PUYALLUP – Niko Madison showed off the ability that made him the 2013 Northwest Conference rushing champion, running for nearly 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead 17th-ranked Pacific Lutheran to a 35-28 nonconference rivalry win over California Lutheran in the 2014 season opener Saturday at Sparks Stadium.

The Lutes never trailed in the contest and twice held 14-point leads as a dominant rushing effort in the first half gave PLU 209 yards in the ground before the break. Madison ran for 123 of his game-total 149 before halftime as PLU nearly doubled Cal Lutheran's yardage total in the first two quarters.

PLU took the opening kickoff and drove 74 yards down the field on eight plays to take a 7-0 lead following a 4-yard touchdown run by Madison. CLU tied it up on the ensuing drive on a 10-yard scoring pass from David Rico to Sean Bellotti, but the Lutes responded in turn with an 11-play drive that finished with a 2-yard scoring run by Darin Hardgrove.

Kyle Madsen's 1-yard run early in the second quarter gave PLU a 21-7 lead. The Lutes had two opportunities to add to that lead before halftime, but the CLU defense prevented PLU from scoring despite twice making its way into visiting territory.

Cal Lutheran made the necessary halftime adjustments and put together a 10-play scoring drive to start the second half, capped by E.J. Edinburgh's 2-yard touchdown run. The Kingsmen tied it up 15 minutes later when Rico ran it in from four yards out to make it 21-21 with just under 13 minutes to play.

It didn't take long for the Lutes to respond, however, as on the second play of their next drive Dalton Ritchey found an uncovered Kyle Warner deep for a 68-yard scoring pass. Madison's second scoring run of the day came a few minutes later following a Cal Lutheran fumble. The Kingsmen worked their way back into the game with a scoring pass from Andrew Worthley to Nick Isham with 2:06 showing on the clock, but the Lutes recovered an onside kick and held the ball until less than 30 seconds remained.

Cal Lutheran had its final chance in the closing seconds with a long field to go, but Spencer McKinnon intercepted Isham's pass to seal the win for PLU. McKinnon and Hibbard each intercepted passes in the game, with Hibbard picking off a pass in the end zone right before halftime and returning it 100 yards for a touchdown that was called back due to a PLU penalty. Joel Teats and Travis McCarthy led the defense for the Lutes, as Teats tallied eight tackles and McCarthy added six in the win.

Ritchey passed for 173 yards and one touchdown to go with one interception, and he also rushed for 36 yards. Warner grabbed four passes for 92 yards and a score. Isham and Rico combined for 255 passing yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions for CLU, and the QB duo also combined for 101 rushing yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Robert Foy made 11 tackles, including one sack and two tackles-for-loss for the Kingsmen.

The Lutes, now 1-0 this season, have a bye next week before heading to San Antonio, Tex., to take on Trinity on Sept. 27.