Pirates Look to Even NWC Record
Whitworth University hopes to even its Northwest Conference football record at 2-2 this week when the Pirates host Menlo College on Saturday afternoon in the Whitworth Pine Bowl. The Bucs avoided their first three-game NWC losing streak in ten years with last weekend's 24-15 win at University of Puget Sound. The Oaks are also coming off of a win at Puget Sound, but had a weekend bye in between that game and this week's upcoming contest.
The Pirates: Whitworth built a big first half lead (24-3) and then held off the Loggers in last Saturday's 24-15 win. Milton Nelson (Sr., RB, Spokane, Wash.) had his best rushing game of the season, carrying 15 times for 112 yards. London Vessey (Fr., RB, Tumwater, Taylor Eglet (Fr., QB, Spokane, Wash.) made his first start for the Pirates and completed 10 of 16 passes for 104 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. All of his touchdown passes came in the second quarter, when the Pirates scored all 24 of their points. First was a 25 yard pass to Dale Entel (So., WR, Clarkston, Wash.), then a 28 yard pass to Kyle Scroggins (Sr., WR, Royal City, Wash.) and finally a three-yard pass to Brian Brady (So., WR, Issaquah, Wash.) with 10 seconds left in the period. It was Brady's first career touchdown catch. Brandon Martin (Sr., DT, Sweet Home, Ore.) had eight solo tackles, including a sack and another tackle for loss, to go with a fumble recovery late in the second quarter. Jeff Erlenmeyer (Jr., DE, Moses Lake, Wash.) had an interception, forced a fumble and finished with nine tackles. Layton Brown (Jr., LB, Kennewick, Wash.) had seven tackles and broke up two passes. Brian O'Kelley (So., LB, Clarkston, Wash.) finished with ten tackles. Zack Clow (Jr., P, Blanchard, Idaho) had another strong day punting the ball, averaging 36.0 yards on seven kicks. Andy Largent (Sr., WR/PK, Spokane, Wash.) kicked his third field goal of the season (23 yards) in the second quarter. 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. Eric Entel (Sr., WR, Clarkston, Wash.) is expected to be back this week after missing last Saturday's game at Puget Sound. A Strong Return on the Investment: Cailen Thomason (So., DB, Vancouver, Wash.) has stepped into the role of primary kick off returner in place of Anderson. He has been outstanding and leads the NWC in kick off return average at 24.6 yards per return. His 80 yard return against Linfield is a season-best for the Pirates. It's Been a Decade: Whitworth headed into last Saturday's game on a two-game NWC losing streak. The Pirates lost two conference games in a row last year before finishing with four straight wins. The last time Whitworth lost three conference games in a row was 1999. Versus California: The Pirates have won 21 of the last 25 against schools from the Golden State and are 24-12-1 all-time against Californian colleges. The Bucs are 12-2-1 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 play the same four schools in 2009 with all the locations reversed and are 2-1 so far this season.
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: Menlo has won two of its last three games to bounce back from an 0-3 start. The Oaks and Pirates have three common opponents this year. Menlo lost 21-7 at Chapman in the second game of the season, fell 31-7 at home to Linfield in the conference opener for both schools and won 14-3 at Puget Sound two Saturday's ago. Menlo's offense has battled several key injuries, which has led to the Oaks averaging only 12.0 points per game (against 23.3 for opponents). Menlo has been outgained 311-280 on average this season. Nick Ruhl, a transfer from Stanford with junior eligibility, has been the starter at QB for most of the season. He has completed 56.3% of his passes for 932 yards with five touchdowns and nine interceptions. But he missed the game at Puget Sound. Freshman Kenny Cavness and senior James Bassett have been an explosive wide receiver combo. Cavness has 33 catches for 359 yards and three touchdowns, while Bassett has 25 receptions for 386 yards and four scores. Running back has been by committee for the Oaks. Junior Payton Bell has run for 187 yards and two touchdowns. On defense sophomore safety Beau Bussani leads the team with 37 tackles. Junior outside linebacker Shawn Winters has 7.5 tackles for losses totalling 30 yards. The statistics were fairly even between Menlo and Puget Sound on October 3rd. The Oaks outgained the Loggers 275-217 and each team had 15 first downs. But Menlo took advantage of a 5-2 edge in turnovers to claim the win. Freshman Cruz Castillo stepped in for Ruhl at QB and completed 22 of 33 passes for 272 yards with touchdowns to both Cavness and Bassett. Winters was named the NWC Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week after finishing with five tackles, including two sacks for 14 yards, and recovering a fumble. Last Season: Whitworth scored just enough, and made a couple of big defensive plays, to win 36-34 at Menlo. Adam Anderson had another big game for the Pirates. He ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns, caught a 20 yard touchdown pass and returned four kickoffs an average of 29 yards for 277 all-purpose yards in the game. He also set up one of his touchdowns by completing a 38 yard pass to Andy Largent. Milton Nelson also had another strong game, running 11 times for 74 yards and scoring Whitworth's first touchdown from 24 yards away in the first quarter. Layton Brown made two big plays to key the Pirate defense. In addition to his seven solo tackles, his first quarter interception set up the Pirates' first touchdown. Then with less than two minutes to play and Whitworth leading by two points, his eight yard sack moved Menlo out of field goal range and forced the Oaks to go for it on fourth and 11, which they failed to complete. Paul Werhane had eight total tackles. The Series: Whitworth leads the series 8-1 after last year's 36-34 win at Menlo. Last season was the closest game ever in the series. The Pirates have won the last seven in a row and are 4-0 against the Oaks in Spokane. The largest margin of victory was Whitworth's 49-0 win in 2007. The Oaks' win came in 1999 at home in overtime (24-21). In addition to last year and the overtime game in 1999, there have been other dramatic finishes in games between Menlo and Whitworth: in 2003 the Pirates built a big halftime lead then held off a strong Oak comeback for a 30-24 win in the Pine Bowl and in 2004 Whitworth won 41-35 in overtime at Menlo.
After 13 seasons as an assistant coach on the Oaks' staff, Fred Guidici is in his first year as head coach at Menlo. He also serves as the recruiting coordinator for the Oaks' athletics department. Coach Tully's Quotes: John Tully talks about Whitworth's win at Puget Sound, and what the team can expect from a talented Menlo squad on Saturday. Other Division III Football Links: American Football Coaches Association |
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