Villanueva, Cruz Lead Chapman Past Whittier

Chapman quarterback Stanley Villanueva completed his first 14 passes and Phillip Cruz scored a school record-tying four touchdowns in the Panthers’ 44-7 victory over Whittier Saturday at Chapman.

Villanueva was 22 of 29 for 233 yards and two touchdowns. He did not throw an incomplete pass until the first play of the second half.

Chapman (4-3) got on the board three minutes into the game when Villanueva found Eric Del Conte for 10 yards.

After Matt Guerrero intercepted a pass by Whittier quarterback Nick Tomasello, Cruz scored the first of his touchdowns, a 14-yard run.

With 58 seconds left in the first quarter, Villanueva tossed a 15-yard touchdown to Eric O’Neil to make it 21-0.

Cruz went 43 yards for his second score midway through the first half to make the halftime score 27-7. The Chapman defense held the Poets to 71 yards and one first down in the first half.

Cruz added touchdown runs of two yards and one yard in the second half and finished with 146 yards in 16 carries. Rasheed Phillips had seven receptions for 51 yards for the Panthers.

Tomasello was 11 of 32 for 115 yards for Whittier. The Poets (0-7) were limited to 84 yards rushing.