SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth University football team hits the road for the final time this season when the Pirates battle the Pacific Boxers on Saturday in Forest Grove, Oregon. The game kicks off at 1:00 pm and will be heard live in Spokane on KSBN 1230am and on the internet at KSBN.net. The radio broadcast will begin at 12:45 pm (PDT).
Check the 2022 Pirate football schedule for live links to video, audio and stats for Saturday's game.
Whitworth (5-3 overall, 3-2 NWC) defeated Puget Sound 59-0 at home last Saturday, while Pacific pulled away in the second half for a 56-41 win at Lewis & Clark.
The Pirates: The Whitworth defense posted its first shutout in four seasons while the offense averaged 8.9 yards per play in last Saturday's 59-0 win over visiting Puget Sound.
The defense held UPS scoreless to post the first shutout since a 52-0 win at Willamette in October of 2018, allowing only 258 yards and 3.4 yards per play. Lindon Sevilleja came up with two first half interceptions on defense that affected the outcome. His first came in the Whitworth endzone to stop the Loggers' best scoring opportunity of the afternoon. His second came near midfield with 36 seconds to play in the half, allowing the Pirates to score one more touchdown before halftime. JT Muñoz had a big play in the second quarter. His strip sack forced a fumble at the UPS 30 yard line, and after a scramble for the recovery he fell on the ball in the endzone for a touchdown. Derrick Platt and Dylan Ventress had seven tackles apiece. Whitworth posted a season-high six sacks from five different players.
Whitworth finished with 499 yards of offense. Jaedyn Prewitt made his second start of the season at QB and completed 19 of 24 passes for 286 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in three quarters of play. Alan Ballew hauled in a 73-yard pass for the Pirates' second touchdown, while Riley Morrison caught a 37-yard score in the second quarter. Isaac Fields snagged a short pass for a touchdown on the final play of the first half, and Jarvis Natividad caught Prewitt's final pass of the game for a nine-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Isaiah Jones ran six yards for the Pirates' first touchdown of the game in the first quarter. Luis Salgado took a fourth-quarter handoff 63 yards for the Bucs' final touchdown. Whitworth finished with 197 yards on the ground.
Alvaro Campos-Ontiveros made all eight of his extra points and his only field goal attempt, from 26 yards away. He also punted once for 36 yards. Solo Hines returned the opening kickoff 41 yards, while Riley Morrison returned his only punt 19 yards.
Leading the Defense: Senior linebacker Dylan Ventress made a career-high 15 tackles against Pacific Lutheran on Oct. 15. He leads the Northwest Conference in total tackles (73) and tackles per game (9.1).
Spreading the Wealth: Anthony Kee became the 17th Whitworth player to catch a pass in a game this season. Nine different players have caught a touchdown pass. Riley Morrison leads the team in receptions (35). Evan Liggett leads the team in receiving yards (356). Morrison, Liggett and Isaac Fields each have three touchdown catches. Alan Ballew tops the squad in yards per catch (24.25).
The Ironman: Colton Chelin has not missed a start, much less a game, in his Pirate career. The fifth-year senior cornerback has started every game since stepping on campus for the 2018 season, running his streak to 42 in a row on October 29th, which is the most ever in school history. He has eight career interceptions and 39 passes defended in his career.
The Anchor: Cody Bollig is in his third season as Whitworth's full-time starter at left tackle. He has played in every game of his Pirate career, beginning as a major contributor during his freshman campaign (2019).
Leading the Evergreen State: Since Rod Sandberg took over as Whitworth's head coach in 2014, Whitworth University has the best winning percentage of any football playing university in Washington State. Heading into 2022, the Pirates are 58-17 since 2014, a winning percentage of .773. That figure is better than the University of Washington (62-35, .639), Washington State (54-40, .600), Eastern Washington (69-27, .719), Central Washington (53-24, .609), Pacific Lutheran (28-38, .424) and Puget Sound (32-40, .444).
400: Whitworth won for the 400th time in school history October 16, 2021 in a Homecoming game vs. PLU. The Pirates' all-time record in football now stands at 407-415-18. The last time Whitworth was over the .500 mark in football was 1928, when the Bucs were 32-31-2 all-time following an 0-3 season. Whitworth won its 100th game in 1959, during Heritage Gallery member Sam Adams' second season. The 200th victory came in 1981 under Bruce Grambo and the 300th win came in 2006 when John Tully led the Pirates to an 11-1 finish. It took 55 years to get the 100th win, 22 more to get to 200 and 25 more to get to 300. It took Whitworth only 15 years to get to 400. In 1997 Whitworth's all-time record in football was 248-337-18, 89 games under .500.
Eight in a Row: With the win over Willamette last October, Whitworth clinched its eighth consecutive winning season under head coach Rod Sandberg. That surpassed the previous longest streak of winning campaigns in school history, set between 1959 and 1965.
Cross-over Conquest: The Northwest Conference has been very successful during its cross-over weekend against the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference the past two seasons. The NWC won six of seven games on September 17th and 11 of 14 since 2021.
Team Captains: The Pirate team captains in 2022 are Ethan Peloquin and Logan Kitselman from the offense and Colton Chelin and BJ Mullin from the defense. A special forces captain will be selected on a week-by-week basis. Last week it was Caleb Shawen.
Looking Back at 2021: Whitworth started 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the NWC, but dropped season-ending decisions to Pacific (14-7) at home and at George Fox (16-10) to fall from NCAA Division III playoff contender to fourth place in the final NWC standings.
The Pirates opened with dramatic wins over Carnegie Mellon and Lincoln (Calif.), both preserved by game-saving interceptions by Jacob Hogger. The Bucs scored 134 combined points in back-to-back wins over Willamette (66-7) and Puget Sound (68-14).
On the Air Again: Whitworth's games will once again be carried live this season on KSBN 1230am in Spokane. The relationship between Pirate athletics and KSBN goes back to 1994, a span of nearly 30 years. Bud Nameck, familiar to listeners in Spokane as the (now retired) longtime host of the KXLY 920am Morning News, is in his eighth season as the voice of the Pirates in 2022. He was the voice of Washington State University men's basketball for 22 years, and spent that same amount of time on the Cougar football broadcasts – the final three on play by play. He is a longtime resident of the Inland Northwest who began his career as the Sports Information Director and radio voice of Gonzaga University basketball and baseball in the 1980s.
Two SWX Broadcasts: Local cable station SWX carried two of Whitworth's games this season: the home opener on September 10th against Eastern Oregon and the Oct. 8th contest against Linfield. SWX stands for Sports & Weather Right Now and is owned by local NBC affiliate KHQ channel 6. SWX can be seen both over-the-air and through some cable services in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene, Kennewick-Pasco-Richland, and Yakima viewership areas. In the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, SWX is found on digital channel 6.2, on Comcast channel 112 in Spokane and Time Warner channel 306 in North Idaho. Click here for a complete list of station numbers throughout the Eastern Washington/North Idaho region.
The Head Coach: In eight seasons Rod Sandberg has entrenched himself in the Whitworth and NCAA record books as the Pirates' head football coach. Sandberg has guided the Pirates to a 58-17 record over that span, including two appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs (2015 and 2018). He is in second place in total victories in school history and no Pirate coach reached 50 victories as quickly as Sandberg. Sandberg's winning percentage of .773 is the best among Whitworth coaches with at least five seasons and currently ranks among the top 10 (9th) active coaches in all of Division III. He coached the Pirates to only the fourth unbeaten regular season in school history (9-0) in 2018 and only the second NCAA playoff victory (48-6 over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps). The Bucs' 15-game winning streak, counting the final five games of 2017 and the first ten of 2018, is the second-longest in school history. Whitworth was 6-4 in 2014, Sandberg's first season, the best first-year record for a Pirate football coach since Rod Enos led the team to a 6-3 mark in 1965. Sandberg spent 19 seasons on the defensive staff at Wheaton College (Ill.), including the last 11 as defensive coordinator. Wheaton made the NCAA Division III playoffs five times during Sandberg's tenure as defensive coordinator. The team never lost a first round playoff game and reached the Division III semifinals in 2008 and quarterfinals in 2003. Sandberg's 2007 and 2013 squads led the Collegiate Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, regarded as one of the strongest football leagues at the Division III level, in scoring defense. The Thunder were second in the league in scoring defense five other times.
The Boxers: Pacific University (4-3 overall, 3-2 NWC) features the most statistically balanced offense in the Northwest Conference. The Boxers, who average 29.3 points per game, put up 171.4 rushing yards per contest and 228.5 passing yards per game. Meanwhile, Pacific allows 26.7 points and 374.4 yards per game.
Ian Falconer has a 10-6 record in his second season as Pacific's head coach. He spent 10 years as an offensive assistant with the Boxers. Prior to his time at Pacific, Falconer was offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Lewis & Clark from 2006 through 2009.
The Boxers feature a talented group of running backs, led by senior Kash Taylor, who has run for 530 yards and four touchdowns. Speedster Brody Bantolina (Fr.) averages 8.0 yards per carry and has 414 yards and two scores. Fellow first-year Kalai Pasi has recently come back from injury. Junior Ryan Holt is the QB and has completed 62% of his passes for 1,583 yards with 18 touchdowns and only four interceptions. His favorite target is junior WR Isaiah Pitre, who has 34 catches for 537 yards and eight scores. Senior safety Deshayne Stevens, a first team All-NWC honoree last season, has 47 tackles, including a team-high 7.0 TFLs (20 yards). Sophomore CB Zion Booker has 38 tackles, two interceptions and 10 pass breakups.
Pacific pulled away for a 56-41 win at Lewis & Clark last Saturday, rolling up 517 yards of offense and 360 rushing yards. Kash picked up 162 yards and a touchdown on 14 attempts, while Bantolino had 101 yards on 13 carries. Pasi ran for 71 yards and three touchdowns. Helt completed 10 of 11 passes for 157 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Two of those touchdown passes went to Pitre. Stevens had eight tackles, including two for losses of seven yards, while Booker made seven stops, forced a fumble and broke up a pass.
The Series: Whitworth leads the all-time series 24-5-1, including an 8-3 record since the Boxers resumed their program in 2010. The teams first met in 1910 with Pacific earning a 21-0 victory. The Pirates and Boxers would not meet again until 1967 when Whitworth won 21-0. The teams played every year between 1973 and 1984. The series resumed from 1987 - 1991. Then Pacific dropped its program and did not field a varsity team from 1992 through 2009. Whitworth's largest margin of victory was 45-0 in 1976. The Boxers' largest win came in that initial meeting between the schools. Pacific won two in a row in 2013 and 2014.
Last Meeting: After scoring 134 combined points in its previous two games, Whitworth's offense could not get untracked in a 14-7 loss to visiting Pacific (Ore.) in the final home contest of the 2021 season.
Whitworth's defense kept the Pirates in the game until the end, holding Pacific to a season-low for points scored and total offense (245 yards). Patrick Serrano and BJ Mullin each had seven tackles. Serrano also broke up a pass, while Mullin forced a fumble. Colten Chelin broke up three passes. The defense held Pacific without a point at the end of the second quarter after the Boxers took over on the Whitworth's 16-yard line following a fumbled punt.
Pacific held Whitworth to a season-low 235 yards of offense, 177 passing and only 58 rushing. The rushing yards were impacted by four sacks, which added up to 23 negative yards. Jaedyn Prewitt provided a spark with his running, finishing with 68 yards on 11 carries while converting three third downs into first downs. He completed 14 of 20 passes for 128 yards with a 23-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter that tied the game. He did not throw an interception before he was injured and left the game at the end of the third quarter. Back up QB Caleb Christensen completed 5 of 14 passes for 49 yards and nearly directed a game-tying drive on Whitworth's final possession before the Pirates stalled at Pacific's 11 yard line.
Alvaro Campos-Ontiveros punted four times for an average of 39.0 yards. Matthew Fiesta had a 38-yard punt return.
Coming up next: Whitworth will end the season by hosting George Fox University on November 12th in the Pine Bowl.
