CLU Falls to UCSB on Field Goal

GOLETA, Calif. —  UC Santa Barbara’s Brian Fleming experienced a kicker’s nightmare when he was flattened by a block on a 96-yard scoring return by Cal Lutheran’s Cassidy O’Sullivan, but Todd Reynolds lived a kicker’s dream when he hit a school-record 50-yard field goal to give UCSB a 24-21 nonconference win at home.

Reynolds’ kick came with 5:13 remaining and saved UCSB (2-2) after O’Sullivan had pulled Cal Lutheran (1-3) into a 21-21 tie with his touchdown return on the first play of the second half.

The nightmare for Fleming was being leveled by 6-foot-4, 300-pound Ken Whitney on the play. O’Sullivan fumbled the kick, picked the ball up, cut left, then headed for the right sideline and sprang free behind Whitney’s crushing block.

“I was nervous so I dropped it. I was trying to concentrate, but I looked upfield too fast,” said O’Sullivan, a freshman who returned six kickoffs for touchdowns in high school but had his first touchdown as a Kingsmen. “Ken Whitney made everything go.”

A fired-up Cal Lutheran defense stopped UCSB on three plays after O’Sullivan’s touchdown, but fullback Dan Smeester fumbled on the ensuing series. For the third time this season, Cal Lutheran went into the fourth quarter with a chance to win, and lost.

“We didn’t quite have the poise at the end to rally back. That’s disappointing,” Cal Lutheran Coach Bob Shoup said. “I thought we could win this ballgame. I still feel we played statistically well enough to win.”

Cal Lutheran had 21 first downs to UCSB’s 17, controlled the ball for 32:05, converted 13 of 21 third- and fourth-down plays and had 16 more net yards. However, UCSB had no turnovers and consistently came up with big plays.

Cal Lutheran tied the score, 14-14, when freshman quarterback Eddie Hoffman hit Shane Hawkins with an 18-yard touchdown pass with 1:28 remaining in the first half, but former Agoura High star Steve Armstrong immediately led the Gauchos on a 63-yard touchdown march in little more than a minute. Armstrong, who completed 16 of 29 passes for 184 yards, threw his third touchdown pass of the first half to give the Gauchos a 21-14 lead.

Hoffman rushed for 47 yards and scored Cal Lutheran’s first touchdown on a three-yard run.