Pine Bowl Battle Of 0-Fers Pits Loggers Against Bucs

This one really appears to be one the Whitworth College football team can win. This one matches 0-7 Whitworth against 0-7 University of Puget Sound at the Pine Bowl Saturday at 12:35 p.m.

Someone’s not going to lose.

But this game features one of the best running backs in the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges, and he doesn’t play for the Pirates.

Whitworth coach John Tully calls Loggers tailback Daryl Wright one of the best running backs in the country.

He witnessed it himself last year in Tacoma, where Wright piled up a UPS single-game school-record 265 yards against Whitworth in the Pirates’ 48-35 loss. This year, the 5-foot-10, 206-pound senior from Spanaway Lake High School has rushed for nine touchdowns and is averaging 4.7 yards per carry (192 carries for 898 yards.) He’s had six 100 yard-plus games.

Wright’s numbers rank him second in the conference behind Lewis & Clark College’s Jesse Ortiz, who gained 166 yards and scored two touchdowns in the Pioneers’ 14-6 win over the Pirates last Saturday.

Tully, however, said he believes stopping Wright will be more difficult. Ortiz has the benefit of playing behind a big, talented line, while Wright plays for a team that has not won a game.

And a win is something both teams desperately need. If the Loggers lose, they will tie a school record of nine straight losses, set in 1964-65. Their last victory came against the Pirates in the second-to-last game of the 1995 season.

Whitworth’s pain has lasted longer. If the Pirates lose, they will tie a school record of 16 straight losses. The latest skid began the second week of the 1995 season. The record losing streak occurred from 1933-35.

“Frankly, we never addressed the issue. We didn’t even know about the streak until we read about it in the paper (last Sunday),” Tully, a second-year coach, said. “All we talk about is the positive.”

And there have been some bright spots for the Pirates, who are tied for last with UPS in the conference at 0-3. The defense’s front seven, anchored by redshirt freshmen linebackers Mitch Ellerd (19 tackles vs. LC) and Andy Clark has shown great improvement.

“We’re playing better than we have all year,” Tully said. “Winning would be a big boost.

“But they’re coming in thinking the same thing.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PUGET SOUND AT WHITWORTH Saturday, 12:35 p.m., live TV coverage on KXLY-Xtra