TACOMA, Wash. — AJ Tuifua tossed five touchdowns in his collegiate debut including three to
Dayton Savea as the Pacific Lutheran University football squad outlasted California Lutheran University 37-30 on Saturday at Mount Tahoma Stadium.
Savea had touchdown receptions of 12-yards, 55-yards, and six-yards with the last one putting the Lutes' (1-0) in the lead for good early in the fourth quarter, capping off a nine-play, 80-yard drive.
PLU opened the scoring on second drive of the game with a 37-yard field goal by
Evan Harvey. The successful kick was setup by a
Kawika Lopez interception set the Lutes up in Cal Lu territory.
Savea tallied his first of three touchdowns with 5:27 to play in the first, capping off a nine-play, 53-yard drive with the score. Savea made it 17-0 early in the second, catching a 55-yard pass on the second play of the drive.
Cal Lu (0-1) quickly battled back, scoring a touchdown with 9:14 in the second quarter and cashing in on a safety just a few seconds later. The Kingsmen made it 17-16 with 3:03 left before halftime but the Lutes had one more trick up their sleeves, with an
Eli Fernandez interception giving PLU the ball inside the redzone with under a minute before halftime.
AJ Tuifua hit
Connor Meade for a 17-yard touchdown as PLU enjoyed a 24-16 halftime edge.
Cal Lu tied the game with a 51-play drive early in the third but PLU responded with Tuifua finding Correa on a 34-yard pass to make it 30-24. Cal Lu tied it again at 30 with 4:05 left in the third but an 80-play drive capped off by a Tuifua six yard strike to Savea put PLU ahead for good at 37-30.
CLU threatened late in the fourth but PLU's defense rose to the occasion and stymied the Kingsmen on fourth down. Backup quarterback
Anthony Mahaffey did the rest, milking the final 5:14 for the win.
"We're proud of the defense for stepping up to give our offense more opportunities to move the chains and finish," said Head Coach
Brant McAdams.
"Dayton has grown into a leader in the wide receiver room and it was good to see him have a day like that. Starting a freshman quarterback is always cautiously exciting and AJ performed like a starting quarterback. He showed great poise, and Anthony was an elite captain and teammate through it all and stepped in and operated with his arm and feet when his number was called."
Tuifua finished with 288 yards and five touchdowns, completing 21 of his 35 attempts. Between him and Mahaffey the Lutes threw for 310 yards. Savea finished with four catches for 86 yards and three scores while Meade had seven catches for 80 yards and a score.
Keola Correa had four catches for 71 yards and a score.
Avery Coleman led the team in tackles with 10 while
Cole Becker was a one-man wrecking crew with nine tackles, 4.5 TFLs, and two sacks.
"Overall, a lot to be proud of. Much to fix, but that's to be expected in the first game of the year."
The Lutes host nationally-ranked University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) next Saturday at Sparks Stadium. Kickoff is 12 p.m.
