Cal Lutheran football falls on road in wet SCIAC Championship game

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The Cal Lutheran University football team started strong in its first appearance in the SCIAC Championship game.

The Kingsmen scored first and built a 10-point lead in rainy conditions on the road.

But host Chapman University put a damper on the debut, scoring 20 unanswered points to grab the title and complete an unbeaten conference campaign with a 27-17 win on Nov. 15 in Orange.

CLU took a 7-0 lead on the third play of the game, when quarterback Joe Farley hit TeNorris Merkel over the middle for a 75-yard touchdown pass.

CLU used an 11-play, 50-yard drive to retake the lead 14-7 on Mehki Delouth’s 11-yard TD run with 7:46 left in the second quarter.

Tyler Woodworth (Ventura High) had a 13-yard run and 16-yard catch to set up Matthew Montegna’s 38-yard field goal, extending the Kingsmen’s lead to 17-7 with 1:15 left in the half.

Chapman pulled within 17-14 on Tyler Pacheco’s 7-yard TD pass to Kash Henjum with 12 seconds left in the first half, then took a 21-17 lead on Pacheco’s 8-yard TD pass to Kade Zimmerman with 5:51 left in the third quarter.

Pacheco’s 1-yard run capped off a 11-play, 80-yard drive, which took nearly six minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter and left Chapman with a 27-17 lead.

Farley completed 8 of 20 passes for 146 yards, one TD and one interception. Delouth ran for 93 yards and a TD on 19 carries. Merkel caught three passes for 103 yards and a TD.

Drew Nees had nine tackles, Hunter Hall (Camarillo High) had eight tackles and a tackle for a loss, and Arthur Orta recovered a fumble for the CLU defense.

It is the second conference title in three seasons in the SCIAC’s new divisional structure for Chapman (8-2, 8-0), which also won the inaugural title game in 2023.

That structure is coming to an end. The SCIAC will return to its previous single division format in 2027, when Whittier College resumes football and Azusa Pacific University joins, giving the conference eight football teams once again.

Joe Curley covers football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Cal Lutheran falls on road in SCIAC Championship game

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