CHANDLER, Ariz. - Robert Litscher threw fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Ben Kim and James Ryan to break open a defensive battle and lead the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps football team to a 14-7 win over Lake Forest on Saturday at the Cactus Kickoff at Hamilton High School in Arizona.  

The Stags almost opened up with a shutout win for the second year in a row, after defeating Chicago last year 24-0 on opening day, but Lake Forest was able to break up the shutout with a touchdown with 6.2 seconds left. The Foresters suffer their first regular season loss in two years, after going undefeated a year ago (10-0), before suffering their only defeat in the NCAA Tournament to Bethel. 

CMS put forth a dominant effort defensively the whole contest. Evan Gerber had a pair of big second half sacks to stop drives, including one on fourth down with the Foresters in Stags territory, while Michael Houk added two sacks on the day as well. 

Litscher then got the offense clicking, breaking the scoreless deadlock when he found Kim up the seam on a 3rd-and-6 play for a 21-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.

After the Stags earned a stop on a three-and-out, Litscher found Quintin Craig for a 13-yard fourth-down conversion on 4th-and-4 from the Lake Forest 36-yard line. He then connected with Ryan on a 3rd-and-15 from the 17-yard line on a post route to the right side of the end zone with 8:02 left in the contest.  

The Foresters spoiled the shutout when they used the two-minute offense to score on their final possession with just 6.2 seconds left. Baker Long was able to secure the win by securing the ensuing onside kick. 

Litscher finished the game 9-for-14 passing for 105 yards and the two touchdowns, with Craig catching five balls for 50 yards on the day, and Ryan catching four passes for 41 yards.  

Defensively, George Kruger finished with 10 tackles, eight solo, to spearhead the defensive effort, while Harry Zhou had seven tackles and Houk had six, three for losses. Chase Cioe had three pass break-ups. 

CMS will back in action in two weeks when it travels to George Fox for a 1 p.m. contest on Sept. 20.