The Whitworth College football team gets a chance to step back and take stock of a great start to the 2004 season this week. The Pirates have a bye on Saturday and will not play again until October 2nd when they host Eastern Oregon in the 2004 home opener. That game is also the 2004 Homecoming and Hall of Fame weekend.

Whitworth is coming off of a 43-23 win at La Verne, giving the Pirates a 2-0 record so far in 2004 and a 2-0 mark in California.

The Pirates: While some of the statistical numbers from Saturday's win at La Verne are fairly even, two other sets of numbers indicate how Whitworth came away with a 43-23 win. The first is turnovers, where Whitworth had a 3-0 advantage. The other is time of possession after the Pirates controlled the ball for 39:48 compared to the Leopards' possession time of 20:11. Whitworth had a 19-play, 69 yards drive that spanned the first and second quarter that used 9:06 of the clock. The Pirates also used the final 6:42 of the game with a 62 yard drive that took 10 plays. Whitworth edged La Verne 384-372 in total offense and had 21 first downs to the Leopards' 18.

Click here for the complete game story.

Whitworth went to its running game against ULV and ground out 248 yards. Kyle Havercroft (RS Fr., RB, Rathdrum, Idaho - Lakeland HS) gained 119 yards on 27 carries and scored a touchdown, his fifth of the season. Chris Ahsing (RS Fr., RB, Ewa Beach, Hawaii - Campbell HS) carried 16 times for 51 yards and two scores. Joel Clark (So., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane HS) completed seven of 17 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown. He also ran four times for 22 yards and another score. He has not thrown an interception yet this season. Kyle Snell (RS Jr., WR, Issaquah, Wash. - Univ. of Arizona) caught five passes for 74 yards and one touchdown, a 22-yard reception that culminated Whitworth's first drive of the game. While Jared Thomas (RS So., WR, Newberg, Ore. - Newberg HS) only caught one pass for 26 yards, he did run for a score on Whitworth's first possession of the second half.

The Pirates improved from week one on defense. Whitworth held La Verne to 118 rushing yards on 32 carries. Whitworth sacked Leopard QB Brian Guerrero three times and created strong pressure on several other occasions. Austin Richard (RS Jr., DL, Seattle, Wash. - Blanchet HS) picked off one pass in the third quarter that led directly to a Whitworth touchdown. Philip Entel (RS Fr., S, Clarkston, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) intercepted a pass in the first quarter that led to the Pirates' third score. Whitworth held La Verne on fourth down twice in the game, including once on their own six yard line.

Special teams tightened up on its kick off coverage, holding ULV to a 20-yard average after allowing over 30 yards per return the previous week. Cam Collings (Jr., P/PK, Spokane, Wash. - Mead HS) made his only field goal attempt, a 34 yard effort as time expired in the first half, giving the Pirates a 22-14 lead at half time. He went 4/5 on PAT attempts and averaged 36 yards per punt. La Verne did score two points in the third quarter when a punt snap sailed over Collings' head and through the end zone.

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 its 2-0 start to the season, the Pirates picked up a few more points in the D3football.com poll this week, getting listed with 12 points in the "others receiving votes" category. The poll can be found on the D3football.com website here:
http://www.d3football.com/top25.php?year=2004&week=3

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.

The Coach: John Tully is in his tenth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 40-47 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 36-24 record over the past six 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 71-69-1 in his 14th season as a head coach.

2004 Statistics

2004 Roster

Other Division III Football Links:

Northwest Conference On-line

D3football.com

American Football Coaches Association

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