‘A wakeup call’: Looking to bounce back from first loss, Whitworth football focuses on Saturday’s D-III playoff opener

Bring on the second season.

That is the collective stance of the Whitworth football players and coaches. The expanded 40-team NCAA Division III playoffs meant there was room for the Pirates (9-1).

The Bucs’ resume convinced the committee. Now they want to prove they belong.

Losing to Linfield in the showdown for the Northwest Conference title aside, it was always the Pirates’ goal to get to the playoffs. They set a goal to go deeper than the second round a year ago when they fell to Wartburg College 42-20 in Waverly, Iowa.

The first step for a deeper run begins Saturday when the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (8-2) visit.

Tickets are available through Whitworth’s Hometown Ticketing app. Cost is $12 for adults and $6 for senior citizens, students and children.

“I’m super grateful for one more opportunity,” fifth-year wide receiver Evan Liggett said.

Whitworth coach Rod Sandberg said the he didn’t spend a lot of time rehashing the 34-7 setback to Linfield.

“We’ll highlight some plays that were a little uncharacteristic and how we can do better and start to move on to the next opponent,” Sandberg said.

Quarterback Ryan Blair said it’s time to move on.

“The biggest thing is just distinguishing that this is another season,” Blair said. “We can use the last game as a wake-up call for us. They were easily the best team we’ve played so far. We know from here on out it’s going to be teams just like (Linfield). No game is going to be easy.”

Liggett agreed with learning and putting Saturday behind them.

“We’ll do what we always do – we’ll get in the film room, we watch our mistakes and see how we can get better and see how we need to adjust,” Liggett said. “Obviously, there are a lot of changes that need to be made. We’ll go get those down and fix it in practice and get ready to play.”

Junior running back Luis Salgado looks forward to the challenge Saturday.

“We’re going to become a way better football team after (the loss),” Salgado said. “It’ll be exciting to see how our team responds. We just have to be ourselves. A loss can sometimes do a better job helping you improve more so than a win. Right now, we’re at a crossroad. We can either fold after what happened last week or we can embrace what happened and move on from it and be a better team because of it.”

Senior defensive end JT Munoz said the Pirates deserve to be playing Saturday.

“We knew we played well at the beginning of the season and put ourselves in the best situation to get into the playoffs,” Munoz said.

Whitworth has played Pomona-Pitzer four times, but the most recent game was in 2011. In some ways, though, the Pirates are familiar with the Sagehens.

The teams have two common opponents – Chapman and Pacific. The Sagehens, who are making their second trip to the playoffs in the past three years, traveled to Pacific in late September and fell 45-14.

Pomona-Pitzer beat Chapman twice – 21-17 on the road Oct. 19 and 37-34 in a wild comeback at home that clinched an automatic playoff berth Saturday.

Whitworth beat visiting Chapman 35-27 in late September and held off Pacific 39-32 three weeks ago when Salgado broke the school record for rushing with 365 yards.

Chapman seemingly had the game in hand against the Sagehens when it led 28-7 at halftime. But Pomona-Pitzer staged a furious rally, scoring a go-ahead touchdown with 28 seconds remaining.

A 50-yard field-goal attempt by Chapman sailed wide in the final seconds.

“It shows they have a lot of fight in them,” Liggett said. “They’re going to be a good team and we’re going to have to come ready to go. We’ve got to get dialed.”

Sagehens sophomore dual-threat quarterback Grady Russo had his best game of the season.

He accounted for all but 4 yards of the Sagehens’ total offense. He completed 35 of 49 passes for 397 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 64 yards and one TD. He would have had 102 yards on the ground, but he was sacked six times.

Sandberg said anytime a team chases a goal there’s a chance of falling short. He knows his team will be ready for a second chance.

“We went after a goal and we had a dream,” Sandberg said. “You go after it and you don’t reach it, it’s hard. Is that going to linger or are we going to shake it off. We have 32 seniors. We have a mature team.”