Whitworth College, ranked 25th in the early season D3football.com top 25, opens the 2006 season on Saturday against a familiar foe. The Pirates, coming off of a 5-3 season and hoping to challenge for the Northwest Conference championship, will play at Redlands, a school with a proud football tradition aiming to return to the top of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference standings. The game will begin at 7:05 pm at Ted Runner Stadium in Redlands, California.
The Pirates: Whitworth heads into the 2006 season with a confidence based on talent and experience. The Pirates have three preseason First Team All-Americans among 16 returning starters. Though the team faces a challenging schedule, the hope for post season is a real one. The defense will be fast, and is deeper than ever before. Ten starters return from 2005, giving the Pirates more experience than they've ever had on the defensive side of the ball. The linebacking corps, led by First Team All-NWC selection Casey Clifton (RS Jr., Spokane, Wash. - University) and team captain Nick Portrey (Sr., Ritzville, Wash. - Ritzville), is fast and athletic. Clifton led Whitworth with ten tackles for 43 yards in losses last season, while Portrey had six for 30. Greg Caster (RS Jr., Sherwood, Ore. - Sherwood) returns at the other outside spot, where he had 45 tackles a year ago. Tyler Hall (Sr., Newport Beach, Calif. - Goldenwest College) returns from a mid season knee injury in 2005 and will spend quite a bit of time on the field as well. The defensive backfield, led by preseason All-American (Lindy's, D3football.com, Football Gazette) Ryan Marshall (Jr., CB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague) and Second Team All-NWC selection Jay Tully (Jr., SS, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) will make throwing against the Pirates very difficult. Marshall led the NWC in interceptions (6) and total passes defended (17) last season. Tully led the Pirates in total tackles with 63. Phillip Entel (Jr., FS, Clarkston, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) returns to start at free safety, and junior college transfer Peter Ghilardi (Jr., Ridgecrest, Calif. - Moorpark College) will start at the other corner. Michael Johnston (Jr., CB, The Dalles, Ore. - The Dalles) has starting experience, while a pair of converted quarterbacks - McLane Stone (So., CB, Orcas, Island, Wash. - Orcas Island) and Marc Grow (Jr., SS, Warden, Wash. - Warden) - have impressed coaches in practice and will see time as well. The defensive line returns three of four starters. Justin Rundle (Jr., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) and Peter Clark (Jr., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) return as the starting defensive ends. They combined for 15 tackles for losses totaling 89 yards last fall. Jermane Easterlin (So., DE, Tacoma, Wash. - Bellarmine Prep) had a good year after converting from linebacker and will spell either starter throughout the game. Dusty Rasmussen (Sr., NG, Seabeck, Wash. - Klahoyah) will take over the starting nose guard position from the graduated Austin Richard, while Dan Roberts (Jr., DT, Grand Coulee, Wash. - Lake Roosevelt) returns to start at tackle. Offensively, Whitworth's fortunes will ride on the arm of All-NWC quarterback Joel Clark (Sr., Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane). Clark completed 64% of his passes last season for 2,234 yards with 29 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He is a Football Gazette preseason All-American. His favorite target last fall was Michael Allan (Sr., TE, Bellevue, Wash. - Interlake), who set a school record with 15 touchdown receptions. Allan was a 2005 AFCA Division III All-American and was selected as a 2006 preseason All-American by Lindy's, Football Gazette and D3football.com. While Nick Koller (Jr., WR, LaCrosse, Wash. - LaCrosse) returns as one starting wide out, the other two spots are new. Steve Silva (Jr., WR, Goleta, Calif. - College of the Canyons) was a junior college starter last fall and will take over one spot, and Steve Stockton (So., WR, Spokane, Wash. - Ferris) will move into another spot.
Chris Ahsing (RS Jr., Ewa Beach, Hawaii - Campbell) and Kyle Havercroft (RS Jr., Rathdrum, Idaho - Lakeland) will continue to share primary ball carrying responsibilities in Whitworth's one-back set. Ahsing was Second Team All-NWC last season, when the two combined for 978 yards and 11 touchdowns. There will be two new starters on the offensive line, who will join returners Jon Erlenmeyer (Sr., C, Moses Lake, Wash. - Moses Lake), Steve Honeyman (Sr., ST, Kennewick, Wash. - Kamiakin) and Levi Wyman (Jr., QG, Aiea, Hawaii - Aiea). Dan Sanders (So., QT, Valleyford, Wash. - Freeman) is slated to start at the quick tackle spot, while Kyle Kania (Jr., SG, Pasco, Wash. - Pasco) is listed as the starter at strong guard. Coaches have been very impressed with the play of freshman Jeff Kintner (Wenatchee, Wash. - Wenatchee) during fall practice. Whitworth is also happy to have back place kicker and punter Cameron Collings (Sr., Spokane, Wash. - Mead), who was a 2005 D3football.com and Street & Smith's preseason All-American. Collings missed all but two games last year with an injured leg and was granted a medical hardship redshirt. He was named First Team All-NWC as a place kicker in 2004 after making seven of nine field goal attempts and 45/48 PATs. His 53 yard effort against Eastern Oregon and his 48 yard boot against PLU were the difference in Pirate victories. He also averaged 33.8 yards per punt. National Ranking: Whitworth is ranked 25th in the first weekly release of the D3football.com poll. 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. 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 a half dozen 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. Tracking Joel Clark: A starter at quarterback since midway through his freshman year, Joel Clark is on track to set several Whitworth passing and total offense records. 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 is 22 yards short of the career total offense record of 6,763 yards set by Danny Figueira from 1991-93. He needs 868 yards to break Figueria's career passing yardage record of 6,805. He is also on track to break career records for attempts, completions and touchdowns. 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: The University of Redlands has committed to a "Return to Glory" in 2006. The Bulldogs won conference titles in 2002 and 2003 and have a total of nine under current coach Mike Maynard. But the last two seasons have seen Redlands come up short, and the team has chosen its slogan for the specific purpose of reclaiming its spot atop the SCIAC. On offense Redlands will work behind senior signal caller Chris Saras, who took over starting duties midway through last season. Saras completed 53% of his passes for 1,325 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions. His top returning target is senior wide out Nathan Adkins, who had 23 receptions for 234 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sophomores Tom Romaine and Zack Schafer are listed as the starting running backs. On defense the Bulldogs are led by returning all-star Brad Smith, a senior safety. Smith finished with 49 tackles and five interceptions last season. Sophomore defensive end Brock Arndt had a big freshman season, recording nine tackles for losses of 30 yards. Senior Keith Richardson leads a veteran group of linebackers. The Series: Whitworth leads the series 2-1 after last year's game in Spokane. All of the meetings, including this season's, have been season opening contests. The teams were slated to meet on September 16, 2001, but were unable to do so because of the events of September 11th. Redlands won the first meeting 20-7 in 2000. Whitworth won 52-49 in Redlands to open the 2004 season and 35-21 to open last year's schedule. Last Year: Whitworth dominated the first half and held off a spirited Redlands rally in the second half of the Pirates' 35-21 win. Whitworth led 21-0 at halftime after outgaining the Bulldogs 264-100 and holding a 17:32-12:28 edge in time of possession. But after Redlands scored the first two times it had the ball in the second half, the Bucs responded with a long, time-consuming drive to regain control of the football game. Joel Clark completed 16 of 26 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 103 more yards and two more scores. The Bucs sacked Redlands' QB Nick Brown five times for losses of 33 yards, including two by Justin Rundle. Nick Portrey provided the nail in the coffin in the fourth quarter when his sack forced a fumble that Casey Clifton returned to the nine yard line. Coach Tully's Quotes: On fall camp: "Our fall camp has gone very well. Our guys came back in really good shape and with positive attitudes. There has been a strong work ethic throughout the team. We are healthy overall heading into our first game, which we really need. Our guys are excited to finally line up against somebody besides their own team." On Opening against Redlands: "Our guys know that Redlands is a good team that presents a great challenge. They are tenacious on defense and offensively explosive. And obviously they are well coached. We know they are looking forward to this game as much as we are, and both teams know that this is an opportunity to make an early statement. And we are excited to play under the lights." The Coaches: John Tully is in his twelfth season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 50-52 record at Whitworth. However, he led the Pirates to a 46-29 record over the past eight 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 81-76 in his 16th season as a head coach. Mike Maynard is 109-55-1 in his 19th year as head coach at Redlands. He has led the Bulldogs to nine SCIAC championships during his tenure as head coach. 2006 Statistics Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
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