Complete stats and play by play

McMinnville, Ore. - Linfield College had a few more bullets in its offensive arsenal on Saturday, defeating Whitworth College 48-37 in an offensive shootout of a Northwest Conference football game at Maxwell Field.

The Wildcats, ranked second in the nation, remain undefeated at 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the NWC. The Pirates fall to 3-1 and 0-1 in their NWC opener.

Linfield's outstanding quarterback Brett Elliott completed 25 of 42 passes for 486 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Wildcat attack. He also threw two interceptions. But he was nearly matched by Whitworth's Joel Clark, who finished with 502 yards of total offense after throwing for 366 and running for 136.

The game was actually scoreless through one quarter, but Linfield got on the board early in the second when Elliott completed a 26-yard touchdown strike to Casey Allen. It was the first of four touchdown receptions for Allen.

But Whitworth answered on Chris Ahsing's three yard run to knot the score. Ahsing's touchdown was set up by a 55-yard run by Clark down the left sideline.

Whitworth had the ball deep in Linfield territory on its next two possessions but only came away with three points. Both times the Pirates had to settle for field goal attempts. Cameron Collings made a 30-yard attempt on his first try, and the second try, a 34-yarder, bounced off of the right upright. A touchdown pass from Clark to tight end Casey Allen was called back because of an ineligible receiver penalty.

But Linfield scored three unanswered touchdowns to take control, two of which came in the final three and a half minutes of the half. Allen was on the receiving end of 21 and 29-yard touchdown strikes from Elliott to give the Wildcats a 20-10 lead at halftime.

Linfield then went 80 yards in only four plays and 56 seconds on its opening possession, capped by a 47-yard pass from Elliott to George Carter, to extend the lead to 27-10.

But then the Pirate offense went back to work, driving 75 yards on 10 plays. Kyle Havercroft scored on a one-yard run to pull the Bucs within 27-17.

The teams continued to trade scores through the rest of the half. Linfield scoring on a five-yard Thomas Ford run, answered by Havercroft's second score of the day. Casey Allen caught a 22-yard touchdown pass in the back of the endzone for Linfield, followed by a 65-yard touchdown pass from Clark to Michael Allan. Riley Jenkins scored on a two-yard run with 11:47 to go for the Wildcats' final score. Clark completed a touchdown pass to Mathew Johnson for Whitworth's final score at 7:05 to play. Both teams had the ball one final time but could not score. The Pirates' final possession ended on a desperation interception of Clark, his only interception of the day.

Despite giving up 48 points and 608 yards of total offense, the Whitworth defense made several key plays to keep the Pirates within reach. Daniel Jones and Jay Tully both made diving interceptions to end Linfield drives. And Justin Rundle's sack gave Whitworth one final chance with the ball.

Three Linfield receivers finished with more than 100 receiving yards in the game. Casey Allen caught eight passes for 139 yards and four touchdowns. Carter caught seven passes for 178 yards and one score. Brandon Hazenberg caught five passes for 103 yards. Hazaenberg finished with 225 all purpose yards after 122 yards in kick and punt returns are added in.

Whitworth finished with 549 yards of offense. Clark completed 19 of 43 passes for 366 yards, while rushing 19 times for 136 yards. Jared Thomas caught five passes for 145 yards and Michael Allan caught five balls for 109 yards.

Whitworth returns to action next Saturday, hosting Puget Sound in the Pine Bowl at 1:00 pm. Linfield will step out of conference, hosting Southern Oregon.

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