Whitworth sputtered slightly out of the gate, but the Pirates found enough offense in the first half Saturday to put the game out of reach in a 32-7 win over Pacific Lutheran.

The win puts Whitworth (6-0, 3-0 Northwest Conference) on a collision course between undefeated teams next week when the Pirates travel to No. 2 Linfield, (5-0, 3-0) which pounded Willamette 49-7 on Saturday.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Pirates head coach Rod Sandberg said of his team’s win over the Lutes (0-5, 0-3). “If you told me 32-7 before the game? Hey, it’s hard to win a college football game. We don’t take it for granted.”

The Lutes continually pressured Whitworth quarterback Ian Kolste. He suffered four sacks and appeared to rush a few throws and missed some others. He completed 16 of 30 passes with two touchdowns and an interception.

After two punts to start the game, Griffin Hare (Gonzaga Prep) ripped off a 28-yard run that set up his 2-yard touchdown on the next play. Saturday was also Hare’s 21st birthday.

“Usually, we come out of the gate firing,” Hare said. “But, we picked it up. We’ll have to. Against Linfield, you can’t come out slow.”

After Griffin’s score, backup quarterback Jonah Koski ran in the two-point conversion to make it 8-0 Whitworth with 3 minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Two possessions later, Kolste found a wide-open Michael McKeown, who raced 30 yards untouched for a touchdown to make it 15-0 early in the second quarter.

After the teams traded punts, PLU quarterback Jon Schaub scrambled to convert a fourth-and-1, but he was hurt on the play. Four snaps after that, Dalin McDonnell stepped in front of backup quarterback Cole Chandler’s pass and raced 45 yards for a TD and 22-0 Pirates advantage.

“That was big time,” said Sandberg, who noted that McDonnell also forced a fumble in the red zone that stopped another Pacific Lutheran drive. “He’s made big plays all year for us.”

McDonnell said he just read the quarterback and never looked to see if he had any offensive players around him when he took off for the end zone. It was his second interception return for TD of the season among a team-leading six interceptions.

“I was just going hard,” he said. “All I had on my mind was to get in that end zone.”

After PLU’s sixth punt of the half, Whitworth drove to the Lute’s 27-yard line where Rehn Reiley booted a 45-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to make it 25-0 Whitworth.

Whitworth has outscored its opponents 152-10 during the first half this season.

Kolste added a 31-yard scoring strike to Nick Kiourkas (Shadle Park) late in the third quarter.

The Lutes, who had beaten Whitworth the last five matchups, finally got on the board early in the fourth quarter when Chandler hit Beau Lockmer on a 38-yard scoring pass to complete the scoring at 32-7.

The 6-0 record is Whitworth’s best start since it went 10-0 in 2006 and has already matched last year’s total for victories.

“To give up only seven points to a team the seniors had never beaten meant a lot to them,” defensive coordinator Adam Richbart said. Linfield is “obviously our toughest challenge yet. We are looking forward to the challenge.”

Offensive coordinator Alan Stanfield said coaches will start immediately getting ready for the program that has been the elite of the conference for years.

“They are one of the best teams in the country,” he said of Linfield. “This will be a battle of unbeatens for the conference lead. It’s a big game late in the season. We want to embrace this opportunity.”