Whitworth College put the finishing touches on the most successful regular season in school history last Saturday. The Pirates, rated 8th in the latest D3football.com top 25 poll, rallied from a 21-14 deficit to defeat Puget Sound 44-27. By doing so, Whitworth finished its schedule with a 10-0 record, the first time the Pirates have won ten games in a season. In addition, the Bucs won their first ever outright Northwest Conference title and it is the first time they have won any outright football conference title since winning the Evergreen Conference championship in 1962. For their efforts, the Pirates were awarded an opportunity to host the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Whitworth will take on 10th-ranked Occidental (9-0, 6-0 SCIAC), the three time champions of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference.
The Pirates: For a quarter, it looked like Whitworth's winning streak was in jeopardy. UPS answered every Pirate blow with one of their own. Even after two long passes to Michael Allan (Sr., TE, Bellevue, Wash. - Interlake) led to a pair of first quarter Whitworth touchdowns, the Loggers answered, and eventually took a 21-14 lead. But then the Bucs scored the next 30 points over the next 31 minutes to open up a 44-21 fourth quarter lead that would not be threatened, even after a final UPS touchdown closed the gap to 44-27 with five minutes to play. Joel Clark (Sr., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) paired with Allan to form a devastating combination on Saturday. Allan caught six passes for a school record 251 yards and two touchdowns. His 74 yard touchdown came on the first play of the game. In the third quarter he caught a 66 yard touchdown pass. Clark completed 16 of 22 passes for 379 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He also ran for another touchdown. Steve Silva (Jr., WR, Goleta, Calif. - Coll. of the Canyons) caught five passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. Jay Tully (Jr., SS/WR, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) added three catches and a score. Kyle Havercroft (RS Jr., RB, Rathdrum, Idaho - Lakeland) carried the ball 14 times for 67 yards.
Whitworth's defense gave up more points in the first quarter to UPS than the Bucs had given up to any team in an entire game all season. But they stiffened and allowed only 105 yards and six points after halftime. Greg Caster (Jr., LB, Sherwood, Ore. - Sherwood) led the way with 13 tackles, while Casey Clifton (Jr., LB, Spokane, Wash. - University) added seven stops and forced a fumble. Jay Tully made seven tackles and blocked a UPS punt that he recovered in the endzone for the final go ahead score. Phil Entel (Jr., FS, Clarkston, Wash. - Idaho) intercepted a pair of passes to give him five for the season. Ryan Marshall (Jr., CB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague) intercepted his sixth pass of the year to tie Tully for the conference lead. Justin Rundle (Jr., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) made six tackles, including a seven yard sack. Cam Collings (Sr., PK, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) had another good day kicking the ball. He made a 27 yard field goal in the third quarter. His only punt traveled 55 yards. He averaged 62 yards per kickoff and forced a pair of touchbacks. The Streak: At 10-0, the Pirates have set a new single season standard. No other Whitworth team has ever won ten games, or gone 10-0 during the regular season. The 1960 team was the only other Whitworth team that had a chance to win a 10th game, which was the post-season contest. Whitworth has now won 11 games in a row, dating to the final game of the 2005 season. On the Road to California: The Pirates have played 16 total games in California, with a record of 8-8. Whitworth has won the last seven in a row, including this season's wins at Redlands and Menlo. Counting home and away contests, Whitworth has won 14 straight games against teams from the Golden State. The Pirates will try to improve the streak on Saturday against Occidental. Playoff History: Whitworth has one other NCAA Division III playoff appearance. After sharing the 2001 NWC title with Pacific Lutheran and Linfield, the Pirates hosted PLU in the first round. The Lutes came away with a 27-26 overtime victory after a missed extra point. The Pirates' only other post season appearance was in 1960, when Humboldt State defeated Whitworth 13-7 in the NAIA semifinals. National Ranking: Whitworth is ranked 8th in the ninth weekly release of the D3football.com poll, moving up one from last week's spot. Click here for the entire poll. The D3football.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country, and is published weekly. Leading the League: Whitworth leads the Northwest Conference in several different categories, demonstrating the all-around play by the Pirates this season. Whitworth is first in scoring defense (11.7 points allowed per game) and total defense (255.5 yards allowed per game). The Pirates are first in turnover margin (+16 overall) and pass efficiency (166.6). The individual categories in which the Pirates lead the NWC are Joel Clark in total offense (252.1) and pass efficiency (164.1; Michael Allan in receiving yardage per game (98.8); and interceptions, where Jay Tully and Ryan Marshall are tied for first with six. Scouting Michael Allan: At 6'-7" and 264 pounds, Michael Allan has developed into a bona fide NFL prospect at tight end. He scored very well in strength and speed tests conducted by scouts over the summer and has been seen by scouts from every NFL team. Last fall he was named to the AFCA Division III All-America team after catching 36 passes for 693 yards (19.2 yards per catch). He set a new school record with 15 touchdown receptions, breaking the old record set in 1975 by Doug Long, who went on to play three seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. Allan leads the Pirates in receptions (46) and the NWC in receiving yardage (988) and yards per catch (21.5) this season, and has broken Whitworth's career record of 24 touchdown catches, set by Pirate legendary player and coach Sam Adams between 1948 and 1951. Allan now has 29 in his career. Tracking Joel Clark: A starter at quarterback since midway through his freshman year, Joel Clark has broken the Whitworth career records for total offense, career passing yardage and career touchdown passes. Clark's 383 yards of total offense on Saturday gives him 9,273 yards of total offense in his career. He had 2,636 yards of total offense as a sophomore, and 2,668 yards as a junior, which are the third and second highest single season totals in Pirate history. He has now passed for 8,088 yards in his career after tossing for 379 last weekend. He has 68 career touchdown passes. Clark was a First Team All-NWC selection last fall and was the Don Hanson's Football Gazette First Team Preseason Division III All-America for 2006. Two Way Jay: Jay Tully has turned into Whitworth's version of the 60-minute man. Tully, a starting strong safety, leads the team and the NWC with six interceptions and 12 total passes defended. He has 56 tackles, third on the team. Tully has also caught 18 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns while coming off of the bench as a slot receiver. In addition, he is Whitworth's primary kick off returner. Clifton Clears the Way: Middle linebacker Casey Clifton is having an all-star caliber season. He leads the Pirates and ranks third in the NWC in total tackles with 86 (8.6 per game). He also leads the team with 8 tackles for losses of 49 yards. He has been the Pirates' leading tackler in seven of the ten games this season. NWC Poll: Whitworth finished second in the NWC preseason coaches poll with 41 points. Defending champion Linfield finished first with all seven first place votes. It is a new-look conference this season with Menlo joining the NWC as a football-only affiliate. Link to NWC Football Coaches Poll.
The Opponents: Occidental College comes into Saturday's playoff game having won 26 regular season games in a row. The Tigers have won the last three SCIAC football championships and are making their third straight NCAA playoff appearance (fifth ever). Two seasons ago Occidental defeated Willamette (28-14) and Concordia-Moorhead (42-40) before losing 56-27 at Linfield in the regional final. Last season the Tigers had to play at Linfield in the first round and fell 63-21. Occidental escaped a home loss to Whittier (2-7) in its regular season finale at home by rallying from a 30-14 fourth quarter deficit for a 34-30 victory. Andy Collins, an All-America candidate at QB, completed 21 of 35 passes for 251 yards. He threw three interceptions and all three of his touchdown passes came during the 20-0 fourth quarter rally. Freshman wide receiver Chris Washington caught 10 passes for 128 yards and two of the touchdowns. Junior RB Jason Haller, who does not appear on the Occidental depth chart, ran for 59 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman defensive end Alex Wertheimer had a pair of sacks and safety James Leonard led the team with seven tackles. Overall this season the Tigers lead the SCIAC in scoring average (39.2 ppg), turnover margin (+8), and total offense (398.7 ypg). They allow 19.9 points per contest. Extremely efficient on offense, Occidental has scored 93.6% of the time it has been in the red zone. Collins leads the SCIAC in total offense (282.0 ypg). Rocky Ciasulli is the leading receiver with 50 catches for 620 yards. Fellow wide out Jordan Inabnit has seven touchdown catches of his 31 receptions. Matt Anderson, who did not play against Whittier, has rushed for 668 yards and scored 17 touchdowns this year. Linebacker Joe Zackary has 65 tackles, including 14 for losses of 46 yards. Daniel Tromello has five pass interceptions. The Series: This is the first ever meeting between Occidental and Whitworth. The Pirates have only played four of the seven SCIAC members. Whitworth is 1-0 vs. Cal Lutheran, 3-0 vs. La Verne, 1-1 vs. Pomona-Pitzer and 3-1 vs. Redlands. Coach Tully's Quotes: On the Win over UPS and the NWC Title: "What an exciting game between two good teams. Once again, our guys responded well. We play well when our backs are to the wall. It was such an exciting moment at the end of the game as we were able to enjoy the feeling of winning the title and meeting one of our preseason goals. It is special to earn an outright title and a home game in the playoffs." On the Occidental Playoff Game: "They are well deserving of their national ranking. They are very similar to us in many ways. Offensively they are very potent and defensively they are very aggressive and try to create turnovers. I am sure it will be an exciting playoff game." The Coaches: John Tully is in his twelfth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 60-52 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 46-19 record over the past seven years and was named the 2001 NWC Coach of the Year. Tully is the winningest coach in school history, as well as the longest serving Pirate coach. Prior to his arrival, Whitworth had suffered through 11 losing seasons in 12 years. Overall he is 91-73 in his 16th season as a head coach. Dale Widolff is near the end of his 25th season as head coach of the Occidental football program. The 2006 Tigers claimed the tenth SCIAC title of Widolff's tenure and are making their sixth post-season appearance, including three in a row. His overall record as head coach of the Tigers is 148-85-2. Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
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