Whits find more offense

Whitworth coach John Tully knew, coming into the 2005 college football season, that he had a hoard of offensive weapons at his disposal.

And on Saturday, in front of an enthusiastic homecoming crowd at the Pine Bowl, two of those lesser- publicized weapons – tight end Michael Allan and backup running back Chris Ahsing – came up huge in the Pirates’ 43-28 non-conference romp past La Verne (Calif.) University.

Allan, a 6-foot-6, 242-pound junior from Bellevue, caught five passes for 95 yards and three touchdowns and Ahsing, filling in for injured starter Kyle Havercroft, rushed for 150 yards and two TDs as the Bucs (2-0) blew away the Leopards (1-1).

Allan, an all-Northwest Conference selection last season, caught a pair of long first-quarter scoring passes from junior quarterback Joel Clark and Ahsing added a pair of short second-quarter TD runs as the Bucs raced to a 43-14 lead after three quarters, before turning things over the reserves.

Clark, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 271 yards and four TDs – including a 20-yarder to wideout Kyle Snell early in the third period, praised both Allan and Ahsing after the game.

“Michael’s a big guy,” he said. “He has great hands and he finds ways to get open. He’s a real good target.

“Chris runs real hard. He knows how to carry the ball. He wraps up and he runs through people. He’s another good guy to have on your team.”

Ahsing, who has shared ball-carrying duties with Havercroft for the past two seasons, had this game all to himself after Tully decided to let Havercroft rest a sore ankle that seemed to limit his mobility in last weekend’s season-opening 35-21 win over Redlands.

He responded with an inspired effort that would have included a third TD, had he not slipped and fallen while trying to cut behind a final La Verne defender at the end of 33-yard run – his longest of the day – early in the second half.

“They’re really both starters,” Tully said of Havercroft and Ahsing. “Chris ran really well today, but I thought our offensive line played well, too.

“(La Verne’s) linebackers are outstanding. They are physical guys. But I thought, eventually, our line did a really good job of opening holes, and Chris was able to pop through them and make some big plays.”

Allan’s scoring catches came from 19, 31 and 28 yards out off perfectly thrown balls from Clark.

“Mike played well,” Tully said. “He made some nice catches, and Joel made some great reads. We obviously have more than one weapon on our team, which is nice. And it was good, too, that we got to play a lot of guys today, which should help us during a long season.”

The Whits get a week off before traveling to La Grande, Ore., to face Eastern Oregon University on Oct. 1.

Despite the fact the Pirates have built some obvious early season momentum with their wins, the bye week is heartily welcomed.

“We do have a little momentum going right now,” Clark said, “but it’ll be nice to get some rest, get some fresh legs under us and then go do to Eastern Oregon and get going again down there.”

•A fund-raiser, in which helmets were passed through the crowd to collect money, raised $1,703 that will be given to the Red Cross.

Whitworth 43, La Verne 28

WC—Allan 19 pass from Clark (Kuntz pass from Clark)

WC—Allan 31 pass from Clark (Collings kick)

ULV—Elliot 24 pass from Guerrero (Rinderknecht kick)

WC—Ahsing 2 run (Collings kick)

WC—Ahsing 1 run (Collings kick)

WC—Snell 20 pass from Clark (Collings kick)

ULV—Logan 32 pass from Guerrero (Rinderknect kick)

WC—Allan 28 pass from Clark (Collings kick)

ULV—Allen 32 pass from Guerrero (Rinderknect kick)

ULV—Allen 31 pass from Guerrero (Rinderknect kick)

A—1,985.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—La Verne, Craig 15-59, Logan 5-22, Guerrero 3-(minus 11). Whitworth, Ahsing 25-150, Morrison 7-39, Quarles 9-21, Clark 6-3, Snell 1-3, Koller 3-(minus 5), Henningsen 4-(minus 6)

PASSING—La Verne, Guerrero 23-38-1-320, Doolittle 0-1-0-0. Whitworth, Clark 17-25-0-271, Henningsen 3-3-0-30.

RECEIVING—La Verne, Elliot 7-105, Logan 6-62, Allen 4-77, Craig 2-25, Ankeney 1-20, Lovallo 1-13, Griffin 1-13, Vines 1-5. Whitworth, Snell 9-139, Allan 5-94, Morris 2-15, Koller 1-28, Frank 1-15, Kuntz 1-7, Johnson 1-3.