So far this year the Pirates (4-0, 2-0) have been assessed an average of 9.5 penalties per game for 97.3 yards. That’s about double the team’s 2017 numbers, when those figures were 4.8 and 47.6.

Scan the crowd at a Whitworth football game and there’s a good chance you’ll find a section from Sedro-Woolley, Washington. Last week, a road game, was no different.

Leif Ericksen threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns Saturday as Whitworth avenged last season’s Northwest Conference football loss to George Fox.

Last season, the Whitworth football team took two good wallopings in conference play.

Whitworth came out of halftime and held Linfield without another first down until the final play of the third quarter. By then the Pirates’ offense had started rolling, and Whitworth earned a 19-14 come-from-behind victory over Linfield on Saturday at the Pine Bowl. It was the program’s first over the Wildcats since 2007 and only the Pirates’ sixth in the 45-game series.

A senior with 23 career starts on the Whitworth offensive line, Jacob Hubbard has been part of the football program’s resurgence under fifth-year coach Rod Sandberg.

Quarterback Leif Ericksen, known for his throwing ability, passed for 324 yards, but added a rushing touchdown. So-called running quarterback Connor Johnson came through with a rushing touchdown, but also tossed a beautiful 54-yard deep ball that was erased by a penalty.

The Pirates wrap up their brief two-game non-conference slate when they host the Chapman Panthers, reigning champion of their southern California conference, the SCIAC.

The sun is starting to set on the Pine Bowl. His Whitworth teammates have left the practice facility, but senior Garrett McKay is still running sprints, from one end zone to the other.

After coasting to a 53-0 win at home last season over La Verne, Whitworth once again put its celebratory cannon to work after beating the Leopards 38-2 on Saturday on the newly named Puryear Field in the Whitworth Pine Bowl.

Whitworth leads the series 11-1 and has won the last four meetings after dropping a game to La Verne in 2013.