EOU Grosses out Whitworth

Tyrone Gross carried the weight for Eastern Oregon University on Saturday.

Gross ran for three touchdowns and 156 of his 161 total yards in the second half to guide the NAIA 25th-ranked Mountaineers (3-1) to a 24-14 non-conference football win over the NCAA Division III Whitworth Pirates (2-1) at La Grande, Ore.

Gross had TD runs of 3 and 71 yards in the third quarter and added a 4-yard scoring run late in the game for the final margin.

Joel Clark completed 23 of 37 passes for 276 yards and two TDs for Whitworth.

The Pirates led 7-3 at halftime. Gross’ 40-yard burst in the third quarter set up his first TD. His long second score came when he broke outside and gave EOU a 17-7 edge.

Clark hit Nick Kuntz with a 36-yard TD pass early in the fourth quarter to trim EOU’s lead to 17-14.

David Pitts of the Mountaineers intercepted Clark with less than six minutes to play at the Whitworth 34-yard line.

The Pirates marched into EOU territory after Gross’ final TD run, but the Mountaineers recovered tight end Michael Allan’s fumble with 2:15 to play.

Linfield 42, Pacific Lutheran 13: At McMinnville, Ore., Brett Elliott completed 22 of 28 passes for 228 yards and four TDs, and the top-ranked Wildcats (3-0, 1-0) took advantage of five turnovers to defeat the visiting Lutes (0-3, 0-1) in a Northwest Conference opener.

Willamette 21, Puget Sound 17: At Tacoma, Cameron Walton’s 25-yard TD pass to Michael Plank with 57 seconds left gave the visiting Bearcats (2-3, 1-0) a win over the Loggers (2-2, 0-1) in the NWC.

Central Washington 48, Western Oregon 17: At Monmouth, Ore., Mike Reilly threw five TD passes and Brandon Kennedy had two interceptions as the Wildcats (3-2, 1-0) began defense of their Great Northwest Athletic Conference title with a win over the Wolves (2-3, 0-1).

Western Washington 21, Humboldt State 16: At Bellingham, Jake Carlyle rushed for a career-high 175 yards as the Vikings (2-3, 1-0) defeated the visiting Lumberjacks (3-2, 0-1) in a GNAC opener.