Pirates End Losing Streak After 15 Consecutive Defeats, Whitworth Drubs Puget Sound

It’s been a while since the Whitworth Pirates have played the role of football’s irresistible force, but they got the opportunity Saturday against the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges’ most movable object.

The Pirates (1-3, 1-7) came into their 1996 Pine Bowl finale with a 15-game losing streak, while the University of Puget Sound (0-4, 0-8) had dropped eight straight. So something had to give, and for a change, it wasn’t Whitworth, which pounded the Loggers 39-7.

It was the Pirates’ first home win since Nov. 12, 1994, and they almost had their first shutout in 11 years, blanking UPS until the Loggers scored in the game’s last 20 seconds.

“It’s great to finally see the kids rewarded for working hard,” said delighted Whitworth coach John Tully afterwards. “We’ve been putting ourselves in a position to win recently. We told the team that it was time to go out and take one.”

The Bucs were efficient on offense, logging 436 yards, and they took advantage of six UPS turnovers. Whitworth swiped four Logger passes as two Puget Sound quarterbacks completed only 10 of 33 attempts.

Whitworth scored on its first two possessions for a 12-0 lead by 7:06 of the first period, both drives featuring key fourth-down successes.

Freshman quarterback Rob Leslie completed all four throws on the first drive, including a 22-yard touchdown to fellow frosh Matt Stueckle on fourth-and-6.

Chris Lewis’ interception returned the football to the Pirates five plays later. On fourth-and-4 from the Pirates 47, the Bucs ran a fake punt with Leslie, the up-back, taking a short snap and connecting with uncovered Travis Torco for a 31-yard catch-and-run to the UPS 22. Wideout Brion Williams scored on a reverse on the next play.

“We had nothing to lose today,” Leslie said of the many trick plays unveiled by the Pirates offense. “There was no reason to hold anything back. You have to give the coaches credit.”

UPS missed a long field goal try on the first play of the second quarter, and four plays later, Leslie found running back Brian Bratonia behind a Loggers linebacker for a 55-yard TD connection that gave the Pirates a 19-0 lead.

Whitworth added two quick scores in the third period, on D.J. Funk’s 2-yard dive after Damian Putney had ripped off a 61-yard run and then, on Puget Sound’s second play after that, Joe Mendosa’s 22-yard interception return.

The Pirates’ final score came on a one-play “drive,” Brice Stanley’s 2-yard plunge immediately after the Loggers had lost a fourth-down fumble with 11 minutes to play.

It was the Whitworth defense, though, that owned the second half.

UPS had great field position on all five possessions after the break, but only when Daryl Wright rushed for 64 yards on the last drive, did the Loggers get on the board.

Wright ran for 202 yards, cracking 1,000 for the season, but more than half that came in the fourth quarter after the issue had been decided. “He’s a fine back,” Tully said. “Our defense did a great job keeping him in check for as long as we did.”

Whitworth 39, Puget Sound 7

Puget Sound 0 0 0 7 - 7

Whitworth 12 7 14 6 - 39

WC-Stueckle 22 pass from Leslie (pass failed) WC-Williams 22 run (pass failed) WC-Bratonia 55 pass from Leslie (Stueckle kick) WC-Funk 2 run (Stueckle kick) WC-Mendosa 22 interception return (Dickenson kick) WC-Stanly 2 run (Stueckle kick) UPSWright 1 run (Swanson kick) A-850.

UPS WC First downs 18 20 Rushes-yards 47-228 49-259 Passing 114 177 Comp-Att-Int 10-33-4 11-19-1 Return Yards 15 114 Punts-Avg. 4-40.5 4-33.3 Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-1 Penalties-Yards 11-123 7-81 Time of Possession 30:10 29:50

Individual statistics

RUSHINGPuget Sound, Wright 37-202, Crossland 7-32, Lindmark 1-12, Davis 1-5, Turella 1-(minus 23). Whitworth, Putney 15-97, Bratonia 14-52, Williams 2-37, Doyle 5-28, Stanly 5-21, Simmons 1-15, Leslie 5-6, Funk 2-3.

PASSINGPuget Sound, Crossland 5-21-2-101, Lindmark 5-11-2-13, France 0-1-0-0. Whitworth, Leslie 7-12-0-127, Doyle 4-6-1-50, Williams 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVINGPuget Sound, Wright 3-34, Clampitt 2-37, Weaver 2-25, Pilkington 2-20, Freitas 1-(minus 2). Whitworth, Williams 4-29, Glenn 2-22, Ernst 2-18, Bratonia 1-55, Torco 1-31, Stueckle 1-22.

, DataTimes