Pirates Squeak By Loggers 14-12 In Conference Opener

Small-college football

The Whitworth Pirates scored a pair of first-half touchdowns and then stopped Puget Sound’s two-point conversion after time had expired to eke out a 14-12 Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges victory over the Loggers in Tacoma.

Ben Vaday scored on a 3-yard run with 8:43 remaining in the first quarter to open the scoring for the Pirates (2-2, 1-0).

Casey Doyle’s 18-yard second-quarter pass to Matt Stueckle stretched the lead to 14-0.

The Loggers (2-2, 0-1) scored midway through the third period on a 16-yard run by Pat Ames. The extra-point kick was missed.

Puget Sound scored with no time left in the game on a Craig Knapp pass to John Weaver after a defensive pass interference penalty gave them the ball at the Whitworth 11-yard line.

Ames fumbled on the two-point conversion attempt, and even though the Loggers recovered the ball in the end zone, it didn’t count because the rules state the original ball carrier must recover the fumble.

Whitworth, which attempted only eight passes in the game because of heavy rain, finished with 240 yards of total offense. Vaday accounted for 177 of those on 31 carries.

Whitworth 14, Puget Sound 12

Whitworth 7 7 0 0 - 14

Puget Sound 0 0 6 6 - 12

W-Vaday 3 run (Stueckle kick) W-Stueckle 18 pass from Doyle (Stueckle kick) PS-Ames 16 run (kick failed) PS-Weaver 11 pass from Knapp (run failed)

Pac. Lutheran 53, Lewis & Clark 16

Peter Finstuen rushed for 92 yards and three touchdowns to lead Pacific Lutheran to a 53-16 NCIC win over Lewis & Clark in Puyallup.

The fourth-ranked Lutes improved to 4-0 overall, 1-0 in the NCIC. Lewis & Clark fell to 1-3 and 0-1.

The Lutes’ running game produced 307 yards and five touchdowns.

W. Oregon 8, W. Washington 6

Western Oregon used a safety with seven minutes to play to score the deciding points in a Columbia Football Association victory over Western Washington at Bellingham.

Western Washington (2-2, 0-1), ranked 7th in the NAIA poll, had the ball on its own 3-yard line when quarterback Darrin Erath dropped back into his own end zone to pass. He threw incomplete under a heavy rush and was called for intentional grounding, giving 22nd-ranked Western Oregon (4-0, 1-0) the victory.

, DataTimes