Puyallup, Wash. — It was a roller coaster first half for the Pacific Lutheran University football team on Saturday at Sparks Stadium. The Lutes trailed visiting California Lutheran University by 10 after the opening quarter but piled on 27 unanswered points in the second quarter to seize command of the game and never looked back, leaning heavily on the ground game in a 37-27 triumph over the Kingsmen.
PLU (1-2) piled up 232 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, overcoming a sluggish start to end the non-conference portion of the regular season on a high note.
The visiting Kingsmen (1-1) seized an early 10-0 lead in the opening quarter, capitalizing on a pair of short fields. Cal Lu scored a touchdown after taking over on the six-yard line before getting the ball again the next possession on the Lute 21-yard line and settling for a field goal.
It was the
Raysen Motoyama show the next Lute drive with the running back accounting for 38 of the team's 44 yards on an eight-play drive that was capped off by a one-yard plunge by the senior. Motoyama was back in the endzone just under five minutes later, scoring from four yards out to finish off a 54-yard drive, giving PLU a lead they would never relinquish.
Darius Chaffin scampered 20-yards for a touchdown with 5:33 left in the second quarter before
Logan Rodriguez connected with
Manuel Felan from 14-yards out with 59 ticks left in the half. Cal Lu booted a field goal with four seconds left as Pacific Lutheran owned a 27-13 edge at the halftime intermission.
Chaffin connected with
Patrick McInerny from 15-yards out with 3:52 left in the third, pushing the Lute advantage to 34-13. Cal Lu scored a touchdown early in the fourth but PLU answered with a 13-play drive that ended with a
Cole Sargent 19-yard field goal, that more importantly, chewed up over seven minutes of clock time. CLU added a late touchdown but the PLU ground game proved too much to stop late in the game as the Lutes rolled to the 10-point win.
Motoyama averaged 4.9-yards per carry on the day, finishing six yards shy of the century mark while also scoring twice. Chaffin added 86 yards and a score on the ground while throwing for 131 yards, completing nine of his 11 passing attempts.
"We're proud of our guys for not hanging their heads after a 10-0 deficit to start the game. You don't shift the momentum by hanging on the past and our guys kept their focus on the play in front of them," said Head Coach
Brant McAdams.
"Huge props to our defense for forcing a field goal on the second time they were put out there on a short field. Thatbhelped boost our offense to finish the next four drives in the endzone."
Manuel Felan was the most popular target on Saturday with five receptions for 116-yards and a score.Â
PLU's defense got after the Kingsmen all day, recording eight sacks and 10 TFLs.
Kalen Davis-White spearheaded those efforts with nine tackles, 3.5 TFLs, and 2.5 sacks.
Nico Golla had three sacks while
Noah Childress,
Gavin Hawley,
Kaysen Higa, and
Zachary Gable all recorded sacks.Â
PLU outgained CLU 377-228 including a 232-12 discrepancy on the ground. PLU had 23 first downs to Cal Lu's 13 and controlled the clock, holding the ball 11 minutes longer than the visitors (34:06 to 23:25).Â
"Proud of our box on both sides of the ball. The D held Cal Lu to 12 yards rushing and the O ran for over 100. All in all it was great to get the win and felt really good being back home at Sparks Stadium."
The Lutes take next weekend off before opening Northwest Conference action on the road in Spokane on Sept. 30 against in-state nemesis Whitworth University.Â
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