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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Whitworth will try to stay on top of NWC

The Whitworth Pirates have reached the midpoint of the season right where they hoped they’d be – at the top of the Northwest Conference football standings.

The Pirates (4-1, 2-0 NWC) will try to maintain first place when they visit Lewis & Clark (0-4, 0-1) today at 1:30 at Griswold Stadium in Portland. Willamette (2-3, 1-0), which faces Puget Sound today, is the only other unbeaten in conference.

“We think we’re continuing to improve and it looks like a lot of teams are vying for the championship,” Pirates coach John Tully said.

Lewis & Clark, which has been outscored 196-47 in four losses, has 23 freshmen on its 43-player roster. Junior linebacker Kevin Takeno, second-team All-NWC last season, is probably out for the season with a broken foot.

“They’ve got a lot of young guys playing and those kids are maturing at this point,” Tully said. “It’s a process you have to go through. They have a tailback (Joevante Mayes) that’s a really nice player.”

Whitworth continues to lead NCAA Division III in turnover margin (plus-15). The Pioneers had five turnovers in a 51-14 loss to Menlo a week ago. Whitworth beat Menlo 49-0 two weeks ago.