Chapman Rallies to Beat La Verne

Chapman pushed aside three years of frustratingly close football losses to La Verne and found a way to win in the final minutes Saturday afternoon. Quarterback Greg Hyland’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Jason Jellerson with 1 minute 23 seconds left was the difference in a 24-20 victory in front of 1,000 at Ortmayer Stadium in La Verne.

Except for the victor, it was a similar finish to the teams’ last three games, which La Verne won, 36-33, 35-34 and 22-19. Those games were between two of the better NCAA Division III teams in California.

This one wasn’t. La Verne dropped to 2-5, which is the same record as Chapman.

Hyland, a 5-foot-11 junior, gets most of the credit for the victory. He accounted for the three Chapman touchdowns, and completed 26 of 41 passes for a school-record 346 yards. He surpassed the 281 he had against Whittier in 1995. He passed for two touchdowns--the other was a 78-yarder to tight end Dave Vaccaro in the first quarter--and ran for one--a one-yarder that gave the Panthers a 17-13 lead with 2:50 left in the third quarter.

La Verne took the lead, 20-17, with 9:11 left in the game on a nine-yard touchdown pass from Brent Meier to Matt Durant, setting the stage for Hyland’s heroics.

La Verne took the early lead when Tom Moreland kicked a 36-yard field goal with 6:22 left in the first quarter. Late in the quarter, Hyland found Vaccaro for the 78-yard pass and a 7-3 lead.

Early in the second quarter, Durant caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from Meier to give the Leopards a 10-7 lead and Moreland’s 30-yard field goal with 34 seconds left in the half made it 13-7. The Panthers quickly countered with Matt George’s 48-yard field goal as time expired.