Third-ranked Linfield continued to roll on Saturday, thoroughly dismantling Lewis & Clark 63-0 at Griswold Stadium. The story of the game was Linfield's defense holding the explosive Pios offense to 207 yards and the shutout. The win pushed Linfield to 6-0 on the season, and thanks to #22 Willamette's 41-27 loss to Pacific Lutheran, Linfield now sits alone in first place in the Northwest conference. The loss drops Lewis & Clark to 4-3 on the season; the Pios have been outscored 150-34 in their three-game losing streak.
My thoughts on the matter...
It was over when: this game kicked off. After watching Linfield absolutely destroy Whitworth last week, and watching Willamette blow away the Pios on the same day, you knew that Lewis & Clark had no chance to win; it was just a matter of how bad it would be. It got pretty ugly.
Gameball goes to: Mickey Inns. Playing in only the first half, Mickey Inns went 18-28 for 265 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The Linfield offense on the day totaled 513 yards, and averaged 7.4 yards per play, just blowing through the Lewis & Clark defense with their blistering pace.
Stat of the game: Zero points allowed by the Linfield defense. Anytime you keep the other team off the scoreboard for the game, you did a special job, especially against an explosive Lewis & Clark spread offense that came into the game third in the conference in scoring and fourth in total offense. It's especially impressive when the third and fourth-string defense played the entire second half like Linfield's did.
Unsung hero of the game: Linfield's third-string and fourth-string defensive players. In last week's game against Whitworth, this group of defenders allowed 153 yards and 14 points in the fourth quarter, preventing Linfield from pitching the shutout. On Saturday, despite giving up some yards, the Linfield scrubs on defense preserved the shutout. Such an accomplishment is something that all the coaches on the Linfield staff probably appreciate greatly.
What it means: For Linfield not only once again showed that they're the team to beat in the Northwest conference, but established themselves as a legit national title contender after this game and what they did to Whitworth the previous week. Willamette seems like the only team left on Linfield's schedule that's capable of beating them, and they just lost to PLU. For Lewis & Clark, their third straight loss and complete failure to do anything right against Linfield has erased most of the momentum that they built up with their 4-0 start to the season. The Pios have Pacific in their next game, and then play Whitworth after a bye week. If Lewis & Clark can beat Pacific, they have a chance to salvage their season with a win in the Whitworth game.
No comments:
Post a Comment