The Whitworth College football team will make its third trip of 2004 to California on Saturday when the Pirates take on the Menlo College Oaks at Noon in Atherton, California. Whitworth hopes to make it three for three this season after winning at Redlands and La Verne the first two weeks of the schedule.

Whitworth is coming off of a 38-21 win over Puget Sound in the Pine Bowl last Saturday, a win that gave the Bucs their first Northwest Conference victory of the season. Whitworth is now 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the NWC. Menlo (1-3) did not play last Saturday. The Oaks lost 32-22 at Cal Lutheran in their most recent game on October 9th.

The Pirates: It was another big day for the Whitworth offense and the defense made key plays when it had to in a 38-21 win over Puget Sound. The Pirates finished with 529 yards of total offense and forced four key second half turnovers to rebound from the first loss of 2004 the week prior at Linfield.

Joel Clark (So., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane HS) passed for 359 yards, completing 17 of 25 passes and throwing four touchdowns without an interception. He also ran for a six yard touchdown. His two favorite targets on Saturday were Jared Thomas (RS So., WR, Newberg, Ore. - Newberg HS), who caught five passes for 132 yards and two scores, and Michael Allan (RS So., TE, Bellevue, Wash. - Interlake HS), who also caught five passes for 84 yards and one touchdown. Kyle Snell (RS Jr., WR, Issaquah, Wash. - Univ. of Arizona) caught the fourth touchdown of the game. Mathew Johnson (RS Jr., WR, Olympia, Wash. - Olympia HS) had career highs in receptions (four) and yardage (93). Kyle Havercroft (RS Fr., RB, Rathdrum, Idaho - Lakeland HS) carried 21 times for 81 yards, while Chris Ahsing (RS Fr., RB, Ewa Beach, Hawaii - Campbell HS) had ten rushes for 41 yards.

The Pirate defense struggled early against the Puget Sound running game, giving up 323 yards on the ground, but they tightened up by the end of the game. Whitworth took the ball away four times in the second half. Phil Entel (RS Fr., S, Clarkston, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) and Nick Kuntz (RS So., CB, Boise, Idaho - Eagle HS) each had an interception. Kuntz also forced a fumble, which was recovered by Dusty Rasmussen (So., DL, Silverdale, Wash. - Klahowya HS). Ryan Marshall (Fr., CB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague HS) also forced a fumble on a UPS kick off return that was recovered by Peter Clark (Fr., LB, Spokane, Wash. - Mead HS).

Cameron Collings (Jr., P/PK, Spokane, Wash. - Mead HS) made a 36-yard field goal in the second quarter to improve his season total to five in six tries. He was 5/5 on extra points and is now 24/26 this season.

Click here for the press release of Saturday's win over UPS.

Red Zone Effectiveness: Whitworth continued its effectiveness in the red zone on Saturday, scoring five of six times they were inside the UPS 20 yard line. The Pirates have scored 26 of 30 times they have been in opponents' red zones this season. Whitworth has actually only been stopped twice. 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 +11 turnover margin (15 takeaways and four turnovers) and a +2.25 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: With a 4-1 start, the Pirates have 20 points in the D3football.com poll this week, getting listed with "others receiving votes". The poll can be found on the D3football.com website here:
http://www.d3football.com/top25.php?year=2004&week=7

The Opponents: Menlo has had a week off to prepare for Whitworth. The Oaks are 1-3 after losing 32-22 at Cal Lutheran on October 9. Statistically the Oaks should be better than their record, but unlike Whitworth, turnovers have really hurt Menlo. The Oaks have given up the ball 14 times (eight fumbles, six interceptions) while taking it away from opponents only once. Menlo has outgained its opponents on average 353-341.

Individually, QB Adam Hazel was injured during the CLU game and is currently not listed on the Menlo depth chart. Freshman Dustin Guglielmelli is expected to start and he has completed 11 of 21 passes for 104 yards and one touchdown this season. Sophomore Eddie Connor is the leading rusher with 270 yards and one touchdown. Senior Marvin Stickel has caught 23 passes for 254 yards and four touchdowns. Safety John North leads the Oaks in tackles with 26. Linebacker Kenny Wolfe has six tackles for losses totaling 19 yards.

The Series: Whitworth holds a 3-1 edge in the all-time series. The Pirates have won the last two meetings. The biggest Pirate win in the series was 30-7 in 2002. The biggest, and only, Menlo win was 24-21 in overtime in 1999 in Atherton.

Last Season: The Pirates used three special plays to score three touchdowns on the way to a 30-24 win over Menlo in Spokane. Billy Condon threw a 12-yard halfback option pass to Gabe Merritt to complete the Pirates' first drive. On the final play of the first half, Jonathan Hook ran a fake punt 53 yards for a touchdown. And on the Pirates' first drive of the third quarter, Joe Gore (Jr., DB, Prosser, Wash. - Prosser HS) threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Snell on a fake field goal. Whitworth led 30-13 before Menlo rallied late to within six points.

On the Road to California: The Pirates have now played 13 games in California in its football history with a record of 5-8. Since 1998 Whitworth is 4-4 in games played in the Golden State, winning the last four. Including this season's wins at Redlands and La Verne, 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 UPS game: "We had to play well to beat them and our guys did. I was impressed with how we came out in the second half and responded, both defensively and in special teams. We talk about turnovers and field position and it really showed in this game."

On Menlo: "They have very good athletes on both sides of the ball. They play a west coast offense that will challenge our young defense. What they do defensively matches up well with what we do offensively."

"Traveling to California for a third time this season will be a great challenge for our guys. The two previous times our players came in focused and played well. That is what we will look for again this week as we focus on what we are trying to get better at and do well."

The Coaches: John Tully is in his tenth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 42-48 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 39-26 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 73-70-1 in his 14th season as a head coach.

Mark Kaanapu is in his fourth year leading Menlo. The Pacific (Ore.) University graduate has a record of 21-13 to date.

2004 Statistics

2004 Roster

Other Division III Football Links:

Northwest Conference On-line

D3football.com

American Football Coaches Association

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