One more for the road
Game to end Whits’ 3-game road swing
Whitworth’s football team has one more assignment before they put an end to one of the longer road odysseys in school history.
The Pirates conclude a three-game road swing, broken up somewhat by last week’s bye, against Pacific today in Forest Grove, Ore. Whitworth (3-3, 1-1 Northwest Conference) returns to the Pine Bowl for the first time in five weeks when Willamette visits next Saturday.
Whitworth took a couple of days off early last week to rest aching bodies.
“I thought it was important to step away,” coach John Tully said. “They’ve hardly had any time off from when they came here in August. We want to make sure they’re refreshed.”
And the additional practice time? “It’s an opportunity to reinforce things you really believe in, that’s what we’ve done with the offense and defense,” Tully said. “We’ve tweaked our Cover 2 (defense) a little, which I hope will be more advantageous to us the rest of the season.”
The Pirates are coming off a 39-21 loss to Pacific Lutheran two weeks ago. They fell into a largely self-inflicted 19-0 hole in the first quarter. Starting cornerback Cailen Thomason suffered a concussion and probably won’t return until the Linfield game Nov. 6.
This is Pacific’s first season of varsity football since 1991. The Boxers (0-5, 0-3) have absorbed five double-digit losses, including 48-0, 69-7 and 66-14 drubbings the last three weeks. Of the 22 starting spots on offense and defense, 17 are occupied by freshmen.
“They’ve got a tremendous nucleus; I think they brought in 120 guys,” Tully said. “They play with a lot of energy and they have some players, guys we looked at.”