Linfield slips past Whitworth

Scott Birkhofer booted a 36-yard field goal with 12 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the game and the Linfield Wildcats held off the Whitworth Pirates 31-28 in Northwest Conference football action on Saturday in McMinnville, Ore.

Whitworth (2-3, 0-2) suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2005.

The Pirates jumped out to a 7-0 lead on Adam Anderson’s 2-yard run at 9:44 in the first quarter.

Linfield (3-1, 2-0) bounced back and took a 14-7 lead on Reggie Ford’s 1-yard run with 4:48 left in the first and Taylor Skore’s 82-yard interception return with 3 seconds left.

Back came the Whits in the second quarter.

Anderson caught a 7-yard scoring pass from Mike Peck to knot the score at the 8:28 mark. McLane Stone picked off a Cole Franklin pass and returned it 92 yards to put the Pirates up 21-14 with 4:53 left in the second.

Linfield pulled even with 1:38 left on an 18-yard run by Franklin.

Ford put the Wildcats back on top at 6:23 in the third quarter on a 7-yard run. But Whitworth tied it a 28 when holder Chad Flett passed to Cameron Stroyan for a 3-yard TD after the snap for a field-goal attempt rolled to him.

The only scoring in the final period was by Birkhofer.

Menlo 35, Puget Sound 28: Quarterback Tony Rehn connected with Darrell Willis for a 72-yard TD with 2:16 left in the game to lead the Oaks (2-4, 1-1 NWC) over the Loggers (2-2, 0-1) in Atherton, Calif.

Gustavus Adolphus 24, Pacific Lutheran 14: Adam Lukes had a pair of short TD runs and the Golden Gusties (3-2) scored 21 unanswered points to beat the Lutes (1-3) in non-conference play in Puyallup, Wash.

PLU opened the game with an eight-play, 72-yard drive that culminated with Drew Griffin’s 8-yard TD run, but managed just 151 yards of offense the rest of the way.