Whitworth College, ranked 12th in the latest D3football.com top 25 poll, will celebrate Homecoming 2006, along with Hall of Fame inductions and the 100 Years of Football reunion this weekend as the Pirates host Lewis & Clark College in a Northwest Conference Football game. Whitworth is 5-0 after last Saturday's win at Pacific Lutheran, only the second time since 1960 that the Pirates have started a season with five straight wins (they also did so in 2001). Lewis & Clark dropped to 0-4 after a hard fought 38-28 setback to Menlo at home.
The Pirates: Whitworth controlled the clock, the ball and the PLU offense in last Saturday's 19-7 victory in Puyallup. The Bucs held the ball for 43:22 to 16:38 for the Lutes and Whitworth outgained PLU 442-200, passing for 250 and running for 192. Casey Clifton (RS Jr., LB, Spokane, Wash. - University) led the defensive attack with six tackles, including one for loss of two yards. He also forced a drive-ending intentional grounding penalty. Jay Tully (Jr., SS, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) and Ryan Marshall (Jr., CB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague) each had three tackles and an interception. The pair are tied for the NWC season lead in interceptions with three apiece. Phil Entel (Jr., FS, Clarkston, Wash. - Idaho) picked off his second pass of the season, while Justin Rundle (Jr., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) intercepted the first pass of his career. Peter Clark (Jr., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) had a tackle for loss and recovered a fumble as the Pirate defense came away with five turnovers. The Pirates limited the prolific PLU passing attack to 11 completions in 28 attempts for 141 yards. Starting QB Brett Gordon threw four interceptions and no touchdowns.
Joel Clark (Sr., QB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) completed 17 of 31 passes for 250 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. It is the second straight week he did not throw a touchdown pass and he remains tied for the career touchdown pass record of 57 with Dennis Spurlock (1959-1961). But he did surpass Danny Figuiera's career passing yardage record of 6,805 in the first quarter. Clark also ran for 32 yards to finish with 282 yards of total offense. Michael Allan (Sr., TE, Bellevue, Wash. - Interlake) had eight catches for 145 yards, which are season highs in both categories. Three of the completions came either on third or fourth down. Steve Silva (Jr., WR, Goleta, Calif. - Coll. of the Canyons) also caught some key passes, finishing with four catches for 60 yards. Jay Tully added three grabs for 31. But the day offensively belonged to Kyle Havercroft (Jr., RB, Rathdrum, Idaho - Lakeland). Havercroft finished with 126 yards on 30 carries and scored both Pirate touchdowns. He just kept getting stronger, running for 101 of his yards after halftime. Cam Collings (Sr., PK, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) had a strong day kicking. He made field goals from 37 and 23 yards and also averaged 35 yards on three punts. The Hall of Fame: Whitworth will induct one of its greatest teams and one of its greatest players into the Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame on Saturday. Gaining induction will be the 1960 football team that finished 9-0 in the regular season and lost in the NAIA semifinals. Also going into the Hall is basketball great Marv Adams, who led the Evergreen Conference in scoring twice and is the fifth leading scorer in Whitworth history. On the Road to California: The Pirates have played 15 total games in California, with a record of 7-8. Whitworth has won the last six in a row, including this season's win at Redlands. Counting home and away contests, Whitworth has now won 13 straight games against teams from the Golden State after the win over Azusa Pacific. The Pirates still have an upcoming game with Menlo this season. National Ranking: Whitworth is ranked 12th in the sixth weekly release of the D3football.com poll, moving up from 14th last week. 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 team categories, demonstrating the all-around play by the Pirates this season. Whitworth is first in scoring defense (10.6 points allowed per game) and total defense (278 yards allowed per game). The Pirates are also first in total offense (387.8). 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 more than 20 scouts so far this season. 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 (26) and receiving yardage (446) this season, and needs one more touchdown reception to tie Whitworth's career record of 24 touchdown catches set by Pirate legendary player and coach Sam Adams between 1948 and 1951. Tracking Joel Clark: A starter at quarterback since midway through his freshman year, Joel Clark has broken the Whitworth career total offense and career passing yardage records and is now tied for Whitworth's career mark in touchdown passes. Clark's 282 yards of total offense on Saturday gives him 8,100 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 6,998 yards in his career after tossing for 250 last weekend. He has 57 career touchdown passes, tying the Pirate career record originally set by Denny Spurlock in 1961. 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: Lewis & Clark is making the comeback from the difficult decision to cancel its Northwest Conference schedule in 2005. While the Pioneers have yet to win a game in 2006, the team has shown strong improvement from week to week, especially in last Saturday's 38-28 loss to 3-3 Menlo. L&C set season highs for points scored (28), total yards (393) and first downs (24). QB AJ Brown completed 30 of 49 passes for 289 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, while 2005 starter Scott Moyer completed 3 of 7 for 62 yards. The two quarterbacks were sacked a total of six times for 40 yards. Brandon Zerr-Smith caught 14 passes for 128 yards. Mike Wennerlind caught a 25 yard touchdown in the first quarter. Overall Brown has completed 55.2% of his passes for 847 yards with four touchdowns and eight interceptions this season. Zerr-Smith is the conference's leading receiver with 51 catches for 469 yards. The Pioneers have struggled to run the ball all season, averaging 23.8 yards per game as a team. Linebacker Kevin Takeno leads the team in tackles with 30, while defensive end Erik Gerwick leads the squad in tackles for loss (5) and sacks (2). Defensive back Jon Bielawicz had the Pioneers' first interception of the season on Saturday. The Series: Whitworth leads the all-time series 24-12 and has won the last seven meetings. The biggest Pirate win in the series was 69-12 in 2004, which is the teams' last meeting. The biggest Pioneer victory was 40-20 in 1957. L&C's last win was 20-7 in 1997 and the Pioneers won the first ever meeting 19-0 back in 1956. Last Meeting: For the health of the players on the team, L&C elected not to play its Northwest Conference schedule in 2005, therefore the last meeting was Whitworth's 69-12 win in 2004. In that game the Pirates scored on their first ten possessions and posted the most points a Whitworth team has scored since a 70-30 win over Whitman in 1976. Joel Clark played only a quarter and a half and completed 8 of 8 passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Chris Ahsing (RS Jr., RB, Ewa Beach, Hawaii - Campbell HS) carried 19 times for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Coach Tully's Quotes: On the Win at Pacific Lutheran: "It was a great win on the road, and getting our first conference win was very important. Our defense showed that it just keeps getting better every week." On the Midway Point: "To be 5-0 is really special and what we had hoped for against a very difficult schedule. Our team has played well, but the really positive thing is we still can get better." On Lewis & Clark: "They run a wide open passing offense that will challenge our defensive backfield. Defensively they are fundamentally sound. Our goal is to improve each week, and we have the opportunity to do that. We have to be as aggressive with them as anyone we've played." The Coaches: John Tully is in his twelfth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 55-52 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 41-19 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 86-73 in his 16th season as a head coach. Chris Sulages is in his first season as head coach of the Pioneers after serving three seasons as an assistant on the L&C staff. For his first two seasons, he coached the offensive line while also serving as the football recruiting coordinator. He served as the Offensive Coordinator in the 2005 season. Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
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