THIS WEEKEND: Pacific Lutheran (5-0 overall,
2-0 Northwest Conference) hosts Linfield (4-1, 3-0), Saturday,
12:30 p.m., Sparks Stadium.
MUCH AT STAKE ON SATURDAY: There is much at
stake this coming Saturday at Sparks Stadium when Pacific Lutheran
and Linfield renew their long football rivalry. Both teams are
nationally ranked in NCAA Division III football entering the game,
and the winner will remain the only unbeaten team in the Northwest
Conference. The defending conference champion Wildcats enter the
game atop the standings with a 3-0 record, one game ahead of the
2-0 Lutes in the standings.
FOLLOW THE LUTES: You can listen to PLU
football throughout the year in the Tacoma area on KLAY 1180 AM
with Steve Thomas and Karl Hoseth calling the action. The
broadcasts are also available online on the KLAY website (www.klay1180.com). Additionally,
listeners can access the PLU football broadcasts on the PLU
athletics website at www.golutes.com, then clicking on
Listen Live and following the link.
THE SERIES: Saturday's game will be the 60th
meeting between PLU and Linfield, with the Wildcats holding a
34-21-4 advantage in the series that dates back to Linfield's 20-6
win in 1933. Additionally, the teams have played each other at
least once for 45 straight years, currently PLU's longest
ongoing streak against an opponent. The teams played each other
twice in 1980, 1985, 1986, 1991 and 1992, each time the second game
coming in the NAIA Division II national playoffs. Linfield has won
each of the last eight times the teams have played, the
longest winning streak for either team in the series. In that
eight-game span, Linfield has out-scored PLU, 311-130, averaging
38.8 points per game. On the other side, PLU has never won more
than three straight against the Wildcats. Pacific Lutheran's last
win in the series came in 2001 when the Frosty Westering-coached
Lutes beat the Wildcats, 31-20, at Maxwell Field in McMinnville.
Prior to last year's 62-44 Linfield win that set a Pacific Lutheran
football single-game record for combined points, the Wildcats had
recorded back-to-back shutouts of the Lutes. Linfield's 45-0
victory in 2008 at Sparks Stadium was the largest single-game
point spread since the series began, and it came on the heels of a
24-0 Linfield whitewash of the Lutes in 2007. There is great
football tradition between the two programs, especially in the
1980s and 1990s when the winner of the rivalry game generally went
on to postseason success.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Scott Westering is in his
seventh year as head coach at Pacific Lutheran, where he has
compiled a 31-28 overall record. Scott joined the PLU coaching
staff in 1981 after playing tight end for the Lutes under his
father, Frosty Westering. Scott served as the Lutes'
offensive coordinator from 1983-2003, helping PLU to two NAIA
Division II titles and one NCAA Division III national championship,
as well as four runner-up finishes. He has coached 11 first-team
All-Americans, including the 2000 NCAA Division III Player of
the Year, Chad Johnson. Scott was a captain and All-America tight
end on the 1980 PLU team that won the Lutes' first NAIA national
championship. He was inducted into the PLU Hall of Fame in 1998.
For Linfield, Joseph Smith is 34-15 in is fifth season as head
coach. Last year, he led Linfield all the way to the national
semifinals where it lost to eventual national champion
Wisconsin-Whitewater. Smith served as an assistant at Linfield for
13 years, including seven seasons as defensive coordinator from
1999 to 2005, before taking over as head coach in 2006 when Jay
Locey accepted a position as assistant head coach at Oregon State
University. A second team NAIA All-American in 1992, Smith was a
four-year starter at cornerback and a two-time first team
all-conference selection at Linfield College.
LAST YEAR: The Pacific Lutheran University
football record for most points scored in one game fell when
Linfield beat the Lutes, 62-44, on Nov. 14 at Maxwell Field in
McMinnville, Ore. The win gave Linfield an undefeated regular
season finish for the sixth time since 2000, and it brought an end
to PLU's 3-6 season. Linfield and PLU combined for 106 points,
eclipsing the former record of 102 set in 1989 when Pacific
Lutheran defeated Southern Oregon, 52-50. Hanging tough and
trailing Linfield 13-7, the wheels came off the wagon for PLU in
the final minutes of the first half. It was a dreadful final 3:45
for the Lutes, as the Wildcats scored 28 unanswered points before
halftime. Linfield opened the scoring with a 99-yard touchdown
drive, capped by Boehme's eight-yard strike to
Buddy Saxon. The 'Cats made it 13-0 early in the second
quarter on a two-yard touchdown run by Chris Saunders. PLU answered
back with 6:25 remaining in the first half on a Jordan Rasmussen
touchdown pass to Cody Pohren from eight yards out. From there the Wildcats would
seize control. Linfield tailback Aaron Williams got the
game-changing run started with 3:45 left in the half on an
11-yard touchdown run. With 2:44 left in the first half,
Linfield linebacker Alex Tkachuk returned an interception 22 yards
for a score. Linfield got the ball back with 1:28 left in the
half on its own 18-yard line and proceeded to drive the length of
the field to score on a 27-yard pass from Aaron Boehme to Trevor
Patterson. The Lutes coughed up the ball deep in their own
territory and with two seconds left Boehme hit Patterson for a
16-yard touchdown completion, giving Linfield a 41-7 lead. Boehme
picked apart the PLU secondary to the tune of 313 yards and
four touchdowns in the first half alone. He finished the game
completing 24-of-29 passes for 374 yards and five touchdowns
in just a little over a half of play. Meanwhile, Linfield
defense was limiting PLU to 84 yards of total offense in the first
half.
PLU got some momentum going in the second half against the Wildcats
second unit. Trailing 48-7, the Lutes scored on a 13-yard pass from
Rasmussen to Drew
Griffin in the third quarter. The Lutes, battling to the
end, scored 30 points in the fourth quarter starting with a
one-yard touchdown run by Griffin. Rasmussen also connected with Greg Ford on six- and
one-yard scoring passes, and with Kyle Whitford on a
20-yard touchdown aerial. Rasmussen completed 31-of-56 passes for
325 yards and five scores, all but 55 yards of it coming in the
second half. His 56 pass attempts broke a PLU single-game record
set by Marc Weekly in 1993. Linfield gained 644 total yards,
including 504 through the air, compared to 382 yards, 325 through
the air, for the Lutes.
LUTES LAST WEEK: For the first time since
1997, Pacific Lutheran has opened a football season with five
consecutive victories after a 28-10 non-conference win last
Saturday over the Menlo College Oaks at Connor Field. Pacific
Lutheran took a 7-0 lead on the final play of the first quarter
when Kyle
Whitford took an end around to the left pylon from four yards
out to cap a 12-play, 80-yard drive. Menlo tied the game with 1:53
left in the first half when Robert Gehre scored on a 31-yard pass
from Tyler Congdon, finishing off a nine-play, 72-yard drive. Using
the sidelines and all three of its timeouts to stop the clock,
Pacific Lutheran moved the ball to the Menlo 35 with 14 seconds.
The Lutes converted a fourth down on a pass from Jordan Rasmussen
to Greg
Ford, setting up a 35-yard scoring strike from Rasmussen to
Ford. Rasmussen's pinpoint pass hit Ford in stride behind two Oaks
defenders, giving the Lutes a 14-7 advantage with five seconds left
in the half. The Lutes scored again on their opening drive of the
second half. It took nine plays for them to cover 57 yards with
running back Alec
Simmons tight-roping the sidelines on a 19-yard touchdown run
that made it 21-7 with just less than five minutes gone in the
third quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, Kevin Kurtz punched
home a 41-yard field goal to pull the Oaks within 11 points at
21-10, but the Lutes finished the game with another touchdown on
the ensuing drive. Rasmussen completed back-to-back
third-and-long passes to Ford on underneath patterns to keep the
ball in the Lutes' hands. With the clock ticking under 10 minutes,
Rasmussen hit Isaac
Moog, who zigzagged his way back toward the sideline
before diving across the pylon for a 38-yard touchdown
catch-and-run to put his team ahead, 28-10. Menlo held a 310-294
advantage in total yards, with 127 yards coming on the ground and
183 more in the air. Pacific Lutheran's potent passing attack
proved to be too much for the Oaks as Rasmussen completed 25-of-31
attempts for 265 yards and two scores. Ford caught 10 passes for
103 yards and Moog added six receptions for 87 yards. Defensively
for the Lutes, Trevor
Fox and Michael
Warsaw both finished with seven tackles, and Erik
Magnussen had the team's only sack among his six tackles.
LINFIELD LAST WEEK: Linfield built a 49-point
halftime lead on its way to a 66-14 Northwest Conference blowout
victory over Pacific on Saturday afternoon at Maxwell Field.
Linfield continued its dominating defensive play with a solid
all-around effort against Pacific, which revived its
football program after a 20-year hiatus. The Wildcats limited
the Boxers to 273 yards of offense and 10 first downs. On the
offensive side of the football, the Wildcats rolled up 557 yards of
total offense. Before being replaced midway through the second
quarter, quarterback Aaron Boehme completed 10-of-12 passes for 171
yards. He was one of five quarterbacks to see action. In
addition, 13 different players carried the ball and 10 different
receivers had receptions for Linfield.
ABOUT LINFIELD: The first thing that the casual
observer might notice is that Linfield actually lost its opener at
Cal Lutheran, 47-42, and that a week later Pacific Lutheran toppled
visiting Cal Lutheran, 35-21. Don't read anything into that,
however, because this is a very talented and deep Linfield team
that is focused on advancing at least one more step in the
Division III national playoffs than did the 2009 squad, and those
Wildcats led eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater in the
fourth quarter of their semifinal game before eventually
succumbing. But that was last year. This year's team features a
high-powered offense led by first team all-conference quarterback
Aaron Boehme and a stingy, aggressive defense spearheaded by
defensive lineman Eric Hedin. Through five games, the Wildcats
average 45.6 points and 502 yards of offense per contest. Boehme is
81-for-129 passing (63 percent) for 1,270 yards with 11 touchdowns
and six interceptions. His favorite targets are wide receivers
Deidre Wiersma (24 receptions, 328 yards, five TDs) and Chris
Slezak (22 receptions, 433 yards, two scores). The 'Cats average
296.2 passing yards per game. The running game, which checks in at
205.8 yards per contest, is led by Simon Lamson's 305 yards. Boehme
has 182 rushing yards and leads the team with six touchdowns on the
ground. In all, four different players have rushed for at least 125
yards through the team's first five games. Jordan Barnes, a first
team all-conference right guard, leads an offensive line that
averages 274 pounds per man. Defensively, tackle Paul Nishizaki
earned first team all-conference honors a year ago, but Hedin is
the one making the headlines this year. The 6-7, 245-pound
defender has 38 total tackles, double any other player on the team,
and he already has 17 tackles for loss (76 yards) and 10
quarterback sacks (61 yards). Bubba Kukahiko leads the linebacking
corps and safety Drew Fisher, a first team all-conference pick in
2009, heads up a strong group in the secondary. The Linfield
defense has limited opponents to an average of 17.0 points and just
267.0 yards per game this year, so the Lutes will be hard pressed
to get things going against this unit.
LINFIELD HOLDS THE RECORD: Linfield College has
compiled 54 consecutive winning seasons, which is the
longest active streak of any four-year college football
program in the country. In fact, the streak is 15 years longer
than the 39 consecutive winning seasons compiled by Ithaca (N.Y.),
which is next on the list. Additionally, Linfield's 54 straight
winning seasons is 12 more than the three schools tied
for second on the all-time list with 42 straight winning
seasons - Harvard (1881-1923), Notre Dame (1889-1932) and
Central of Iowa (1961-2002). Pacific Lutheran is 12th on that list
with 36 straight winning records dating from 1969-2004.
BEST START SINCE 1997: Pacific Lutheran is off
to a 5-0 start for only the third time since the 1991 season. The
1991 team started 5-0 and 1997 team began the season
with six straight wins. Even the two most recent PLU national
championship teams failed to start as well. The 1993 Lutes were
0-0-1 (a 20-20 tie with Linfield) after their season opener before
going on to win their next 13 in a row on the way to the program's
third NAIA Division II national title, and the 1999 team was 3-1 (a
29-20 loss to Willamette) before finishing 13-1 and winning the
school's only NCAA Division III crown.
LUTES IN TOP 25: PLU has opened the 2010
football season with a 5-0 record, and national pollsters have
noticed the Lutes' success on the field. The Lutes broke
into last week's D3football.com Top 25 poll at No.
25, and this week they have moved up to No. 22. Defending national
champion Wisconsin-Whitewater is first with 623 points and 23 of 25
first-place votes. Another perennial national power, Mount Union
(Ohio), is second with 602 points and two first-place votes.
Pacific Lutheran has moved into the American Football Coaches
Association (AFCA) Top 25 Poll for the first time this week, coming
in at No. 23 with 137 points. The Lutes trail No. 22 California
Lutheran, a team they defeated 35-21 during the second week of the
season, by five points. Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mount Union are
also 1-2 in the AFCA poll. Linfield College, by the way, is ranked
ranked ahead of PLU in both polls - 12th in D3football.com and 18th
in AFCA.
LUTES BY THE NUMBERS: The Lutes have averaged
32.0 points and 390.0 yards of total offense while
allowing 20.0 points and 355.8 yards per contest. The Lutes
average 244.4 passing yards and 145.6 rushing yards
per contest. Opponents have compiled 114 first downs, however,
to just 95 for the Lutes. Senior quarterback Jordan
Rasmussen is 86-for-137 passing (63 percent) for 1,172
yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. His favorite
target is Greg Ford, who has 33 receptios for 517 yards (15.7 yards
per catch) and six touchdowns. Isaac Moog has 18 catches for
298 yards (16.6 yards per catch) and five touchdowns. Ford averages
103.4 receiving yards per game. Senior running back Alec
Simmons averages 100.8 rushing yards per game
and has three of the Lutes' six touchdowns via the run. The Lutes
have scored 23 touchdowns this season, 16 through the air, six on
the ground, and one on a fumble return. Defensively, the Lutes have
a total of 13 takeaways this season, seven fumble recoveries and
six interceptions. Senior defensive back Trevor
Fox has four interceptions this season, all of them coming in
the first two games. Junior linebacker Richard Isett continues
to lead the Lutes with 34 total tackles, including five
for loss, followed by junior defensive lineman Erik Magnussen
and frosh safety Sean McFadden with 30
apiece. Magnussen leads PLU with 7.5 tackles for loss and 2.5
quarterback sacks. Senior defensive lineman Cameron
McMillan has 28 tackles, including three for loss, while senior
linebacker Colby
Davies has 27 tackles, four tackles for loss, and a fumble
return for a touchdown.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE FORD: Greg Ford, the Lutes'
senior wide receiver from Steilacoom, continues his move up PLU's
all-time receiving lists. With 33 receptions this season, Ford
now has 178 career catches, which puts him sixth on the
all-time list. He ranks third with 3,110 career
receiving yards, surpassing Aaron Tang (1991-94) and his
3,031 yards for third on the list. With six touchdown catches
this season, Ford has 32 in his career, moving him one past
Kyle Brown (1999-2002) and into second on the all-time list. Only
Mike Welk, with 35, has had more touchdown catches than Ford.
MORE ON FORD: An "unofficial" survey of
Division III football programs shows that Greg Ford currently has
the fourth-longest streak of consecutive games with at least one
reception. Ford has caught at least one pass in all 32 games in
which he has played. Aaron Rusch from Wisconsin-Whitewater is at 50
games, followed by Matt Shepherd from Monmouth (Ill.) at 39, Alex
Koors from DePauw (Ind.) at 35, Ford with 32, and Charles Curcio
from Gettysburg (Pa.) at 32. The survey was conducted by St.
Vincent College assistant sports information director Jay
Berger.
- PLU -
