Whitworth Inches Closer To Ultimate Goal - A Victory

Someday, somehow, Whitworth College is going to win a football game again.

It nearly happened Saturday at the Pine Bowl, but after an encouraging start, Whitworth fell to Lewis & Clark College 14-6.

The Pirates found themselves inside the Pioneers’ 7-yard line twice in the first half, but failed to score on either occasion.

With the halftime score knotted at 0-0, Whitworth’s hopes remained high at the start of the third quarter.

That’s when LC’s Jesse Ortiz took over. The conference’s leading running back finished the day carrying 38 times for 169 yards and scored on a 1-yard run with 10:52 left in the third quarter. His touchdown and the PAT gave the Pioneers (4-4, 2-1) a 7-0 lead. Then, with 2:42 left in the period, the visitors made it 14-0 when Tommy Blanchard hit Casey Easterly from 6 yards out to cap an eight-play, 56-yard drive.

Ortiz, who has rushed for an NCIC/CFA-record 709 yards in the last three games, sat out part of the second quarter after taking a blow to the head. Nevertheless, he gained 71 yards on 15 carries in the first half.

The loss dropped Whitworth to 0-3 in Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges conference games and 0-7 overall. The Pirates have lost 15 straight, dating from the second week of the 1995 season.

Worse yet, Saturday’s defeat puts the Pirates in line to tie the school-record losing steak, a string of 16 losses, set from 1933-35. Whitworth will attempt to avoid that distinction when it plays host to University of Puget Sound, also winless, next Saturday. The Loggers lost to No. 14 Willamette Saturday 44-21.

“They’re all hard,” Whitworth’s second-year coach John Tully said about the string of defeats. “They (the players) are putting themselves in a position to win and it’s just not quite happening. But they continue to work hard.”

In Saturday’s game, played on a field better suited for Pro Rodeo bull riding, Whitworth received the opening kickoff and quarterback Rob Leslie moved his team 63 yards to the 5-yard line in 12 plays.

On third-and-goal from the 5, Leslie’s pass to Travis Ernst sailed behind the end zone. In trotted place-kicker Brad Dickenson, but Dickenson’s 22-yard field-goal attempt landed wide left.

“We had opportunities,” Tully said. “And when you have opportunities you’ve got to take advantage of them, and today we didn’t, early on.”

Whitworth’s next big chance came in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

At fourth-and-4 on its own 35-yard line, Whitworth linebacker Jason Bhear kept the drive alive by recovering the ball off a bad punt snap. He chugged down the muddy field before he was tackled on the visitors’ 37.

Three plays later on first-and-goal from the 7, Damian Putney fumbled on the 4, and LC recovered.

End of opportunities.

“It wasn’t the field conditions that kept us from being at 14-0,” Tully said.

The Pirates avoided the shutout on Leslie’s 37-yard TD pass to Matt Stueckle with 46 seconds remaining in the game. It was Stueckle’s second TD catch this season.

Stueckle missed the PAT.

Whitworth failed to recover an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff.

Whitworth’s redshirt freshman linebacker Mitch Ellerd led both teams with 19 tackles, 10 unassisted.

Lewis & Clark 14, Whitworth 6

Lewis & Clark 0 0 14 0 - 14

Whitworth 0 0 0 6 - 6

L&C - Ortiz 2 run (Miller kick) L&C - Easterly 6 pass from Blanchard (Miller kick) WC - Stueckle 37 pass from Leslie (kick failed) A - 950.

L&C WC First downs 20 16 Rushes-yards 52-209 30-138 Passing 158 183 Comp-Att-Int 12-20-1 15-34-1 Return Yards 44 0 Punts-Avg. 1-45.0 5-36.0 Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1 Penalties-Yards 0-0 2-17 Time of Possession 34:49 25:11 Individual statistics RUSHINGL&C, Ortiz 38-166, Appleberry 5-37, Owens 2-15, Blanchard 7-(minus 9). WC, Putney 14-54, Bratonia 9-48, Bhear 1-38, Funk 1-2, Torres 1-0, Williams 1-(minus 2), Leslie 3-(minus 2).

PASSINGL&C, Blanchard 12-19-0-158, Miller 0-1-1-0. WC, Leslie 10-23-1-136, Doyle 5-11-0-47.

RECEIVINGL&C, Kinsey 6-66, Ortiz 2-46, Easterly 2-12, Schmidt 1-20, Ilk 1-14. WC, Williams 7-77, Glenn 4-39, Stueckle 1-37, Ernst 1-20, Bratonia 1-15, Putney 1-(minus 5).

, DataTimes