Pirates Look for .500 Season
Whitworth University will finish its season on Saturday when the Pirates head to Portland, Oregon to take on Lewis & Clark College at 1:00 p.m. at Griswold Stadium (artificial turf, cap. 3,600). Whitworth is coming off of a dramatic overtime win over Pacific Lutheran last Saturday during Senior Day at the Pine Bowl. The Pioneers are coming off of a hard-fought 26-14 loss at Menlo College.
The Pirates: Whitworth came from a 21-7 deficit in the second half to force overtime and eventually come out on top 24-21 in two overtime periods. Andy Largent (Sr., WR/PK, Spokane, Wash.) kicked the game-winning field goal from 30 yards, then the Pirates stopped PLU on fourth down to end the game. The Whitworth offense, particularly the ground game, came to life in the second half. The Pirates picked up 121 of their 172 yards rushing after halftime. Milton Nelson (Sr., RB, Spokane, Wash.) ran 26 times for 89 yards and a score. Anthany Lessier (Fr., RB, Las Vegas, Nev.) picked up 52 yards on only six carries. Sean Scott (So., RB, Milwaukie, Ore.) picked up 26 hard yards and scored twice. Taylor Eglet (Fr., QB, Spokane, Wash.) completed 16 of 30 passes for 189 yards without an interception. Largent, Kyle Scroggins (Sr., WR, Royal City, Wash.), Eric Entel (Sr., WR, Clarkston, Wash.) and Dale Entel (So., WR, Clarkston, Wash.) all caught four passes each. The Pirate defense came up big when it needed to. Derek Stottlemyer (So., DB, Bothell, Wash.) picked off his third pass in the last two games and also blocked a field goal attempt. Robert Schaefer (Jr., DB, Bothell, Wash.) also picked off a pass. Both interceptions set up Pirate touchdowns. Brandon Martin (Sr., DT, Sweet Home, Ore.) was in on 2.5 tackles for losses totaling seven yards. Martin and Jeff Erlenmeyer (Jr., DE, Moses Lake, Wash.) were both in on the final play of the game when the Pirates stopped PLU on fourth and one at the six yard line for a one-yard loss. Cailen Thomason (So., DB, Vancouver, Wash.) led the team with 10 total tackles and also had a key pass breakup at the goal line in overtime. Zack Clow (Jr., P, Blanchard, Idaho) punted four times, averaging 31.8 yards per attempt. Largent's field goal was his fifth of the season. He is also 23 of 25 on PAT attempts. Wounded Pirates: Adam Anderson (Sr., RB, Elk, Wash.), Andrew Durant (So., QB, Spokane, Wash.) and Cub Jansen (So., QB, Mukilteo, Wash.) are all in the category of "out-for-the-year" with serious injuries. Cameron Stroyan (Sr., LB, Chewelah, Wash.), who had been out since the Chapman game with a broken thumb, has returned to play these final two games while wearing a cast. Justin Wimberly (Jr., TE, Tumwater, Wash.) missed the last two weeks with a concussion. OT History: Saturday's game was the eighth overtime game in Whitworth history and the Pirates are now 4-4 all-time in games that go extra possessions. Whitworth has now played two overtime contests with PLU, with each team winning one. The Pirates have played three overtime games with Willamette, two with Menlo and once at Wisconsin-Stout.
The Captains: Adam Anderson, Jeff Kintner (Sr., OL, Wenatchee, Wash.) and Brandon Martin serve as team captains for the Pirates in 2009. Looking Back at 2008: After starting the season 2-3, Whitworth reeled off four straight wins to finish 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the NWC (third place). It was a painful year in more ways than one as the Bucs saw five different starters lost for the season due to injury, and several other players miss games for the same reason. However there were highlights scattered throughout the fall. The Pirates bounced back from their most decisive loss in a almost a decade to win at Chapman. Adam Anderson led a comeback win at PLU by scoring six touchdowns to set a new school record. Anderson = All-American: Adam Anderson, the 2007 and 2008 NWC Offensive Player of the Year, simply had one of the greatest seasons in Whitworth history in 2008. He concluded the season as a D3football.com Second Team All-American, First Team All-Region honoree and shared the Northwest Conference Offensive Player of the Year award with slotback Merben Woo of NWC champion Willamette. Anderson led all of NCAA Division III in all-purpose yards (243.8) per game and was second in the nation in scoring average (16.89 points per game). He led the NWC in rushing yards (139.9 yards per game), touchdowns (25), total points (152) and all-purpose yards. He was named NWC Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week three times, including when he posted a school record 324 all-purpose yards in a 41-35 win at Chapman and when he scored a school-record six touchdowns and ran for 217 yards in a 40-29 win at PLU. NWC Poll: Whitworth finished third in the NWC preseason coaches poll with 37 points. Defending champion Willamette and Linfield finished first and second, respectively. Link to NWC Football Coaches Poll.
The Opponents: A young Lewis & Clark team has shown some dramatic improvement over the last two weeks. The Pioneers (1-6 overall, 0-4 NWC) picked up their first win of the season on October 24th with a 57-35 victory over Crown College (Minn.). Last week L&C pushed Menlo to the final minutes of the game before falling 26-14 on the road. The Pioneers have averaged 22.6 points per game, while allowing 41.0 points per contest. They gain 232.4 yards per game, and give up 461.1 yards on average. On offense sophomore QB Tucker Laurence is a two-way threat. He has completed 56.1% of his passes for 914 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions and has also run for 370 yards and five scores. His favorite receiver is sophomore tight end Shawn Evans, who has 43 receptions for 473 yards. On defense sophomore linebacker Chris Kelly has three interceptions this fall. Last Saturday the Pioneers were right in the game until Menlo scored its final touchdown with 6:06 to play. Laurence ran for 74 yards and a touchdown and also completed 18 of 29 passes for 168 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Evans had five catches for 57 yards, while freshman running back Andrew Frisina caught four passes for 60 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown from Laurence. Freshman Drew Patterson led the Pioneer defense with 10 tackles, while freshman linebacker Louis Baltazar had two sacks for 18 yards. Last Season: Whitworth scored on its first four possessions and was never threatened in a 42-7 win over Lewis & Clark in the Pine Bowl. The Pirates outgained the Pioneers 556-315 despite losing the time-of-possession battle 32:12 - 27:48. Whitworth ran for 356 yards, only two yards short of the season-high of 358 in the win over Puget Sound. Three Pirate quarterbacks combined to complete 10 of 11 passes for 200 yards without an interception. Milton Nelson led the Whitworth running attack with 158 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns. Drew Belton (So., DB, Naches, Wash.) led Whitworth with seven tackles. Cailen Thomason added six tackles and returned an interception 34 yards to set up a touchdown. Nate Hadley (Sr., LB, Mukilteo, Wash.) prevented a Lewis & Clark touchdown with an interception at the goal line. The Series: Whitworth leads the all-time series 27-12 and has won the last ten in a row. Whitworth won the 2006 game 70-3, the largest margin of victory in the series. The Pirates won in 2007 48-7 in Portland, the last road game at L&C. The last L&C win was 20-7 in Portland in 1997. The biggest margin of victory for the Pioneers over the Pirates was 49-26 in 1993.
Chris Sulages is in his fourth season leading L&C as the head coach and he is in his seventh season on the Pioneer staff. He was the offensive coordinator in 2005 and the offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator in 2003 and 2004. Coach Tully's Quotes: John Tully talks about what Whitworth takes away from the dramatic win over PLU, and what to expect from an improving L&C team. Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
