Whitworth University will open the 2008 football season on Saturday, September 13th in the Pine Bowl against the University of La Verne. The Pirates are beginning the season looking for a third straight Northwest Conference title. Only once in Whitworth history (1952-54) have the Pirates won three straight conference football championships. La Verne returns 14 starters from last season and plans in improving on the 1-8 record. The game will kick off at Noon.
The Pirates: Whitworth returns seven starters on offense, two on defense and both primary kickers from last season's NWC championship squad that finished 8-2. Offensively the Pirates have plenty of known quantities to work with. Adam Anderson (Jr., RB, Elk, Wash. - Riverside / Univ. of Idaho) was the 2007 NWC Offensive Player of the Year after rushing for a league-leading 958 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is also dangerous as a receiver. Kory Kemp (Sr., QB, Redmond, Wash. - Bellevue Christian) had a solid year directing the offense in 2007 and will have that much more experience and confidence in 2008. Both will work behind an experienced and talented offensive line that returns four starters, including 2007 second team All-NWC selections Michael Cozad (Jr., OL, Bellingham, Wash.) and Jeff Kintner (Jr., OL, Wenatchee, Wash. - Wenatchee).
The defense, however, is another issue. There will be plenty of questions that begin to be answered on Saturday about a group that must replace nine starters from a 2007 defense that led the nation in takeaways and turnover margin and also led the NWC in scoring defense. Brandon Martin (Jr., DL, Sweet Home, Ore. - Sweet Home), a first team All-NWC selection last fall, and Gabe Shoemaker (So., DL, Shelton, Wash. - Shelton) are the returning starters. Layton Brown (So., LB, Kennewick, Wash. - Kennewick), who was the first linebacker off of the bench last season, will assume a starting role. Jesse Clark (Sr., DB, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane / Northwestern St. [La.]) will lead the secondary from a starting strong safety position. Zack Clow (So., P, Blanchard, Idaho - Priest River) returns to handle the punting duties for the Bucs, while Andy Largent (Jr., WR/PK, Spokane, Wash. - Shadle Park / WSU) will handle the PAT and field goal duties again. Jordan Marshall (Sr., DB/PK, Spokane, Wash. - Mt. Spokane) will kick off.
The Captains: Adam Anderson, Kory Kemp and Brandon Martin will serve as team captains for the Pirates in 2008. Versus California: The Pirates have won 16 of the last 18 against schools from the Golden State. The Bucs are 10-1-1 at home against California schools and 9-9 on the road. Looking Back at 2007: Whitworth surprised some by winning a second straight Northwest Conference championship despite the graduation of record-setting quarterback Joel Clark and NFL-bound tight end Michael Allan. But the Pirates shook off a season opening loss to Redlands to win eight of the remaining nine games. The only other loss was to NAIA power Azusa Pacific (38-34) in California. Whitworth swept through Northwest Conference play with a 6-0 record, winning a showdown with Linfield College 10-6 in the Pine Bowl on the second to last week of the season. The Pirates led the nation in takeaways (35) and turnover margin (+26). Anderson was named NWC Offensive Player of the Year, Jay Tully was selected as the co-NWC Defensive Player of the Year and John Tully was voted as the NWC Coach of the Year by the conference head coaches. National Ranking: Whitworth is listed second among "others receiving votes" in this week's D3football.com top-25 poll. NWC Poll: Whitworth finished second in the NWC preseason coaches poll with 40 points and one first place vote. Linfield finished first with six first place votes and 54 points. Menlo is in its third season in the NWC as a football-only affiliate. Link to NWC Football Coaches Poll.
The Opponents: The University of La Verne struggled through a 1-8 season in 2007, but the Leopards demonstrated great improvement by the end of the season, rolling past Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 31-7 in the second to last game and hanging with a good Chapman squad before falling 31-27 in the season finale. Second team All-SCIAC honorees Jason Carpenter (Sr., LB) and Branamier Courtney (Jr., LB) will lead a solid and experienced defense that returns seven starters from last season. The Leopards return five starters on offense, but will have a new starter at quarterback and running back. The Series: Whitworth leads the series 4-0 after last year's game in California. Saturday's game marks La Verne's third trip to the Pine Bowl were the Pirates defeated the Leopards 37-16 in 2006 and 43-28 in 2005. Last Year: Whitworth's defense dominated at La Verne, outscoring the Leopards 9-0 and limiting ULV to 1 rushing yard. Casey Clifton scored a safety on the Leopards' first series when he forced ULV quarterback Troy Doolittle into an intentional grounding penalty in the endzone. In the third quarter Greg Caster sacked Doolittle and forced a fumble that Marc Grow picked up inside the ten yard line and took into the endzone for a 19-0 Pirate lead. Whitworth ran for 284 yards and outgained the Leopards 461-215. The Pirates also had a 35:01 - 24:59 advantage in time of possession. Adam Anderson carried 14 times for 102 yards, while Kory Kemp completed 10 of 18 passes for 91 yards without an interception.
On preseason camp: "I've been impressed with our players' efforts during practice. Even though there are a lot of new faces on defense, that group has really moved forward. The number of key returnees on offense allows us to put more new things in early. We are close to where we'd like to be going into our first game." On opening against La Verne: "La Verne will be much improved this season. They will come in excited for this game. They have several returning starters and they've brought in a big recruiting class that will make a difference in their program. We will have to play well to be successful." The Coaches: John Tully is in his 14th season as head coach of the Pirates. He has a 69-55 record at Whitworth. However, he has led the Pirates to a 55-22 record over the past eight years and has been named the NWC Coach of the Year three times (2001, 2006 and 2007). 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 100-76 in his 18th season as a head coach. Andrew Ankeny is in his second season as the head coach at La Verne. The former coordinator at East Texas Baptist finished 1-8 in his first season leading the Leopards. 2008 Statistics Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
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Coach Tully's Quotes: 