Pirates’ Anderson sets mark in win

Adam Anderson set a Whitworth single-season record for touchdowns and Layton Brown made two big defensive plays Saturday as the Pirates held off Menlo 36-34 in Northwest Conference football at Atherton, Calif.

Anderson, a junior, rushed for TDs of 6 and 1 yards and caught a 20-yard scoring pass to give him 16 TDs for the season. Whitworth’s previous record was 15, set by John Murio in 1961 and tied by Michael Allan in 2005.

Anderson, the NCAA Division III leader in all-purpose yards, rushed for 142 yards, returned four kickoffs for 115 yards and caught one pass – the TD. Anderson also hit a pass for 38 yards.

Brown, a sophomore linebacker, led the Bucs with nine tackles.

Brown’s first-quarter interception set up Whitworth’s first TD. His 8-yard sack with less than 2 minutes to play moved Menlo out of field-goal position with the Pirates leading 36-34. The Oaks’ pass attempt on fourth-and-11 fell incomplete.

The Pirates’ Milton Nelson added 74 rushing yards, including a 24-yard TD as Whitworth took a 7-0 lead with 5 minutes, 23 seconds left in the first quarter. Nelson broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and hurdled a defender to make the end zone.

Andrew Durant and Cub Jansen shared quarterbacking duties for the Pirates. Durant completed 9 of 12 passes for 62 yards, with one interception. Jansen completed 3 of 5 for 70 yards, including TD passes of 43 and 20 yards in the third quarter.

The Oaks also used two quarterbacks. Angel Molina and Tony Rehn were a combined 18 of 32 for 262 yards, four TDs and one interception.

Molina’s 4-yard TD pass to Shane Garnetti with 6:52 left trimmed Whitworth’s lead to 36-34. The Oaks failed on the two-point attempt, first lining up for the traditional extra point before running a fake.

The Pirates were on the march after Anderson’s 38-yard kickoff return into Menlo territory, but Anderson lost a fumble that Steven Turner returned 34 yards into Whitworth territory.

The Oaks had third-and-3 at Whitworth’s 24-yard line when Brown made his crucial sack.

Whitworth improved to 4-3, 2-2 and dropped Menlo to 2-5, 1-2.

Pacific Lutheran 14, Puget Sound 7: Michael Byrne threw for 288 yards and two TDs to lead the Lutes (2-4, 2-1 NWC) past the Loggers (2-4, 0-3) at Tacoma.

Byrne, who finished 26 of 42, threw a 65-yard TD to Kyle Whitford in the third quarter and a 1-yard score to Blake Gorle in the fourth quarter. That TD capped an 18-play, 97-yard drive.

Central Washington 38, Western Oregon 31: Mike Reilly passed for 359 yards and two scores as the 10th-ranked Wildcats (8-1, 7-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) held off the Wolves (5-4, 4-3) at Ellensburg. The victory gave CWU the outright conference title.

Reilly connected with Johnny Spevak for second-quarter TD passes of 1 and 44 yards as the Wildcats took a 17-10 halftime lead. The lead grew to 31-10 on Reilly’s 1-yard TD run with 4:46 left in the third quarter.

Western Washington 56, Humboldt State 20: Adam Perry tied a school record with five TD passes, four in the first half, as the Vikings (4-4, 4-2 GNAC) defeated the Lumberjacks (2-7, 0-6) at Bellingham.

Perry completed 22 of 29 passes for 319 yards before leaving the game late in the third quarter. He has passed for more than 300 yards in five of the last six games.