ORANGE, Calif. – Preseason All-American Adam Kniffin set yet another Puget Sound receiving record on Saturday, but the Puget Sound football team fell 55-35 at Chapman. Kniffin hauled in 12 catches for a school-record 267 yards and four touchdowns in the loss.
Coming into the season, the only school records that Kniffin did not own were the single game receiving yards record and the all-time record for receiving yards. With Saturday's 267-yard record-breaking performance, Kniffin now owns eight of the nine school records in the receiving category and is just shy of the final record. He now has 2,264 career receiving yard, which is just 58 yards shy of the Mike Bos' school record of 2,312 yards set between 1980-82. Bos also held the single game record of 222 yards, set in 1982, prior to tonight.
The Loggers (0-2) fell to Chapman 55-35 as the two met for the first time in school history. The Panthers (1-0) put the Loggers in an early hole and never looked back.
Austin Maranville took the opening kickoff 100 yards into the end zone for a quick 7-0 Logger lead. After a Logger three-and-out, Kean Stancil kicked off his big night with a seven-yard touchdown run and TD passes of 60 and 13 yards to build a quick 28-0 Panther lead in the first quarter.
Stancil ended the night with 339 yards and two passing TDs on an efficient 26-of-32 passing. He also ran for 33 yards and two scores.
Kniffin and the Loggers began to look like the high-powered offense of the past two years in the second quarter as Braden Foley capped an eight-play, 76-yard drive with his first of four TD hookups with Kniffin. This one came from 25 yards out.
The Logger defense forced a Panther punt when Chris Beaulaurier brought down Stancil for a six-yard loss on third-and-10. The punt went into the end zone for a touchback and Foley found Kniffin again on the first play for another TD. It was a career-long for both Foley and Kniffin and cut the Panther lead in half to 28-14.
However, that would be as close as the Loggers would get as two more quick touchdowns from Jeremiah McKibbins gave the Panthers a 42-14 lead at halftime.
Although the Panthers put up more points, both team were clicking offensively. Kniffin had nine catches for 214 yards by halftime, which was just eight yards shy of the school record he went on to break.
Foley continued to find success through the air as he found Kniffin for a touchdown strike of 31 yards in the third quarter and again from 15 yards out in the fourth. Late in the third, Foley hooked up with Thiesen Chang for a 38-yard touchdown pass that came on fourth down.
Foley ended the game on 31-of-55 passing for a career-high 470 yards and five touchdowns while throwing no interceptions. Ryan Rogers hauled in five passes for 52 yards and Chang finished with two catches for 45 yards. Foley continued to spread the ball around, hitting nine different receivers in the game.
Chapman kept pace keeping the Loggers at arm's length throughout the second half with a pair of field goals and a Stancil TD run. Kali'I Kunitomo led the Panther with 152 receiving yards and McKibbins carried the ball 24 times for 154 yards.
Freshman Matt Gilbert once again had a game-high 10 tackles to lead the Logger defense. However, there were over 1,100 total yards of offense in the game with Chapman outgaining the Loggers 615-526.
The Loggers will have a bye next week before playing in their home-opener against Whittier at 1 p.m. on Sep. 22.