PUYALLUP – Pacific Lutheran doubled Redlands' total offense, and the 11th-ranked Lutes scored three fourth-quarter goals to pull away to the 35-14 nonconference football victory over the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon at Sparks Stadium.
The win improves the Lutes' early-season record to a perfect 2-0 going into next weekend's nonconference road game against Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Redlands falls to 0-2 with the loss.
"It was a great day for PLU football," PLU head coach Scott Westering said. "To deal with adversity as the day went on, we played well early and kind of dipped into a bit of a funk."
One week after accounting for four touchdowns and nearly 300 total yards, Dalton Ritchey passed for 306 yards and three scores on 19-of-34 passing to lead the PLU offense to 21 first downs and 474 total yards. Kyle Warner caught five passes for a game-high 137 yards and a pair of scores, while Kellen Westering tallied six catches for 78 yards. Niko Madison ran for 118 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Pacific Lutheran totaled 474 yards of offense for an average of seven yards per play.
The trio of Ben Kaestner, Dalton Darmody and Jordan Patterson led the Lute defense with seven tackles apiece as PLU limited Redlands to only 232 yards and forced three turnovers and seven three-and-outs. Alex Bridgford, Kevin Russell and Mitch Samson split time under center for the Bulldogs, totaling 117 passing yards with two interceptions.
"Our defense played so well all day long," Westering said.
The PLU defense set the tone early, forcing three-and-outs on the Bulldogs' first three drives. Ritchey's offense took advantage in its second drive, claiming possession on the Redlands' 47-yard line and putting seven points on the board six plays later. Ritchey connected on all four of his pass attempts on the drive, including a 12-yard connection with Lucas Sontra for the score.
The Lutes' next drive yielded another touchdown, as Madison ran it in from one yard out to cap an eight-play, 60-yard set. Following the 14-0 first-quarter advantage the PLU offense stalled for the next two quarters, turning the ball over on a fumble and an interception and missing two field goals. Luckily for the Lute offense, the PLU defense was up to the challenge and only allowed four drives of more than three plays in the game.
A fourth-quarter fumble recovery by Darmody in the end zone made it 21-0 and ended the two-quarter scoring drought. The Bulldogs put their first points on the board on the following drive, however it was the UR defense that stepped up with Connor Hoffman intercepting a Ritchey pass and returning it 76 yards to make it 21-7.
Just like last week, however, the Lutes responded to a big play by the opposition with a big play of their own. An out-of-bounds onside-kick attempt by Redlands gave PLU the ball on the UR 41-yard line, and Ritchey hit Warner on the first play of the drive for a 41-yard touchdown. The Lutes' next drive ended in similar fashion, with consecutive long passes to Westering and Warner finding the junior all-conference wide receiver in the end zone on a 32-yard reception.
"We always say that the longer we play, the better we're going to get," Westering said. "We're going to make adjustments and we're going to be able to flush mistakes with our players and guys and keep positive with each other. They did that so much today. To see how we came on in that fourth quarter on both sides of the ball, I was so proud of our kids to hang in there."
Redlands added one final score in the final minute of the contest, as Russell connected with Stephen Rodriguez from seven yards out to reach the final score of 35-14.
