Willamette Qb’s Tricks Baffle Whitworth

Some guys pull a rabbit out of a hat, or find a quarter in your ear. Willamette quarterback Chuck Pinkerton’s magic act, though, is to make a football disappear.

Saturday afternoon at the Pine Bowl, Pinkerton ran the Bearcats’ “fly” offense to perfection in the first half, faking, running and throwing 25th-ranked Willamette to a 50-18 Columbia Football Association victory over Whitworth.

Pinkerton directed the Bearcats (2-0, 4-2) to four touchdowns and a narrow victory over the Willamette defense, which ran back fumble recoveries for three TDs. The Cats led 36-0 at halftime.

You could call the fly a “now you see it, now you don’t” offense, except frequently you don’t see the football, period. The offense depends on misdirection, motion, trap blocking and sleight-of-hand by the quarterback. When it works, the football’s usually on the other end of a long gain.

The Bearcats rushed for 331 yards last week in a stunning 40-6 win over then-No. 1 ranked Linfield College, and they had 202 by halftime against Whitworth. Danny Osborne led the Cats with 138 on 19 carries and Pinkerton added 77 on 10 carries.

It was the Willamette defense that got the Bearcats going, though, after Whitworth had held on downs on the opening series of the game. On a second-and-six from the Whitworth 40, Pirates QB J.J. Green was blindsided by a corner blitz, and the ball popped into the hands of Greg Nolan, who returned it 35 yards for a touchdown.

The Bearcats drove 77 yards in 12 plays on their next series, making it 15-0 when Osborne ran 8 yards and Gordon Thomson converted.

Pinkerton threw the first of two first-half touchdown passes early in the second quarter, connecting with Forrest Williams on a 10-yarder after Pinkerton had run for 41 yards of an 80-yard drive.

That made it 22-0, and two touchdowns in three plays late in the half made it 36-0. First, Pinkerton connected for 8 yards with Geoff Huston with 1:35 left. Then Green was sacked by Rodney Wood - one of six first-half sacks by the Bearcats - and coughed it up again for linebacker Keith Grames to run in from the 12.

Give some credit to the Pirates, though, for a strong second-half offensive performance. They gained 369 yards after the break, including 233 on the ground against the CFA’s top rushing defense. Whitworth finished with 501 yards of offense.

Freshman Josh Parbon played the whole second half in relief of Green and ran the Pirates’ offense effectively, throwing for one TD, running for another and driving the Bucs across midfield on each of six possessions. He completed 12 of 16 passes for 151 yards, including a 41-yard TD pass to Andre Wicks.

Freshman running back Timothy Rust, especially, put a dent in Willamette’s defensive numbers, rushing for 175 yards on 27 carries.

“I’m happy that we played hard after a bizarre first half,” said first-year Whitworth coach John Tully, who watched his team fall to 0-2 in the CFA, 1-5 overall. “I don’t like getting beat like that,” he said, “but it’s nice to see the kids maintaining a positive attitude.

“I hurt inside for them,” he continued. “I want them to be successful. We’re trying to establish some things and we were solid in the second half.”

Willamette 50, Whitworth 18

Willamette 15 21 7 7 - 50

Whitworth 0 0 6 12 - 18

Wil - Nolan 35 fumble return (Traeger run)

Wil - Osborne 9 run (Thomson kick)

Wil - F.Williams 10 pass from Pinkerton (Thomson kick)

Wil - Huetton 8 pass from Pinkerton (Thomson kick)

Wil - Grames 12 fumble return (Thomson kick)

Whi - Wicks 41 pass from Parbon (kick failed)

Wil - Franco 8 fumble return (Thomson kick)

Whi - Olson 3 run (run failed)

Wil - D.Williams 20 run (Thomson kick)

Whi - Parbon 1 run (pass failed)

Wil Whi First downs 21 30 Rushes-yards 46-283 68-243 Passing yards 82 258 Return yards 55 13 Passes 8-13-1 20-33-0 Punts-Avg. 4-33.8 2-34.5 Fumbles-lost 1-0 6-4 Penalties-yards 4-24 5-34 Individual statistics

Rushing - Wil, Osborne 19-138, Pinkerton 10-77, D.Williams 3-31, Traeger 5-21, Spencer 3-7, Fuerte 3-7, Scharer 2-3, Person 1-(minus 1). Whi, Rust 27-175, Olson 12-63, Arceneaux 10-27, Doughty 3-10, Parbon 9-9, Haley 1-0, Green 6-(minus 41).

Passing - Wil, Pinkerton 7-11-1-75, Buffum 1-2-0-7. Whi, Green 9-16-0-107, Parbon 11-16-0-151, Haley 0-1-0-0.

Receiving - Wil, F.Williams 3-41, Osborne 2-13, D.Williams 1-16, Huetten 1-8, Traeger 1-4. Whi, Doughty 6-76, Wicks 6-76, Olson 4-34, Glenn 2-50, Ernst 1-14, Sund 1-8.

(1) Western 19, (19) Central 16

At Bellingham, Wade Gebers Jr. kicked a 37-yard field goal with 4:10 left to boost the Vikings past the Wildcats in the Columbia Football AssocationMount Rainier League contest.

Cornerback Orlondo Steinauer intercepted three passes and returned one 43 yards for a touchdown as the top-ranked NAIA Division II Vikings (6-0) won their seventh straight home game.

Quarterback Jon Kitna of Central (4-3), who racked up 369 yards passing, including two TD tosses to E.J. Henderson, led the Wildcats to the Vikings’ 23 before Greg Stoller missed a 41-yard field goal attempt with 8 seconds remaining.

Pac. Lutheran 19, Lewis & Clark 15

At Portland, running back Brian Van Valey rushed for 53 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead the Lutes (2-0 CFA-Mount Hood League, 4-2 overall) past the Pioneers (0-2, 4-2).

Linfield 38, Puget Sound 13

At McMinnville, Ore., running back Joey Rector scored five times, one on a 72-yard run, to lead the Wildcats (1-1 CFA-Mount Hood, 4-2 overall) past the Loggers (1-1, 1-5).