Linfield Strikes Early, Often In Battering Whitworth
Small college football
Linfield College scored on five of its first six possessions and rolled to a 40-20 victory over Whitworth College Saturday at McMinnville, Ore.
Linfield junior Tramaine Payne scored on runs from 20 and 10 yards and sophomore Brandon Flood scored on a 21-yard run and on a 31-yard reception from quarterback Brian Higgins.
Whitworth finished 1-8, identical to last year. It was 1-4 in Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges games.
The win gave the Wildcats a 5-4, 3-2 record and marked the school’s 41st consecutive winning season. Linfield is within one year of tying the all-time mark shared by Harvard (1881-1923) and Notre Dame (1889-1932).
The win was the Wildcats’ fifth straight over Whitworth and 17th in the last 19 meetings.
The Pirates scored all their points in the final 5 minutes, beginning with a 26-yard pass from Rob Leslie to Dave Glenn with 4:46 left.
Whitworth’s leading running back, Damian Putney, scored from 6 yards out and Leslie found Jay Simmons for a 24-yard TD with 1:32 left.
Linfield 40, Whitworth 20
Whitworth 0 0 0 20 - 20
Linfield 20 14 6 0 - 40
Lin-Sutton 21 run (Ward kick) Lin-Payne 20 run (Ward kick) Lin-Payne 10 run (kick failed) Lin-Peerenboom 1 run (Ward kick) Lin-Flood 31 pass from Higgins (Ward kick) Lin-Flood 21 run (kick failed) Whit-Glenn 26 pass from Leslie (kick failed) Whit-Putney 6 run (Dickenson kick) Whit-Simmons 24 pass from Leslie (Dickenson kick) A-2,100 (est.).
Whit Lin First downs 12 22 Rushes-yards 31-87 46-290 Passing 145 219 Comp-Att-Int 14-19-1 13-30-1 Return Yards 0 44 Punts-Avg. 8-35.1 2-31.5 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-2 Penalties-Yards 5-40 10-79 Time of Possession 27:39 32:21
Individual statistics
RUSHINGWhitworth, Leslie 2-2, Doyle 1-1, Bratonia 9-14, Putney 12-52, Williams 2-8, Torres 5-10. Linfield, Sutton 12-124, Flood 5-37, Payne 18-96, Peerenboom 4-9, Copp 1-1, Young 1-(minus 2), Edmiston 3-13, Heisinger 2-12.
PASSINGWhitworth, Leslie 12-27-0-135, Doyle 1-2-0-10, Williams 0-1-1-0. Linfield, Higgins 13-16-1-199, Buffum 0-1-0-0, Duchien 1-2-0-20.
RECEIVINGWhitworth, Williams 3-16, Glenn 3-52, Ernst 3-33, Torres 3-25, Simmons 1-19. Linfield, Greely 1-40, Forsey 2-20, Payne 2-24, Guthrie 2-26, Au 2-35, Flood 2-39, Peerenboom 1-4, Johnson 1-11, Edmiston 1-20.
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Western 28, W. Oregon 20
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Central 40, E. Oregon 21
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