but the conference had initially planned to go ahead with all games on Saturday. The Yeomen were scheduled to play their first conference game against Earlham in Richmond, Indiana. Since the NCAC’s initial decision the NFL decided to cancel its weekend’s games as well.
“We need to be sensitive to everything that’s going on,” head coach Jeff Ramsey said prior to the latest announcement. Ramsey said that three players had been affected directly by the tragedy, but that most of the team “came to practice to release” during this past week. He cited an e-mail from one of those players directly affected, thanking the team and coaches “for being my ‘family’ when I needed it most.”
“I think playing is all part of the healing process,” Ramsey said of the initial decision to play Saturday’s game, “I know our kids want to play.”
In the Pomona contest, the Yeomen seemed in control from the start. After forcing Pomona to punt on the game’s opening drive, the Yeomen drove 82 yards in nine plays, capped by 35-yard touchdown pass from Squatrito to Valenzuela, giving Oberlin a 7-0 lead at 8:02 in the first.
The Yeomen came right back on their next possession, driving 79 yards in six plays. Squatrito connected with first-year wide receiver Zach Lewis for 42 yards and then with Valenzuela for 20 yards and Oberlin’s second touchdown. Oberlin led 14-0 after the first quarter.
The offense began to falter in the second; in their two games this season, the Yeomen haven’t scored in the second or third quarters. After Oberlin received a Pomona punt at their own 32, first-year running back Chris Handley fumbled at the 35 and Pomona recovered. Four minutes later, Pomona pushed across their first score on a three-yard rush.
Oberlin went into half-time with an impressive 14-7 lead.
Coming out of halftime, neither team could generate much offense. In the third quarter, Oberlin was sacked once, and Pomona twice, by sophomore Linebacker Adam Polisei and Senior Linebacker Sam Hobi on consecutive plays. Oberlin’s defense came out strong to start the fourth, forcing Pomona to go three-and-out early in the quarter, as members of the crowd began chanting, “One more quarter,” in anticipation of what they hoped would be Oberlin’s first win in 41 games.
But the Yeomen offense was only on the field for 1:45 before the defense had to come back on. Starting at their own 11, Pomona drove for 88 yards to the Oberlin 1, 82 of them rushing. After rushing one yard for the touchdown, Pomona appeared poised to tie the game, but senior defensive back Tim Salazar, who blocked two kicks in the opener, blocked the PAT attempt, preserving Oberlin’s lead 14-13.
The Yeomen offense came back to life on the next drive, converting on two very important first downs. On third and seven at the Oberlin 44, Squatrito rushed for 19 yards. Shortly after on a third and three, Squatrito escaped heavy pressure and found Valenzuela for four yards. On the next play Squatrito connected with Lewis for Oberlin’s third touchdown of the game and a 21-13 lead with 7:04 remaining.
Pomona returned the ensuing kickoff for 20 yards and then rushed for 22 yards in four plays and completed an 11-yard pass to move to the Oberlin 34. The Yeomen defense came up big on the next two plays, allowing Pomona only one yard, but on third and nine, a pass interference penalty cost Oberlin, giving Pomona an automatic first down. Three plays later, Pomona was in the end zone, cutting the lead to 21-19. On the two-point conversion attempt, the Yeomen forced an incomplete pass to maintain the lead.
That brought the Oberlin offense back onto the field with only 3:47 remaining.
“[If] we make two first downs [there], it’s over,” Ramsey said. “We’re young enough not to understand that.”
Instead, the offense went three and out, ending with a 13-yard sack of Squatrito. Senior punter Bob Montag kicked from his own end zone to Joseph Cappola of Pomona, who evaded several tackles in returning the punt 43 yards for a touchdown and Pomona’s first lead of the game with 1:59. Again, the two-point attempt failed, but Oberlin still needed a touchdown.
Squatrito came out strong on the next drive, completing passes of 11 and nine yards, but a holding penalty negated a huge play and that was it for the Yeomen. The drive ended on a fumble and Pomona ran out the clock.
“We were shocked that we lost,” Ramsey said. “We played well enough to win for 58 minutes.” “They’re a good team,” he said of Pomona, who defeated the Yeomen 51-0 last year, “[but] we were the better team for 58 minutes.”
Despite the loss, as the players came off the field, the crowd of 1026 students, parents and community members came to its feet, chanting “OC” and applauding.

“They really put on a good show for the fans,” one spectator said.
The crowd dwarfed last season’s home high attendance of 750.
“The players noticed,” Ramsey said, “I think it helped.”

September 17
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