If Whitworth College is to win its first outright football conference championship since 1962, the Pirates will have to travel to the Northwest Conference's "big dog" and take that bone away from the current six time NWC champions, also known as Linfield College. It will all be on the line on Saturday when the 10th-ranked Pirates travel to McMinnville, Oregon to take on the 15th-ranked Wildcats at 1:00 pm on Maxwell Field. Whitworth improved to 8-0, only the fifth time in school history the Pirates have won eight games, with a 28-14 win over Willamette last Saturday. Linfield improved to 5-2 and won its fifth in a row by defeating Menlo 21-3 at home on Saturday.

The Pirates: Whitworth defeated a well-rested and highly motivated Willamette football team 28-14. The Bearcats were coming off of a bye week, and had only played one other game in the month of October due to a previous bye week. But the Pirates withstood the challenge thanks to another stellar defensive effort and solid performances from the offense.

Whitworth came up with a season-high six sacks in the win, while holding the Bearcats to only 189 yards of total offense. It is the fourth straight week the Pirates have held an opponent to less than 200 yards of offense. Casey Clifton (RS Jr., LB, Spokane, Wash. - University) came up with 12 tackles and was in on one of the sacks. Justin Rundle (Jr., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) had two sacks for six yards, along with four total tackles. Peter Ghilardi (Jr., CB, Ridgecrest, Calif. - Moorpark Coll.) and Greg Caster (Jr., LB, Sherwood, Ore. - Sherwood) had eight tackles each. And Ryan Marshall (Jr., CB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague) picked off his fifth pass of the season to tie teammate Jay Tully (Jr., SS, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) for the NWC lead.

Joel Clark (Sr., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) completed 11 of 20 passes for 219 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was also the game's leading rusher with 49 yards and another score. Michael Allan (Sr., TE, Bellevue, Wash. - Interlake) caught five passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Jay Tully caught his second TD of the season and Steve Silva (Jr., WR, Goleta, Calif. - Coll. of the Canyons) made a couple of big third down catches and finished with four receptions for 51 yards.

The Whitworth rushing game struggled somewhat for the second straight week, finishing with 99 yards. In addition to Clark's yards, Chris Ahsing (RS Jr., RB, Ewa Beach, Hawaii - Campbell HS) made his return to the lineup and finished with 30 yards rushing on 17 carries.

Cam Collings (Sr., PK, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) had a big day punting and kicking off. He averaged 40.7 yards per punt and more than 65 yards per kickoff, putting Willamette in poor field position all afternoon. He also made all four of his PAT attempts to improve to 30 of 31 on the season.

The Streak: At 8-0, the Pirates have become only the fifth team in school history to win eight games in one season. The 1954 team finished 8-0, while the '59 team was 9-0. Whitworth went 8-1 in 1959, losing the fifth game at UPS. The 1960 team finished 9-1, losing in the NAIA semifinals, and the 1961 team finished 9-1, splitting a home and home series with Central Washington.

On the Road to California: The Pirates have now 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 now won 14 straight games against teams from the Golden State. The Pirates will try to improve the streak next season at La Verne.

National Ranking: Whitworth is ranked 10th 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 (9.6 points allowed per game) and total defense (239.9 yards allowed per game). The Pirates are first in turnover margin (+10 overall) and pass efficiency (161.2).

Joel Clark is first in total offense per game (259.8), while Jay Tully and Ryan Marshall are tied for first in interceptions (5 each).

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 virtually 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 is second on the Pirates in receptions (38) and leads in receiving yardage (686) 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 27 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 268 yards of total offense on Saturday gives him 8,830 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 7,658 yards in his career after tossing for 219 last weekend. He has 64 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 five interceptions and ten total passes defended. He has 40 tackles, third on the team. Tully has also caught 15 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns while coming off of the bench as a slot receiver. In addition, he is Whitworth's primary kick off returner.

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: Linfield's win over Menlo last week clinched the school's 51st consecutive winning season, an all-division record that the team continues to extend every year. The Wildcats, who have won or shared the last six NWC titles, have won five games in a row to put themselves in position to win the conference yet again. The team is averaging 29.4 points per game and giving up 19.0. The two season opening losses came against NCAA DII Western Oregon and nationally ranked Hardin-Simmons (Texas).

Trevor Scharer took over full time quarterbacking responsibilities in the third game and has been exceptional. He has completed 63.7% of his passes for 1,689 yards with 17 touchdowns against only 7 interceptions. He was NWC Offensive Player of the Week for three weeks in a row in October. Tyler Kaluza has been the leading receiver with 31 catches for 461 yards and seven touchdowns. Josh Vierra is a speedster with 26 receptions for 499 yards and four scores. Drew Ragan has taken over primary ball carrying responsibility and run for 313 yards and one TD. On special teams, Travis Masters has been a devastating kick off returner, averaging 31.6 yards per return and scoring two touchdowns. Monsterback Keone Tawata leads the team in tackles (56) and is tied for the lead in interceptions (2) with one touchdown. Mike Ketler leads the team with 4.5 sacks.

Last Saturday the Wildcats overcame six turnovers to systematically shutdown Menlo 21-3. The Wildcats outgained the Oaks 409-251 and had 19 first downs to Menlo's 8. Scharer completed 19 of 29 passes for 281 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Kaluza caught a 59 yard touchdown and finished with three receptions for 101 yards, while Tyson Banker caught five passes, including a touchdown. Ragan ran for 138 yards and a score. Andrew Bean led the team with 10 tackles, while Cam Rogers picked off a pass on his own one yard line to prevent a score.

The Series: Linfield has dominated the series for the last 30 years and has an all-time edge of 26-3-2. The Wildcats have won the last 14 meetings. The Pirates and Wildcats tied 7-7 in 1983. The previous Whitworth win was 21-14 in the Pine Bowl in 1975. The biggest Linfield win was 61-0 in 1966. Whitworth's biggest win was 41-13 in 1954.

Last Meeting: For the second year in a row, Whitworth was saddled with the title of "toughest regular season opponent" for Linfield, as the Wildcats went on to another undefeated regular season. The Pirates outgained the Wildcats 459-438, had a 25-17 advantage in first downs, and held on to the ball ten minutes longer than Linfield. But the Wildcats still were good enough to win 47-32 in front of 2,450 fans at the Pine Bowl. The Wildcats took advantage of short field opportunities to open up a lead. One interception was returned 56 yards for a touchdown, and another was returned 41 yards to the Pirates' three yard line. Linfield scored its first touchdown after a Whitworth fake punt attempt didn't work out on its own 24 yard line. Joel Clark had another big day against Linfield. He completed 22 of 44 passes for 400 yards and five touchdowns, both career highs. He also had a career high of three interceptions. Michael Allan caught a pair of key first half touchdown passes and finished with 114 receiving yards.

Coach Tully's Quotes:

On the Win over Willamette: "That was significant for our program to get to eight wins in a season for the first time since 1960. We have accomplished that against a very challenging travel schedule. I thought our defense was exceptional again and our offense made the necessary plays to beat Willamette, who was very ready for us on Saturday."

On the Linfield Game: "It is going to be a very exciting Saturday and both teams will be looking forward to it. Games like this are what college football is all about."

The Coaches: John Tully is in his twelfth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 58-52 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 44-19 record over the past six+ 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 89-73 in his 16th season as a head coach.

Longtime Wildcat assistant coach Joe Smith was promoted to head coach this summer after Jay Locey went to join the staff at Oregon State as assistant head coach. Smith had previously been the defensive coordinator under Locey, playing a large role in the team's run to a national title in 2004. He is 5-2 as head coach of the Wildcats this season.

2006 Statistics

2006 Roster

Other Division III Football Links:

Northwest Conference On-line

D3football.com

American Football Coaches Association