Pirates defend NWC title

Whitworth football coach John Tully gathered his players for his traditional postgame chat near the end zone and handed out plaudits to several units. Then, he came to the defense.

“I don’t know what’s beyond phenomenal,” Tully said, “but that’s you guys.”

Whitworth successfully defended its Northwest Conference championship – heavy emphasis on defended – by picking off five passes, returning one for a touchdown and fending off a series of fourth-quarter threats to post a 10-6 victory over 12th-ranked Linfield before a crowd of 3,150 Saturday at the Pine Bowl.

Whitworth (7-2, 5-0 NWC) earned its second straight outright conference championship. That hasn’t happened since the Pirates took home consecutive crowns in 1959-60 as members of the Evergreen Conference. The Pirates also earned consecutive wins over Linfield, which hasn’t happened since 1953-54.

“It feels great; I’ve never been back-to-back champs in anything,” said wide receiver Steve Silva, one of 17 seniors honored in ceremonies before and after the game. “It’s like I was saying: Defense wins championships, offense just wins games. They came up huge last year, too. This defense is just unbelievable. I’m just proud to be part of this team.”

Whitworth still isn’t assured an NCAA Division III playoff berth. The Pirates can greatly enhance their chances with a road win against Puget Sound on Saturday. A loss likely ends Whitworth’s season.

Saturday was a near replay of Whitworth’s 17-13 victory over Linfield last year in McMinnville, Ore., minus the driving rainstorm. In that one, Linfield had seven turnovers, including a fumble returned by Casey Clifton for a touchdown, negating a huge edge in total yardage. Saturday, Linfield quarterback Trevor Scharer was intercepted five times, three by senior safety Phillip Entel, who returned one 32 yards for a touchdown to give Whitworth a 7-0 lead one play into the second quarter.

“I caught the ball in the middle of the field and our motto is ‘Pick ball, Buc sideline,’ meaning take it to the Buc sideline,” Entel said. “I had some huge blocks, one from (Marc) Grow that sprung me or I would have probably been tripped up at the 5.”

The Wildcats (5-3, 3-2) had a 323-239 edge in yardage, but couldn’t overcome the interceptions, a missed field goal from close range and a costly holding call that nullified a 28-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter.

Linfield coach Joe Smith also elected to go on fourth-and-inches at Whitworth’s 19 instead of a trying a 36-yard field goal that could have put his team in front 9-7 early in the third quarter. Pirates lineman Justin Rundle stopped Pete Cruickshank for a short loss.

“You’d like to think you can get a couple of inches,” Smith said.

The defensive stops kept coming after Andy Largent’s 19-yard field goal hiked the Pirates’ lead to 10-6 with 14:08 left. Linfield’s first opportunity ended with Rundle deflecting Scott Birkhofer’s 23-yard field attempt wide to the right.

The Pirates failed to get a first down on five fourth-quarter possessions. Five times they punted and Linfield took over at its own 46, 35 and 49, and the Pirate 44 and 48. Entel intercepted two more passes, one by outwrestling Trevor Patterson for the ball, and Jay Tully picked off another pass near the sideline.

Linfield had one last chance from its 49 with 16 seconds left, but three straight passes fell incomplete.

Whitworth defensive coordinator Kirk Westre credited graduate assistant coach Jeremy Scroggins for installing a new dime package – utilizing six defensive backs – to limit Linfield’s passing game, which came in averaging 283.7 yards per game. The Pirates still blitzed on nearly every down.

“You can still bring pressure because what Linfield likes to do when you go with nickel or dime is run screen and draw and you saw they hit a couple of those on us,” Westre said. “But what you do is take away their running lanes so you keep pressure but you still have great coverage behind it.

“And pressure is who we are.”

Menlo 45, Puget Sound 13: Shaun Souza rushed for 58 yards and four touchdowns and caught a pass for another score to power the Oaks (2-8, 2-4 Northwest Conference) to a victory over the Loggers (4-4, 2-3) in Atherton, Calif.

Menlo put the game away with 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

Central Washington 17, Minnesota State 10: The 17th-ranked Wildcats (8-1, 6-1 North Central Conference) intercepted four passes and held the Mavericks (4-6, 2-5) scoreless through three quarters en route to a victory in Mankato, Minn.

Johnny Lopez rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries for the Wildcats.

Augustana 24, Western Washington 14: Tyler Schulte hit Joe Klumper for an 18-yard go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter and the Augustana Vikings (4-7, 2-6 NCC) rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat the WWU Vikings (2-7, 1-6) in Sioux Falls, S.D.

It was the fourth straight defeat for WWU and gave it seven losses in a season for the first time since 1986.