Pirates Hope to Finish Well at Home
Whitworth University hosts Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday in the Whitworth Pine Bowl (1:00 p.m.). It is the final home game of the season for the Pirates and the final home game of their careers for 15 Whitworth seniors. That group of players will be recognized prior to the start of Saturday's game. The Pirates are coming off of a 14-10 loss to Menlo College, while the Lutes come in after a 35-14 win over University of Puget Sound in the battle between the local Tacoma rivals.
The Pirates: Whitworth built a 10-0 halftime lead, but could not score again in a 14-10 loss to Menlo. The Pirate offense struggled in the second half. After outgaining the Oaks 164-100, including a 10-5 advantage in first downs, during the first half, Whitworth was held to only 56 yards and four first downs in the second half. . Taylor Eglet (Fr., QB, Spokane, Wash.) completed 20 of 35 passes for 172 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked seven times (--37 yards) by the Oaks. Eric Entel (Sr., WR, Clarkston, Wash.) caught five passes for 35 yards, while Kyle Scroggins (Sr., WR, Royal City, Wash.) grabbed four passes for 51 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter. Whitworth's running game struggled on Saturday, finishing with 48 net yards on 35 carries. Milton Nelson (Sr., RB, Spokane, Wash.) picked up 35 yards on 14 attempts, while Sean Scott (So., RB, Milwaukie, Ore.) added 29 yards on eight carries. The Pirate defense played well until Menlo went 78 yards in only six plays to score the go-ahead touchdown with just over six minutes remaining. With two minutes to play the defense regrouped for a goal-line stand, holding Menlo on three tries from the one yard line. Layton Brown (Jr., LB, Kennewick, Wash.) led the team with 12 tackles. Jeff Erlenmeyer (Jr., DE, Moses Lake, Wash.) had eight stops and was in on two tackles for loss. Derek Stottlemyer (So., DB, Bothell, Wash.) picked off two passes, including one that he returned 50 yards to set up Whitworth's first touchdown, and was also in on a sack. Zack Clow (Jr., P, Blanchard, Idaho) punted six times, averaging 35.8 yards per attempt. Andy Largent (Sr., WR/PK, Spokane, Wash.) kicked his fourth field goal of the season (36 yards) in the second quarter and missed from 39 yards in the fourth quarter.
SWX Broadcast : Saturday's contest will be broadcast live on local cable station SWX. It is the final live broadcast of a Whitworth game this season. Sam Adams will provide play by play, while Bill Ames gives color commentary. SWX stands for Sports & Weather Right Now and is owned by local NBC affiliate KHQ channel 6. SWX Right Now can be seen both over-the-air and through some cable services in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, and Yakima viewership areas. In the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, SWX is found on digital channel 6.2, on Comcast channel 115 in Spokane and Time Warner channel 306 in North Idaho. Click here for a complete list of station numbers throughout the Eastern Washington/North Idaho region. 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.) has been out since the Chapman game with a broken thumb, but is still holding out hope to play one more game this year. Justin Wimberly (Jr., TE, Tumwater, Wash.) missed last week with a concussion. Versus California: After Saturday the Pirates have won 21 of the last 26 against schools from the Golden State and are 24-13-1 all-time against Californian colleges. The Bucs are 12-3-1 at home against California schools and 12-10 on the road. Whitworth went 3-1 against schools from the Golden State last season, defeating La Verne (H), Chapman (A) and Menlo (A). Whitworth lost at Redlands (A). The Pirates played the same four schools in 2009 with all the locations reversed and went 2-2.
The Captains: Adam Anderson, Jeff Kintner (Sr., OL, Wenatchee, Wash.) and Brandon Martin (Sr., DT, Sweet Home, Ore.) 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: Pacific Lutheran comes into the week 2-4 overall and 2-1 in the NWC. After suffering big losses in their first two games, the Lutes have played much better over the last month (2-2). Those two losses include a heart-breaker at Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) by a 34-33 score, and a 35-17 loss at nationally-ranked Willamette after PLU led 17-7 early in the third quarter. Last week the Lutes rolled past cross-town rival Puget Sound 35-14. PLU has averaged 351.8 yards per game on offense, and 75% of that offense has come through the air. The defense has given up 376 yards and 31.8 yards per game. PLU has rediscovered is offensive explosiveness behind a talented group of receivers. Greg Ford is an All-American caliber receiver who has caught 42 passes for 778 yards with six touchdowns. Kyle Whitford and Drew Griffen are very good in their own right and have combined for 54 catches, 563 yards and five TDs. All three are juniors and make up only half of PLU's stable of pass catchers. Throwing the ball to this talented group are a pair of transfer quarterbacks. Jordan Rasmussen is a junior transfer from Central Washington who has completed 58% of his passes for 1,060 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. AJ Palazzolo, a redshirt freshman transfer from Cal Lutheran, has completed 65% of his passes for 639 yards with seven touchdowns and three picks. Senior free safety Andy Sturza leads the Lute defense with 46 tackles. Fellow senior Tony Slater (DE) has 8.5 tackles for losses totaling 46 yards. Puget Sound actually outgained Pacific Lutheran 413-319 last Saturday, but the Lutes used six Logger turnovers to win for the 21st time in 22 meetings between the Tacoma schools. Rasmussen completed 17 of 26 passes for 176 yards with three touchdown passes and also led the Lutes in rushing with 49 yards on 10 carries. Sturza was part of a strong defensive effort with 10 tackles. Last Season: Trailing 29-21 in the third quarter, Whitworth scored the final 19 points of the game to pull out a 40-29 win at PLU. In a season of outstanding performances, Adam Anderson (Jr., RB, Elk, Wash.) topped them all that Saturday, running for a career high 217 yards on 31 carries and shattering Whitworth's single-game scoring record by recording all six Pirate touchdowns in the game. Milton Nelson picked up 68 yards on 14 carries against the Lutes. As a team the Pirates ran for 293 yards and held onto the ball for 39 minutes and 19 seconds, nearly doubling PLU in time of posession. Layton Brown and Cameron Stroyan each led the Pirates with five tackles and came up with an interception. The Series: PLU leads the all-time series 46-18 and at one time had won 32 games in a row. But Whitworth ended that streak in 2001 and has won the last five meetings in a row. The last time the game was in Spokane, Whitworth built a 28-0 halftime lead before holding on to win 28-21. Whitworth has won the last two meetings at the Pine Bowl. The largest winning margin in the series is a 67-0 win for the Pirates in 1961. PLU's biggest margin of victory is 47-0 in 1970. The first meeting was a 27-0 victory for the Lutes in 1931.
Scott Westering has compiled a 25-26 overall record in his sixth season as Pacific Lutheran University head coach. Named to the position in February 2004, Scott took over for his father, Hall-of-Famer Frosty, who served as PLU football head coach for 32 years. Scott had been the offensive coordinator since 1983. Coach Tully's Quotes: John Tully talks about what Whitworth can learn from the Menlo game, what to expect from Pacific Lutheran, and what these final two games mean for the seniors on the team. Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
