Despite a disappointing loss at Willamette last Saturday, the Whitworth College football team still has plenty to play for this Saturday when the Pirates host Pacific Lutheran University in the Pine Bowl at 12:30 pm. Whitworth can put together its third seven win season in the last four years, a feat only done twice previously in school history. The Pirates can also send out the senior class (2004-05) on a winning note. The winner of Saturday's game will also earn third place in the final NWC standings.

Whitworth is coming off of a 28-17 loss at Willamette. The loss ended most hopes of an NCAA Division III playoff berth. Pacific Lutheran won 42-21 at Menlo over the weekend.

The Pirates: Whitworth led 10-7 late in the third quarter before Willamette scored touchdowns on three of its final four possessions to pull out a 28-17 victory. The win sends the Bearcats into a showdown at Linfield next Saturday for the NWC title.

The Pirates had their chances. The turning point may have come in the third quarter. Leading 10-7 at halftime, the Pirates converted a fake punt for a first down in Bearcat territory. Whitworth drove inside the Bearcat 20, but a potential touchdown pass was dropped in the endzone. The subsequent field goal attempt was blocked. After Whitworth forced a Willamette fumble, the Bearcats got a fumble right back at the Whitworth 19, scoring four plays later to retake the lead. They extended the lead to 20-10 late in the fourth quarter.

Joel Clark (So., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane HS) completed 19 of 38 passes for 228 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also ran 15 times for 67 net yards. Jared Thomas (RS So., WR, Newberg, Ore. - Newberg HS) caught nine passes for 122 yards and ran five times for 52 yards. Kyle Snell (RS Jr., WR, Issaquah, Wash. - Univ. of Arizona) caught the touchdown pass and had two carries for 60 yards. Chris Ahsing (RS Fr., RB, Ewa Beach, Hawaii - Campbell HS) ran for Whitworth's other score in the fourth quarter.

The Pirate defense allowed Willamette 557 yards of offense, 311 of which came on the ground and 246 of which came through the air. However, the defense also made four stands inside its own 20 yard line, forcing the Bearcats to attempt four field goals, all of which they missed. Phil Entel (RS Fr., S, Clarkston, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) led the team with 14 tackles. Daniel Jones (RS Jr., LB, Coos Bay, Ore. - Marshfield HS) added 11 tackles, including one for loss, forced a fumble and deflected a pass.

Click here for the press release of Saturday's game at Willamette.

Red Zone Effectiveness: The Pirates have scored 40-45 times they have been in opponents' red zones this season. Whitworth has actually only been stopped three times. Two of the times they have failed to score have been 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 has been exceptional in turnover ratio this season. The Pirates lead the NWC with a +13 turnover margin (21 takeaways and eight turnovers) and a +1.6 turnover ratio per game.

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: One week after making its 2004 debut in the division III football polls, the Pirates have dropped back to "others receiving vote" this week after the loss at Willamette. The D3football.com poll can be found on the D3football.com website here:
http://www.d3football.com/top25.php?year=2004&week=10

The Opponents: In a sense PLU is in year one AF (after Frosty), but in a more real way the change has not been that great under first year head coach and long time offensive coordinator Scott Westering. The Lutes have gone 6-2 this season and their only two losses have been to the same two teams (Linfield and Willamette) that defeated the Pirates. The Lutes have been successful this year with a strong rushing game and an aggressive defense. Running backs Matt Steiner and Ryan Simpson have combined to run for 1,165 yards and 10 touchdowns. Receiver Mark McCall has caught 15 passes for 358 yards and five touchdowns and also run for 376 yards and seven more scores. Quarterback Dusty Macauley, who was the starter as a freshman when these teams met in the first round of the NCAA playoffs, has completed 45% of his passes (75/167) for 1,113 yards and nine touchdowns with 10 interceptions. On defense linebacker Chris Linderman leads the team with 62 tackles (38 solo). The Lutes' aggressive defensive style has led to 69 tackles for loss this season, led by linebacker Alex Jefferies, who has 15 for losses of 64 yards. Defensive back Mark Gunderson has four interceptions.

Last week the Lutes trailed 14-7 before scoring on five of their next six possessions to win 42-21 at Menlo. The Lutes picked up 342 of their 570 yards on the ground, led by redshirt freshman Anthony Canger's 117 yards on only 11 attempts. Mark McCall scored three touchdowns (two running, one receiving) and Ryan Simpson scored twice.

The Series: Pacific Lutheran holds a 45-13 lead in the all-time series between the schools. The Lutes have won the last three meetings, including last season's 28-24 nail biter in Tacoma. Whitworth's last win was 27-26 during the 2001 regular season. PLU came back to win a 27-26 overtime thriller in the 2001 NCAA playoffs. The next most recent win over PLU came in 1965, which was also the last time Whitworth won at home (a 20-13 victory). The largest margin of victory in the series belongs to Whitworth when the Pirates beat the Lutes 67-0 in 1961. PLU's biggest win was 47-0 in 1970.

Last Season: The Bucs came within inches, finger tips and seconds of a season-turning win at Pacific Lutheran on Saturday, before falling 28-24. Two key defensive plays by the Lutes seemed to be the game-savers for PLU, despite one of the best offensive outputs of the season for Whitworth. At the end of the first half PLU's Mark Gunderson made a spectacular interception that prevented the Pirates from taking a 21-14 halftime lead. Then at the end of the game, with the Pirates facing a 3rd and one at the PLU 15 with :45 seconds left, Gunderson barely got a finger tip on a fade pass meant for Dwayne Tawney that could've won the game. And then finally, three plays later, PLU's Pete Sarrensen intercepted Joel Clark on the Lute 12 yard line with 12 seconds left to preserve the win. It was a breakout game for Clark, who completed 20 of 26 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown, with the two interceptions.

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.

Coach Tully's Quotes:

On the Willamette game: "Both teams played with great emotion. Willamette made a couple of more plays than we did. I was very satisfied with our guys' effort."

On PLU: "They are really playing well. They've got good players and they are well coached. Their running game is exceptional and defensively they are very aggressive and have had great success with their scheme. Our challenge will be to protect our quarterback and stop their run."

The Coaches: John Tully is in his tenth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 44-49 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 40-26 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 75-71-1 in his 14th 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 31-22-1 while building the Red Devils into a strong Midwest program.

Scott Westering is in his first season as head coach at PLU. Westering has served on the Lutes' football staff since 1981 under his father, legendary PLU head coach Frosty Westering. In 1983 he became the offensive coordinator.

2004 Statistics

2004 Roster

Other Division III Football Links:

Northwest Conference On-line

D3football.com

American Football Coaches Association

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