Claremont-Mudd-Scripps defeats US Merchant Marine Academy 27-14
Schomer Scores all Four TDs
Spencer Schomer
(KINGS POINT, N.Y.- 9/11/04) - U.S. Merchant Marine Academy junior tailback Jason Hardwick rushed 25 times for a career-high 132 yards Saturday afternoon at Capt. Tomb Field in Brooks Stadium. But it was Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (1-0) senior tailback Spencer Schomer who stole the show on Parents' Weekend, scoring all four of his team's touchdowns to give the visitors a 27-14 victory over the Mariners (0-2).
Schomer (3 rushing TD's) scored just over four minutes into the first (four yards) and second (seven yards) quarters, giving his team a 12-0 lead that it would take into halftime. The Mariners offense struggled to get untracked in the opening 30 minutes, only getting as far as the Claremont 34-yard-line on two separate occasions in the second quarter. On Schomer's first touchdown of the afternoon, USMMA senior cornerback Cole Patterson (Douglasville, Ga./Alexandria) blocked the first of his two PAT kicks on the afternoon.
After CMS went up 18-0 with 1:13 to go in the third period when Schomer dove into the end zone from one yard out, before Patterson blocked the
point-after try. From there, the Blue and Gray pulled to within 18-6 with 11:17 left in the game on a 17-yard pass from freshman quarterback
Chuck Kleinschnitz (Melbourne, Fla./Palm Bay) to junior wide out Matt Wilkenson (Ft. Pierce, Fla./John Carroll). The completion was the first passing touchdown, and the first receiving touchdown, for the respective players. Kleinschnitz was 4-for-6 on the drive for 54 yards.
However, just as was the case on both of Kleinschnitz' (15-for-39, career-high 186 yards), bad luck struck the Mariners on the ensuing kickoff. Schomer took the Ryan Gomez (Fr. - Boise, Idaho/Timberline) offering at his own 12-yard line, and raced 88 yards on the kick return for a touchdown to up his team's lead to 25-6.
After a 46-yard run on its next play from scrimmage by Hardwick (Johnstown,
Pa./Conemaugh Valley), Wilkenson pulled in a 24-yard pass from Kleinschnitz to set up first-and-goal at the one-yard line. The latter then scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak, his first career rushing score, before firing a two-point conversion pass to classmate Cameron Amigo (Fr. - Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) to cut the CMS advantage to 25-14.
Amigo (77 yards) and Wilkenson (72 yards) both caught five passes, with both players setting career-highs in receptions and yardage. Defensively,
senior tri-captain Matt Fuhrman (Fayetteville, Ga./Starr's Mill) had a game-high 10 tackles, a QB
hurry and 2.5 tackles for loss. Junior free safety Matt Swank (Bear, Del./Caravel Academy), last week's NCAA Division III National Defensive Player of the Week by
Don Hansen's Football Gazette, made eight tackles (seven solo), while Patterson (5 kickoff returns, 99 yards) added a pass break-up and 6 tackles to his statistical totals. Senior tri-captain Rich Martucci (Hackensack, N.J./Bergen Catholic) led all players with three tackles for loss.
Head coach Tim McNulty's Mariners get back into action next Saturday (Sept. 18), when the Blue and Gray travel to Carlisle, Pa., for a 1 p.m.
kickoff at Dickinson College. The contest, the final non-conference tilt for
USMMA, will be audio webcast at 12:45 p.m. Ray Martel and Seth Cantor will provide the Mariners Gridiron Network call, and a link to the broadcast, via
SportsJuice.com, will appear at KPMariners.com on game day.
