It was shaping up to be a game that would decide the Northwest Conference championship, much like last season: Linfield with the potent spread offense and killer defense; Pacific Lutheran with the solid defense and the highest ranking in the Northwest Conference outside of Linfield (23 votes). A classic game in the Linfield-PLU rivalry seemed inevitable.
Much to the surprise of everyone, the game was decided by halftime.
Fifth-ranked Linfield demolished Pacific Lutheran 45-7 at Maxwell Field on a sunny afternoon in McMinnville. The win upped Linfield’s record to 6-0, 4-0 in NWC play, and gave them their 10th straight win in the series. The loss dropped the Lutes to 4-2 on the season, 2-1 in conference play.
“That was probably as focused and as emotional of an effort as we’ve had in a while,” Linfield coach Joseph Smith said. “You could feel it in the locker room: the guys were ready, you could kind of cut the air with a knife, so to speak.”
Having struggled to score points in games against good defenses this season (Cal Lutheran and Willamette), Linfield’s offense turned in arguably their most dominant effort of the season. Linfield’s up-tempo spread offense was on full display, racking up 460 yards of offense, 326 through the air, and 25 first downs against a Pacific Lutheran defense that was only giving up 11.6 points and 311 yards of offense per game coming in.
“We thought that if we could protect our quarterback for most of the game, that there was a lot of holes in that zone whenever you blitz like that; you leave yourself vulnerable. Mickey was able to find those, and so our passing game was pretty productive.”
Mickey Inns turned in another dominant day, going 23-33 for 297 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Wide receiver Lucas Jepson led the receiving attack with 85 yards and one touchdown on six receptions. Wide receiver Deidre Wiersma had 68 yards on five receptions, while Buddy Saxon had 60 yards and two touchdowns on five receptions. Running back Josh Hill led all rushers with 100 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries, with 74 of his yards coming in the second half.
“In the second half, we got that run game going,” Smith said. “We moved into the pistol for a little bit, and hit it a little more downhill. I thought we got Josh Hill on track quite nicely in the second half.”
Pacific Lutheran’s offense, already a struggling unit coming into the game, lived up to their porous reputation, totaling 183 yards and 12 first downs on the day to go with their four turnovers. Quarterback Zach Halverson went 16-30 for 137 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. Running back Brandon James was held to 45 yards on 12 carries.
“I thought the defense played pretty darn well, but it’s always like the ying and the yang, whether it’s us, Linfield or anybody,” Pacific Lutheran coach Scott Westering said. “If you’re not getting it done, going three and out and they’re (the defense) running back out there, it wears you down and it wears them down.”
The game started off with a bang for the Wildcat defense; Cornerback Nate Dixon picked off a deep throw by Halverson on the first play from scrimmage. Linfield’s offense immediately capitalized, going 43 yards in 1:37. Jespon’s 20-yard touchdown reception from Inns made the score 7-0 Linfield not even two minutes into the game. Pacific Lutheran’s next possession ended like the first one: an interception of Halverson by Dixon. After the two teams traded three-and-outs, Linfield put together a seven play, 50 yard drive that was capped by a 5-yard touchdown run by Hill, making it 14-0 Linfield with 4:38 to go in the first quarter.
“With a great team like Linfield, you can’t do that,“ Westering said. “You can’t give them short fields, you can’t give them momentum; you can’t turn the ball over like that.”
Linfield safety Drew Fisher intercepted a Halverson pass and returned it to the Pacific Lutheran 5-yard line. Linfield ended up settling for a 32-yard field goal by kicker Josh Kay, making it 17-0 Linfield with 7:29 to go in the second quarter. It seemed like Linfield would go for another field goal in the final minute of the second quarter, but Linfield ran a fake field goal, with Taylor Skore rushing 23 yards untouched for the touchdown, making it 24-0 Linfield with 31 seconds to go in the first half.
“That was something that coach Hazenberg had watched on film and thought they were vulnerable if they did a certain look, and so we talked about when we’d want to do that, and coach approached me and said ‘this might be the time’, and I said ‘absolutely, it’s what we wanna do; let’s do it.’ It worked out nice,” Smith said.
Linfield capitalized on their first possession of the third quarter, going 68 yards in seven plays. Josh Hill’s 11-yard touchdown scamper made it 31-0 with 12:28 to go in the third quarter. After a Pacific Lutheran fumble was recovered by Linfield, the ‘Cat Attack drove 60 yards in six plays. A 6-yard touchdown strike from Inns to Saxon made it 38-0 with 3:32 to go in the third quarter.
“It was a great call by Joe,” Westering said. “You go from thinking, ‘we’re close; there’s 1:30 to go, we’re gonna go in 17-0,' and then you blink, and its 24, and they get the ball to start the second half; you blink, and it’s now 31.”
Inns connected with Saxon again for a 5-yard touchdown pass, making it 45-0 with 14:45 to go in the fourth quarter. Daniel Herr scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:25 to go to prevent the shutout, making it 45-7.
Linfield travels to Conner Field next Saturday to take on a 5-2 Menlo team that offers many of the same challenges that Pacific Lutheran. Linfield beat Menlo 38-0 at Maxwell Field last season.
Pacific Lutheran will host undefeated Lewis & Clark at Sparks Stadium next week. Pacific Lutheran defeated Lewis & Clark 35-23 last season following their loss to Linfield.
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