Whitworth will try to stay on top of NWC

The Whitworth Pirates have reached the midpoint of the season right where they hoped they’d be – at the top of the Northwest Conference football standings.

The Pirates (4-1, 2-0 NWC) will try to maintain first place when they visit Lewis & Clark (0-4, 0-1) today at 1:30 at Griswold Stadium in Portland. Willamette (2-3, 1-0), which faces Puget Sound today, is the only other unbeaten in conference.

“We think we’re continuing to improve and it looks like a lot of teams are vying for the championship,” Pirates coach John Tully said.

Lewis & Clark, which has been outscored 196-47 in four losses, has 23 freshmen on its 43-player roster. Junior linebacker Kevin Takeno, second-team All-NWC last season, is probably out for the season with a broken foot.

“They’ve got a lot of young guys playing and those kids are maturing at this point,” Tully said. “It’s a process you have to go through. They have a tailback (Joevante Mayes) that’s a really nice player.”

Whitworth continues to lead NCAA Division III in turnover margin (plus-15). The Pioneers had five turnovers in a 51-14 loss to Menlo a week ago. Whitworth beat Menlo 49-0 two weeks ago.