On Saturday afternoon in the Whitworth Pine Bowl, two teams with legitimate aspirations of making the NCAA Division III football playoffs will battle for their post season lives when Whitworth College hosts Willamette University in a Northwest Conference contest at 12:30 pm. The home standing Pirates are 4-2 overall and coming off of a bye week after a win over Menlo College on October 22. The visiting Bearcats are 4-3 after an 0-3 start and still control their own destiny for a Northwest Conference title. Willamette leads the all time series 27-15 and has won the last two meetings.

The Pirates: Whitworth had a second, unanticipated, week off this season after Saturday's originally scheduled contest with Lewis & Clark College was called off by the Pioneers before the season even started. Another opponent was not found to be available, so the Pirates took advantage of their second bye of the season. The team practiced three days last week and had the weekend free.

On October 22nd Whitworth dismantled Menlo College 48-10 before 1,750 Parents' Weekend fans. Whitworth was efficient offensively, passing for 269 yards and running for 203 more while scoring on all five first half possessions to take a 35-3 lead at half time. The defense held the Oaks to 302 yards of offense and one late touchdown (6:51 to play).

Joel Clark (Jr., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) completed 11 of 16 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns in less than three quarters of play. Senior Zach Henningsen (Hillsboro, Ore. - Glencoe) was 2 of 5 for 30 yards and another touchdown. Neither threw an interception. Michael Allan (Jr., TE, Bellevue, Wash. - Interlake) caught five passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns, including an 82 yard score just before half time. Kyle Snell (Sr., WR, Issaquah, Wash. - Univ. of Ariz.) caught four passes, including a 21-yard touchdown. Drew Griggs (So., TE, Colbert, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) caught his first career touchdown pass.

Chris Ahsing (So., RB, Ewa Beach, Hawaii-Campbell) carried the ball 15 times for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Kyle Havercroft (So., RB, Rathdrum, Idaho - Lakeland) ran 14 times for 60 yards and a score.

Whitworth's defense was solid throughout, forcing three turnovers that led directly to points. Ryan Marshall (So., DB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague) was responsible for two of them. He returned a third quarter interception 17 yards to set up one touchdown and forced a fourth quarter fumble to set up another. Marshall also had four other pass deflections. Justin Rundle (So., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) had two sacks and another tackle for loss that totaled 24 yards. Jay Tully (So., SS, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) picked off his second pass of the season and finish with eight tackles. Mike Johnston (So., DB, The Dalles, Ore. - The Dalles) also had eight tackles, including two for loss.

Finally, Jordan Marshall (Fr., P/K/DB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) was the NWC Special Teams Player of the Week. He averaged 39 yards on four punts and 60.5 yards on eight kicks offs, while making six of seven extra point attempts.

Radio Broadcast Notes : Eastern Washington has switched its broadcasts to another local radio station, so all remaining Pirate games will be carried live on KSBN 1230 am. Each broadcast begins 15 minutes prior to kick off with the pre-game. Bob Castle, the voice of the Pirates for seven seasons, brings you every play. The games can also be heard over the internet at http://www.ksbn.net/listen.pls.

L&C Game Cancelled: Lewis & Clark College officially cancelled all its conference games this season. Because the Pioneers went into the year with only 30 players on the roster, the school's authorities felt it would be unsafe for the team to play an entire schedule. They only played their first four games (all non-conference). Whitworth's game at Lewis & Clark, scheduled for October 29th, was officially cancelled.

Statistics Trends: More than halfway through the 2005 season, the Pirates are ranked highly, both in the Northwest Conference and the NCAA, in several statistical categories. Whitworth is ranked highly in passing offense and total offense. Joel Clark is ranked nationally in two categories. Kyle Snell and Michael Allan are also ranked nationally.

* NCAA rankings are as of Oct. 25th.

National Poll: While the Pirates were ranked by a pair of preseason football publications (22nd by USA Today Sports Weekly and 25th by Street & Smiths), they didn't appear in a weekly national poll until September 26th when the Bucs were ranked 25th by D3football.com. But they have since fallen back into "others receiving votes" in both the D3football.com poll and the AFCA poll.

NWC Poll: Whitworth finished fourth in the NWC preseason coaches poll with 20 points, one behind PLU. Defending champion Linfield finished first with all six first place votes. Link to NWC Football Coaches Poll.

The Opponents: Willamette University has rebounded from an 0-3 start to win four consecutive games. The Bearcats dropped early season contests to NCAA Division II Western Oregon, NCAA Division III runner up Mary Hardin-Baylor and NAIA power Azusa Pacific. Since then the Bearcats have run off wins against Menlo (52-20), Puget Sound (21-17), Southern Oregon (34-28) and Pacific Lutheran (34-27) last Saturday. The last three wins have all come in the final seconds of the game, including an overtime contest against SOU. The Bearcats continue to run the ball effectively with the Fly offense under head coach Mark Speckman. Willamette averages 247 yards rushing per game, led by senior running back Quentin Brock, a 2004 All-NWC selection who averages 93 yards per game. Quarterback Cameron Walton can throw and run. He is completing 55% of his passes for 82 yards per game and he also averages 47 yards per game on the ground. Ryan Hernandez does most of the work running the fly sweep and he averages nearly six yards per carry. Defensively the Bearcats are led by linebackers Philip Sweet and Megdy Khoury, who have 69 and 65 tackles, respectively. Khoury has seven tackles for losses totaling 24 yards. Placekicker Matt Biocca has made five of seven field goals and 19/20 PATs.

Willamette had two weeks off prior to the game against PLU due to a bye week after the game with Lewis & Clark was cancelled. The Bearcats showed no signs of rustiness, driving on their first possession to take a 7-0 lead en route to a 34-27 victory. Willamette led 34-14 late in the third quarter before PLU rallied to within a touchdown. The Bearcats held on fourth and one at their own seven yard line with less than four minutes to play to preserve the win. Brock carried 24 times for 130 yards and three touchdowns. Walton ran 16 times for 43 yards and another score. He completed 8/12 passes for 94 yards without an interception. Linebacker Devin O'Rourke had a huge day with 19 tackles, one of which was for a safety and the another on the late fourth down stop. Willamette's win ended PLU's hopes of extending its winning season streak past 36 in a row.

Last Year: 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 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 completed 19 of 38 passes for 228 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also ran 15 times for 67 net yards. Kyle Snell caught the one touchdown pass and had two carries for 60 yards. Chris Ahsing ran for Whitworth's other score in the fourth quarter. The Pirate 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 So., FS, Clarkston, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) led the team with 14 tackles.

Series Notes: Willamette is Whitworth's second-oldest continuous rival. The teams first met on the field in 1908 and Whitworth won 18-0. The biggest Pirate win in the series was 46-0 in 1983. The biggest Bearcat victory was 67-0 in 1912. Whitworth's last win in the series was a 44-31 overtime thriller at the Pine Bowl in 2002.

Coach Tully's Quotes:

On the Menlo game: "Our defense played one of its best games, especially in the secondary and I am pleased with their improvement. Our offense took care of opportunities. Our offensive line did a good job protecting our quarterbacks and allowing us to rush for more than 200 yards. Our special teams was improved, especially our punt team, who did a wonderful job on both coverage and return."

On The Extra Week Off: "It was good for our kids, health-wise. I think the extra time off will refresh them for two tough games the final weeks of the season. We will treat this week like any normal week during the season."

On Willamette: "They are obviously playing very well right now. They are finding ways to win football games in the last moments, and that is a credit to the coaching staff and the character of the players. On film they look talented and well-coached, as always."

The Coaches: John Tully is in his eleventh season as head coach of the Pirates, the longest football coaching tenure in school history. He has a 49-51 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 35-18 record over the past six years and was named the 2001 NWC Coach of the Year. Overall he is 80-73 in his 15th season as a head coach.

Mark Speckman is in his 8th year leading the Bearcats. He has a record of 45-33 and has led the Bearcats to a pair of NCAA post season appearances, including last season. He was the 1999 NWC Coach of the Year.

2005 Statistics

2005 Roster

Other Division III Football Links:

Northwest Conference On-line

D3football.com

American Football Coaches Association