The University of Redlands football team withstood a comeback effort by Chapman University on Saturday evening, eking out a 27-24 win at Ernie Chapman Stadium in Orange.

The Bulldog offense started fast out of the gates, using a 10-play, 53-yard drive to set up a 28-yard field goal attempt for freshman kicker Connor Cook (Kamuela, HI). Cook split the uprights to give the Maroon and Gray a 3-0 advantage just 4:12 into the contest.

Chapman's signal caller, Blake Vanderweil, tossed an interception on just his second pass attempt of the game, and sophomore defensive back Josh Herrera (Vista, CA) capitalized, gaining seven yards off of the pick.

Senior quarterback Dan Selway (Villa Park, CA) then connected with senior wide receivers Brenden Barkate (Bakersfield, CA) and Brian Putman (Bakersfield, CA) for an aggregate total of 47 yards on the ensuing possession. Selway’s final pass of the drive was an 18-yard touchdown strike to Putman, and Cook kicked the extra point to give Redlands an early 10-0 lead.

Chapman used 7:07 to pull together a 13-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a quarterback-keeper touchdown by Vanderweil.

Junior running back Daylan Swedlow (Lake Arrowhead, CA) chewed up solid gains on the ground in conjunction with Selway’s air attack on the Bulldog offense’s next trip. After two incomplete passes on second and third down on the Chapman 7-yard line, Cook salvaged the drive with a 24-yard field goal.

The Maroon and Gray kept the Panthers from breaking out big plays on the next possession, and the special teams clicked on all cylinders at the drive’s end as the Bulldogs blocked a 38-yard Jimmy Adranly field goal to set the Bulldog offense up at their own 25-yard line.

A Selway fumble in the red zone, however, would foil Redlands’ chances at tacking on an extra six before half. With the ball on the Redlands 40 with one second remaining, Vanderweil dropped back to launch a Hail Mary, but sophomore linebacker Ian Sluss (Vista, CA) stopped him for a 15-yard loss on a half-ending sack.

The Bulldogs held a 13-7 advantage at the intermission, but the Panthers would piece together a productive second half that would push the Maroon and Gray to the final whistle.

After Kevin Krail returned a kickoff for 89 yards, Chapman stalled in the red zone, and Adranly would up booting a 30-yard field-goal attempt wide right.

Redlands chipped away at yardage on the ensuing possession, and sophomore running back Sean Quinn (El Paso, TX) plowed his way through a goal-line defense for the score. Cook made the extra point, which put the Bulldogs up, 20-7.

The Panthers made a field goal after Quinn’s touchdown run, putting them within 10 points of Redlands with 3:08 to go in the third quarter.

Selway then authored an 11-play, 66-yard drive that resulted in a 23-yard bomb to Putman, putting the game seemingly out of reach.

Adranly missed a 43-yard field goal, which set the Bulldogs up at their own 26. On the sixth play of the Redlands’ ensuing trip down the field, Selway pitched a momentum-changing interception, and Chapman turned the pick into a 14-play possession that ate up 6:14 of clock. The Panthers rushed in for a touchdown, cutting the margin to 27-17.

Chapman successfully recovered an onside kick, and Vanderweil found Chris Langstaff for a 35-yard touchdown strike.

With just 1:15 remaining, the Panthers tried the onside kick again, but this time, the ball went out-of-bounds at the Redlands 47. The Bulldogs kneeled for the remainder of the contest to drain the clock, and they escaped with the 27-24 victory.

Selway captained the Redlands offense, completing 26 of 46 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns. Putman amassed 130 yards of receiving and caught both touchdown heaves.

On the ground, Swedlow rushed 13 times for a net gain of 59 yards.

Senior defensive lineman Josh Cunningham (Phoenix, AZ) and sophomore defensive back Vince Aiello (Fullerton, CA) led the team in tackles with six apiece while Cunningham and Sluss each notched one sack.

Chapman (3-5) finishes out its season on the road against the University of La Verne on Saturday, Nov. 14. Game time is set for 1 p.m.

Redlands (7-1, 4-1 SCIAC) concludes its regular season on Saturday with a 1 p.m. game against Cal Lutheran University (7-1, 5-0 SCIAC) at Mt. Clef Stadium in Thousand Oaks. The Kingsmen currently sit atop the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings, and with a win against La Verne earlier this afternoon, they clinched at least a share of the conference title.