Squires Returns To Face Whits
Trips down memory lane don’t get much more sentimental than this. (Kevin Costner’s shmaltzy baseball movies don’t count.)
When Scott Squires was a boy, the football practice field at Whitworth College was his after-school playground. His father, Daryl, coached while young Squires worked at keeping busy. Many fall Saturdays were spent drifting along the Pirates sideline as his pop worked at keeping opponents guessing.
Grown with a wife and two small boys, Scott Squires returns to the Pine Bowl Saturday as coach of the NCAA Division III Cal Lutheran University Kingsmen. Dad Daryl, mom Connie Jo, and too many relatives to list will be in the grandstands as the improved Whitworth Pirates try to extend their record to 2-1 at the expense of Cal Lutheran (0-2).
It will 34-year-old Scott Squires’ first time back at the Pine Bowl since 1986, when he played linebacker at Pacific Lutheran University. The Lutes won that year, 64-34. But the Northwest Conference power has won every year since then and hasn’t lost to Whitworth since 1965.
The game will be Daryl and Connie Jo Squires’ first time back at the Pine Bowl since, well, since last Saturday when they watched Whitworth defeat Simon Fraser behind Damian Putney’s record-setting 303 yards rushing.
The senior Squireses are regulars at Pirates’ sporting events. Both graduated from Whitworth, Connie Jo in 1955 and Daryl, a Navy man, three years later. But there’s more to their allegiance than diplomas. Daryl coached the team from 1977-80 before taking over at Rogers High from 1984-93. He returned to Whitworth as interim coach when Shorty Bennett stepped down before the 1994 season.
A possible rooting dilemma at Saturday’s Hall of Fame game?
“I don’t know who we’ll cheer for,” Connie Jo said with a chuckle. “Everybody keeps asking us that question.”
Scott Squires, the youngest of three brothers, graduated from Mead High in 1983. He said he chose PLU because “Whitworth wasn’t like going away to school. I needed to go somewhere else.”
The family’s house of 22 years is just a few miles from campus.
He took over the Cal Lutheran program four years ago. Much like Whitworth, the Thousand Oaks, Calif., school (enrollment 1,350) is on the up-and-up. Last year, the Kingsmen finished 5-4. They’ve lost their first two games this season, but Whitworth has no reason to take this team lightly.
Whitworth coach John Tully expects CLU’s defense to be better than Simon Fraser’s.
Two weeks ago, CLU lost to NCAA Division I-AA University of San Diego 30-14 after leading 14-0 at halftime. Last week, it fell behind Pacific Lutheran 28-6 at the half and came back to make it close, 28-26.
This will be the first meeting between Whitworth and CLU. And Squires claims he hasn’t gotten any inside dope from Dad.
“I asked him, `Give me some dirt on them. What have they got?.”’ Squires said. “He answered `I don’t know. They don’t tell me anything.”’
Notes
Putney was named Northwest Conference offensive player of the week this week. The senior tailback’s 303 yards on 40 carries was the fifth-best rushing total in the conference’s small-college history. … The Whitworth Heritage Gallery Class of ‘99 inductees are former football stars Dave Pomante and Tom Black; Tom Beall, who excelled in baseball and football; basketball standout Jim Doherty, and Kari Jacobson, a women’s track star.