Whitworth College wrapped up a very successful 2004 football season with a dramatic 38-35 win over visiting Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday in the Pine Bowl. It was the first win over the Lutes at home since 1965 and gave the Pirates a 7-2 record in 2004, including a 3-2 mark in the NWC that landed Whitworth in third place.

With many players scheduled to return in 2005, the future certainly looks bright for the Bucs.

Whitworth also set a handful of school records in 2004 with one of the most prolific offenses in school history.

The Pirates: Whitworth's offense was its usual explosive self in Saturday's 38-35 win over PLU. But the defense and special teams also came up with big plays that led to the win.

Whitworth jumped to leads of 14-0 and 24-14 in the first half, but had to come from 35-31 down in the fourth quarter. The key play of the game came on fourth and one at the PLU 45 yard line. Joel Clark (So., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane HS) hit Kyle Snell (RS Jr., WR, Issaquah, Wash. - Univ. of Arizona) deep over the middle, giving the Bucs a first down at the Lutes' five yard line. Jared Thomas (RS So., WR, Newberg, Ore. - Newberg HS) scored on the next play to give Whitworth the lead with 7:22 to play.

Clark finished 19 of 26 for 314 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Snell had the best game of his career. He caught eight passes for 159 yards, including a touchdown on a 62 yard screen pass in which he broke a pair of tackles before getting free in the secondary. Snell also returned a kick off 91 yards for a touchdown and ran a fake punt 37 yards for a first down. Michael Allan (RS So., TE, Bellevue, Wash. - Interlake HS) caught six passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. Kyle Havercroft (RS Fr., RB, Rathdrum, Idaho - Lakeland HS), in his first game back from an ankle injury suffered at Menlo, carried 21 times for 92 yards and a touchdown. He ran five yards on third and four with just over a minute to play to give Whitworth a first down and the chance to run out the clock at the end of the game.

After the Pirates scored their final time, PLU still had a chance to drive. But on third and two at the Whitworth 19 yard line, Austin Richard (RS Jr., DT, Seattle, Wash. - Blanchet HS) broke through to tackle the PLU ball carrier for an eight yard loss, forcing a fourth down just outside of field goal range. PLU's last pass attempt was incomplete with 2:47 to play, allowing Whitworth to gain a first down and run out the clock.

The Pirates were able to jump to an early lead by intercepting passes on the Lutes' first two possessions. Ryan Marshall (Fr., DB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague HS) intercepted PLU's first pass of the game. Ernest Policarpio (Sr., DB, Tacoma, Wash. - Clover Park HS) intercepted a pass in Whitworth territory, his first career reception in the final game of his career.

Philip Entel (RS Fr., S, Clarkston, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) led the Pirates with 15 tackles, while Jeremy Scroggins (Sr., LB, Royal City, Wash. - Royal City HS) added 13 stops.

Finally, Cameron Collings (Jr., PK/P, Spokane, Wash. - Mead HS) booted a 48-yard field goal just before the end of the first half and also made all four of his PATs.

Click here for the press release of Saturday's game vs. PLU.

Red Zone Effectiveness: The Pirates scored 43-50 times (86%) they were in opponents' red zones this season. Whitworth was actually only stopped five times. Two of the times they failed to score were kneel downs at the end of the La Verne and Eastern Oregon games.

Winning the Battle: The turnover battle often decides the outcome of games and Whitworth was exceptional in turnover ratio this season. The Pirates lead the NWC with a +13 turnover margin (23 takeaways and ten turnovers) and a +1.4 turnover ratio per game.

No Threes: Whitworth had first hand demonstrations of how important a good field goal kicker is all season. Not only was Pirate kicker Cameron Collings stellar, making 7/9 field goals (long of 53 yards) and 45/48 PATs, the opponents were equally as bad. The rest of the teams on Whitworth's schedule went 0/7 on field goal attempts this season.

NWC Poll: Whitworth finished fourth in the NWC preseason coaches poll with 18 points. Defending champion Linfield finished first with all six first place votes. Link to NWC Football Coaches Poll.

National Polls: In the final regular season top-25 poll and D3football.com, the Pirates were listed with "others receiving vote". The D3football.com poll can be found on the D3football.com website here:
http://www.d3football.com/top25.php?year=2004&week=11

The Records: Whitworth broke or tied four offensive records this season. The Pirates scored 366 points in nine games to average 40.7 points per game, the highest scoring average in school history. The 1961 team scored 396 points in ten games (the highest overall point total) to average 39.6 points per game. Whitworth also broke the record for most total offense in one season (4,185 yards) and total offense per game (465.0 yards per contest). Kyle Havercroft tied Charlie Reed's 42 year old record when he scored four touchdowns in the season-opening win at Redlands.

Back in Black in 2005: The Pirates should be very strong next season. On offense, Whitworth returns all 1,734 rushing yards as well as QB Joel Clark and outstanding back up QB Zach Henningsen (RS So., Hillsboro, Ore. - Glencoe HS). Whitworth's top four receivers will all return as well. The key questions will be on the offensive line, where two players - Kevin Reese (RS Jr., Hayden Lake, Idaho - Univ. of Idaho) and Chris Stewart (RS Jr., Spokane, Wash. - North Central HS) have one more year of eligibility, but must decide whether to use it.

On defense Whitworth will return its defensive back field intact, as well as three of four defensive linemen. The Pirates will lose at least two of three linebackers.

To look ahead to next season, check out the 2005 football schedule.

On the Road to California: Including the three games this season, the Pirates have now played 14 games in California in its football history with a record of 6-8. Since 1998 Whitworth is 5-4 in games played in the Golden State, winning the last five in a row. Including this season's wins at Redlands, La Verne and Menlo, Whitworth also has 2001's season-opening 21-10 win at Chapman and 2002's 30-7 win at Menlo. The only other win in California was a 10-0 victory over Humboldt State in 1961.

The Coach: John Tully concluded his tenth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 45-49 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 41-26 record over the past seven years and was named the 2001 NWC Coach of the Year. Tully is the second winningest coach in school history, trailing only Sam Adams (47-17-1 from 1958-64). Overall he is 76-70 after his 15th season as a head coach.

Tully, who graduated from Azusa Pacific in 1975, previously was the head coach at Eureka (Ill.) College, where he had a record of 31-21 while building the Red Devils into a strong Midwest program.

2004 Statistics

2004 Roster

Other Division III Football Links:

Northwest Conference On-line

D3football.com

American Football Coaches Association

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