Pirates go to the wire
It seemed like old times Saturday for Whitworth and Wisconsin-Stout. That’s a seriously good thing for the Pirates, and a seriously disturbing thing for the Blue Devils.
Whitworth put together a precise last-minute drive, punctuated by Kory Kemp’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Jay Tully as time ran out to snag a thrilling 23-21 football victory in front of 1,850 at the Pine Bowl.
It was the second year in a row the Pirates had beaten the Blue Devils on the last play, with last year’s 14-13 win coming in double overtime. It was also reminiscent of several Whitworth games a year ago when it used fourth-quarter heroics on both sides of the ball to fashion an 11-win season.
“We did it again,” said Tully, who caught the game-tying touchdown pass with three seconds left in regulation last year against UW-Stout. “We beat them in the last second. It feels really good.”
Not so much on the other sideline.
“We tipped a couple balls (on Whitworth’s last series), we just didn’t pick them,” UW-Stout coach Duey Naatz said. “We played great football at times, but we haven’t put it together and finished. Give credit to Whitworth’s staff – they know how to win football games, their players do, and we’re learning.”
The Pirates (2-1) conclude every practice with a 2-minute drill and they appeared comfortable when they took possession at their 44 with 1:07 remaining, trailing 21-17. Kemp, who had his best performance of the young season, completed four passes that resulted in first downs, three of which went to Nick Koller. The last hookup went for 11 yards to the Blue Devils’ 1 with 4 seconds left.
Both teams took their final timeouts and Whitworth planned to use Kemp on a designed run. When the Blue Devils (1-2) crowded the line of scrimmage, head coach John Tully had Kemp audible to a quick slant.
“I just wanted to get the ball to Jay before the middle linebacker got over to him,” said Kemp, who was 19 of 30 for 219 yards and his first two TD passes as a Pirate. “I just caught the (shot-gun) snap and threw it as fast as I could.”
Said John Tully of the drive: “In a perfect world, it works like that. It was very impressive.”
And necessary to pull out a victory that was seemingly secured when Jay Tully intercepted a pass near midfield with 3:50 left. But Whitworth was forced to punt and UW-Stout, which led 14-3 at the half behind a bruising running game, rediscovered its offense on a go-ahead drive that was aided by a personal foul on Jay Tully.
UW-Stout backup quarterback Kyle Provos hit Dan Lytle for a 15-yard TD with 1:11 remaining. Provos handled numerous second-half snaps with starting quarterback Tanner Kattre moving to receiver. Naatz said Kattre hurt his shoulder earlier this week in practice, but he still wanted to use Kattre’s athleticism at receiver.
The Pirates responded with a clutch 56-yard drive that had the crowd standing and roaring. Tully’s catch set off a wild celebration, but officials quickly restored order and made the Pirates line up for the PAT because a block and return could have forced overtime. The Pirates wisely took a knee to end it.
“From last year, it was kind of a sure thing; we just knew we’d be able to come out and do it,” said defensive lineman Peter Clark, who alertly recovered a fumble after teammate Adam Anderson raced 28 yards on a fake punt before getting stripped of the ball. “It’s good to see the offense is running as well as last year and Kory did a great job connecting on his passes. This is going to give us a lot of confidence.”
Clark’s recovery helped the Pirates score their first touchdown, a 26-yard reception by Andy Largent that trimmed UW-Stout’s lead to 14-9 in the third quarter. Roughly 4 minutes later, Anderson went 66 yards untouched off the right side to give the Pirates a 17-14 edge.
Whitworth begins defense of its 2006 Northwest Conference title Saturday when Menlo visits the Pine Bowl.