SportsScope : Mudd Aims Explosive Dabrow at Whittier

Running back Chris Dabrow of Claremont-Mudd College has been difficult to stop in leading the Stags to victories in their first two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football games.

Dabrow, a senior who has rushed for 499 yards and 6 touchdowns in 85 carries this season, figures to carry much of the load again when the Stags visit Whittier in a conference game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Whittier is 2-2 overall and Claremont-Mudd is 2-1.

Whittier suffered a 28-0 loss to the University of San Diego last week. Dabrow turned in his top rushing output of the season with 218 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 24-0 win over Pomona-Pitzer last week.

The game will match two top quarterbacks in Mike Pembroke of Claremont-Mudd and Ramon Juarez of Whittier, both with passing and rushing ability.

In other games matching four-year colleges Saturday, Pomona-Pitzer (1-2) visits La Verne (0-3) in a SCIAC game at 1:30 p.m. and Azusa Pacific (1-3) goes to San Diego (3-0-1).

Azusa Pacific won its first game of the season (20-15) over La Verne last week but the Cougars may have difficulty against San Diego’s Toreros, who have one of their strongest teams in recent years.

San Diego’s defense has allowed an average of only 72 yards a game rushing and has 8 interceptions. Leading the way is junior safety Brian Day with 3 interceptions. The Toreros have recorded three shutouts since tying Occidental (13-13) in the season opener.

Azusa Pacific has struggled on offense. But the Cougars received a strong performance from tailback Jay Johnson in their victory over La Verne. Johnson rushed for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns in 13 carries.

After an impressive second-place finish at the Stanford Invitational last week, the highly regarded Cal State Los Angeles men’s cross-country team will compete in the Cal State Northridge Invitational on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles, ranked No. 2 in NCAA Division II, trailed first-place UC Irvine by only four points at Stanford. But Cal State L.A. finished ahead of nine Division I teams including San Diego State, Nebraska, Brigham Young and UCLA.

The Cal State performance may have been a little better than Coach John Tansley had expected.

“Nebraska and BYU ran a bunch of races in the Midwest that Division II teams were in and they just killed them,� he said. “That puts a little pressure on us, but I wouldn’t feel too bad about it. This is all right. We’re enjoying every minute of it.�

The Golden Eagles, ranked No. 1 on the West Coast in Division II, can credit much of their success to L.A. Valley College transfer Benny Cruz.

The junior, who won the state community college title for Valley in 1985, finished second in the 10-K Stanford meet in 31:11.0.

The Cal State women’s team, ranked No. 18 in Division II, will also compete at Northridge. The Golden Eagles are led by former San Gabriel High standout Sylvia Mosqueda, who finished second at Stanford with a 5-K time of 16:53.

It will be a battle of the Cal Polys when Cal Poly Pomona visits Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Pomona, which won last year, 27-28, is ranked No. 15 in NCAA Division II and San Luis Obispo is No. 5. “SLO will be very tough,� Broncos Coach Jim Sackett said. “They have five seniors and two juniors to our three seniors and four freshman, so they are very much a veteran team.�

The Broncos have a leader in senior David Loud, a former Charter Oak High performer who finished fourth in the college division of the Stanford Invitational with a 10-K time of 32:56 last week.