The Whitworth University football team celebrated a second straight Northwest Conference championship last Saturday in the Pine Bowl. But that celebration is short-lived as the 20th-ranked Pirates have to get right back to work this week focusing on the University of Puget Sound (4-4 overall, 2-3 NWC), the last team standing between Whitworth and a potential NCAA Division III playoff spot. The Bucs defeated Linfield College 10-6 to secure their repeat championship. The Loggers fell 45-13 at Menlo last Saturday. UPS is Whitworth's oldest and longest-running rival in football.
The Pirates: Whitworth's defense did it again. Much like last season's ground-breaking win, the Pirate defense stymied the high-powered Wildcat offense with five takeaways (all interceptions this season), led by Phil Entel (Sr., FS, Clarkston, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) - who picked off three passes and returned one of them 32 yards for the only touchdown in the 10-6 victory. Entel tied a school record (shared by three other players) for interceptions in a game and earned Northwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors for his efforts. Entel doubled his season interception total to six and now leads the NWC. Casey Clifton (Sr., LB, Spokane, Wash. - University) and Jay Tully (Sr., SS, Spokane, Wash. - Mead) also picked off passes for the Pirates.
While the Bucs were outgained by the Wildcats 323-239, the Whitworth defense faced down five Linfield fourth quarter possessions that started with a field position average of the the Wildcat 45 yard line. One ended on a field goal that was partially blocked by Justin Rundle (Sr., DE, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) and three ended on interceptions (two by Entel, one by Tully). The final Linfield drive (which began with 16 seconds left in the game), ended when Derek Stottlemeyer (Fr., DB, Bothell, Wash. - Bothell) knocked down the final pass after the last seconds had ticked off of the clock. Marc Grow (Sr., LB, Warden, Wash. - Warden) finished with nine tackles, including three for losses of 12 yards. Rundle had seven stops, including a nine yard sack. Clifton had seven tackles, including 2.5 for losses of five yards. Saturday marked the first time since the second contest of the 2001 season that Linfield did not score a touchdown in a game, a string of 63 games. Chris Ahsing (Sr., RB, Ewa Beach, Hawaii - Campbell) led all players with 73 hard-earned rushing yards on 23 carries. Adam Anderson (So., RB, Elk, Wash. - Univ. of Idaho) picked up 40 yards on 16 attempts. Kory Kemp (Jr., QB, Redmond, Wash. - Eastlake) completed 6 of 17 passes for 112 yards. Steve Silva (Sr., WR, Goleta, Calif. - Coll. of the Canyons) caught three passes for 46 yards. Andy Largent (So., WR/PK, Spokane, Wash. - WSU) kicked a 19 yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to give the Pirates a little breathing room. Zack Clow (Fr., P, Blanchard, Idaho - Priest River) punted 12 times for an average of 32.4 yards. Playoff Hopes: While Whitworth has clinched an outright Northwest Conference title with one week to play in the season, that does not guarantee an NCAA Division III playoff spot for the Pirates. The NWC winner has never had an automatic bid to the post season, leaving the conference contenders to vie for one of the few Pool B (three this year) spots in the tournament. The Pool B slots are reserved for independents and schools from conferences without automatic bids. Beginning in 2008, with Menlo College having been a football affiliate member for two full seasons, the NWC will have an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. Currently there are three other schools with comparable results to Whitworth trying for one of the three pool B positions. The Pirates will need to win on Saturday to keep their position as a contender for one of those spots. Many Milestones: Whitworth established many milestones with the win on Saturday. Not the least of which is back to back conference championships in football for the first time since 1960. The Pirates tied a school record for combined victories in back to back seasons (18, tying the consecutive 9-win seasons in 1960 and 1961), and defeated the Wildcats in back to back seasons for the first time since 1953 and 1954. Shooting Blanks: Whitworth's wins over La Verne (34-0) and Menlo (49-0) give the Pirates two shutouts in one season for the first time since Hugh Campbell's Bucs shut out Montana Tech (70-0) and Pacific, Ore. (45-0) during a 6-3 campaign in 1976. Whitworth's 1975 Northwest Conference co-title season included three shutouts - wins over Eastern Washington (20-0), Pacific (35-0) and Lewis & Clark (37-0). The school record for shutouts in a season is seven in 1961.
Seniors Everywhere: Fifteen seniors started the opener for the Pirates, the most veteran starting lineup in John Tully's tenure as head coach. Nine seniors started on defense, where eight have at least one full season of starting experience behind them. Six seniors started on offense, and four of those players started last year. Offensive Defense: Whitworth has scored four touchdowns and two safeties by the defense so far this season for a total of 29 points. Marc Grow has two of the touchdown returns with a fumble (La Verne) and an interception (Menlo). Ryan Marshall's (Sr., DB, Salem, Ore. - Sprague) interception return for a touchdown against Menlo was the second of his career. Entel's TD return against Linfield was the second of his career as well. Takeitaway!: Whitworth leads the Northwest Conference and NCAA Division III in turnover margin. The Pirates have taken away the ball 30 times (20 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries), while giving the ball away only seven times, for a margin of +23. Twenty-three divided by nine games means the Bucs are taking the ball away 2.6 more times per game than opponents so far this season. In addition, Whitworth leads the league, and ranks second in the NCAA, in fewest turnovers lost (7). The Pirates rank first in the NWC and third in the NCAA in total interceptions (20). No Running!: Whitworth is first in the Northwest Conference in rushing defense. The Pirates have allowed only 83.7 yards per game and 2.7 yards per carry. One ball carrier, Ron Fricke of Wisconsin-Stout, has run for more than 100 yards this season against the Pirates. "A" for Effort: Adam Anderson leads the NWC in rushing this season with 866 yards (over 96 yards per game). He has run for nine touchdowns and has a carry of at least 40 yards in four of the Bucs' nine games this season. He is averaging a robust 5.5 yards per attempt. Sticky Fingers: Steve Silva leads the Northwest Conference in total receptions (47) and is third in receptions per game (5.2) so far this fall. Silva has 47 catches for 546 yards. The senior was a First Team All-NWC selection in 2006. Three-way Jay: Jay Tully has made his presence felt all over the football field this season. The starting strong safety is tied for the team lead with 66 tackles this fall and he has four pass interceptions. He also has averaged 21.8 yards on kick off returns (he leads the team with ten returns). And when Whitworth goes with four or five wide receivers, he is on the field catching passes. He has ten receptions for 109 yards this season, including the game-winning touchdown catch against Wis.-Stout as time expired. Looking Back at 2006: Whitworth accomplished a great deal in its 100th season of varsity football. The Pirates went 10-0 during the regular season, setting a school record for total number of wins. Whitworth went on to win the first post-season playoff game in school history before finishing 11-1. The Pirates won the Northwest Conference title outright for the first time, after sharing titles in 1975 and 2001, and finished the year ranked 9th in the final D3football.com poll. Quarterback Joel Clark and linebacker Casey Clifton were the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in the NWC. John Tully was named Coach of the Year in the conference. National Ranking: Whitworth is back in the polls this week after defeating Linfield on Saturday. The Pirates are ranked 20th in the D3football.com poll and 25th in the AFCA Division III Coaches poll. NWC Poll: Whitworth finished second in the NWC preseason coaches poll with 44 points and two first place votes. Linfield finished first with five first place votes and 52 points. Menlo is in its second season in the NWC as a football-only affiliate. Link to NWC Football Coaches Poll.
The Opponents: Puget Sound (4-4, 2-3) is playing for a chance to clinch a second straight winning season for the first time in 20 years. The Loggers have stayed the course this season despite the loss of talented QB Kavin Williams after only two games. Sophomore QB Spencer Crace has completed 56% of his passes for 1,184 yards with four touchdowns and seven interceptions. But he has not been quite the same running threat that Williams provided UPS during last season's seven-win campaign. The Loggers have other weapons in junior running back Silas Paul, who leads the NWC with 12 touchdowns this season, and senior running back James Olcott. The pair have combined for 951 rushing yards this season. Senior WR Eddie Behringer has 28 receptions for 340 yards and a touchdown. Junior safety Demetri Huffman leads the team with 50 tackles. Senior DE Jake Peters has seven tackles for loss totaling 23 yards. As a team the Loggers have averaged 21.5 points per game and have given up 25.5 points per game. Turnovers have hurt UPS. The Loggers are -12 in turnover margin this season. Last week UPS ran into an emotionally changed Menlo College team playing its final game of the year and lost 45-13 in Atherton, California. The Oaks forced seven Logger turnovers in the win. Paul finished with 63 yards rushing after UPS had to go to a passing attack when Menlo opened a 21-7 halftime lead. Crace was 13 of 23 for 170 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Behringer had five of the catches for 59 yards and one score. Huffman tied AJ Middleton for team lead with eight tackles. The Series: Puget Sound is Whitworth's oldest and longest running rival. Whitworth's first official collegiate game was a 6-0 victory over the College of Puget Sound in 1904 (when Whitworth was located in Lacey, Washington). The teams have played each other 57 times since then. The Pirates hold a 32-25-1 edge in the series with the Loggers. Whitworth has won the last 11 meetings. The biggest Pirate win in the series was 45-0 in 1908. The biggest Logger win (41-0) came in 1967. Puget Sound last defeated Whitworth in 1995, John Tully's first year as head coach, by a score of 48-35. Last Year: For a quarter, it looked like Whitworth's undefeated season was in jeopardy. UPS answered every Pirate blow with one of its own. Even after two long passes to Michael Allan 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. 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. Joel Clark completed 16 of 22 passes for 379 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He also ran for another touchdown. Steve Silva caught five passes for 79 yards and a touchdown. Jay Tully had three catches and a score to go along with seven tackles and a blocked UPS punt that he recovered in the endzone for the final go ahead score. 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 (Sr., LB, Sherwood, Ore. - Sherwood) led the way with 13 tackles. Phil Entel intercepted a pair of passes to give him five for the season. Ryan Marshall intercepted his sixth pass of the year.
On the Linfield game: "I felt that both teams played with a lot of emotion and gave great effort, leading to a tremendous Northwest Conference football game. That kind of game is who we are this year. It seems like all our games go down to the last play. But we've been there so many times now our guys really know what to do. I am so proud of this group of guys and what they have accomplished." On facing UPS: "Their offense will present a major challenge for our defense. Like us, they like to control the football. They are quality football team in this league and they are well-coached." The Coaches: John Tully is in his 13th season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 68-55 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 54-22 record over the past seven-plus years and was named the NWC Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2006. 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 98-77 in his 17th season as a head coach. Phil Willenbrock (21-33 in his 6th year) has led the resurgence of the UPS football program. After taking over in 2002, his teams have gone 0-9, 1-8, 5-4, 4-5 and 7-3 last fall. This season he has a chance to coach back to back winning seasons at UPS for the first time in two decades. Prior to coaching at UPS, Willenbrock was the offensive coordinator at Allegheny College (Pa.). . Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
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Coach Tully's Quotes: 