SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth football team will host its oldest continuing rival to celebrate Homecoming and Hall of Fame festivities this coming Saturday. The Pirates will take on the Puget Sound Loggers during a game that will be televised locally on SWX. The game will kick off at 1:05 pm and can also be heard live on KSBN 1230am and on KSBN.net.
Whitworth (4-0 overall, 2-0 NWC) is coming off a 59-7 win at Willamette last Saturday in Salem, Oregon. The much-improved Loggers (2-2, 1-1) are coming off a dramatic 29-27 win over George Fox during their own Homecoming game. Check the Whitworth football schedule above for live coverage of the game.
Tickets: Digital tickets are required for entrance to the Whitworth Pine Bowl for all fans. Tickets can be purchased in advance using the Hometown Ticketing App. Follow the link for access. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for senior adults, non-Whitworth students and children. Whitworth students get free admission by using a student ID number.
The Pirates: Whitworth scored three defensive touchdowns and one special teams touchdown on the way to a 59-7 win over Willamette last Saturday in Salem, Oregon.
The Pirate defense got a 14-yard fumble return for a touchdown from Dylan Ventress in the second quarter, set up by a JT Muñoz strip sack. Early in the third quarter Atticus Templeton took the ball away from a Willamette running back and went 42 yards for a touchdown. The final score of the game was a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown by first-year corner back Omari Williams. The defense limited the Bearcats to 208 yards of offense, including 105 yards passing. Whitworth sacked Willamette QBs four times for 24 yards in losses and finished with a 4-1 advantage in turnovers. Zach Loveless had 11 tackles in the game while Zach Brooks made seven stops.
Whitworth finished with 409 yards of offense, 343 of which came through the air. Austin Ewing completed 15 of 19 passes for 298 yards (nearly 20 yards per completion) with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Eleven different Pirates caught a pass in the game, led by Dillon Kuk. Kuk caught four passes for 190 yards (47.5 yards per catch) with two touchdowns. One went for 34 yards and another for 68 yards, and his 75-yard catch on the second play of the game set up Whitworth's first score. Cameron Sheley caught a 22-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Luis Salgado and Solomon Hines combined for 52 rushing yards on 15 attempts. Salgado ran one yard for the first Pirate touchdown of the game.
Whitworth also scored a touchdown on special teams when Nathan Owens blocked a punt, recovered the block and went 30 yards for a score in the fourth quarter. Iden Bone made all eight of his PATs and 1 of 2 field goals, from 22 yards in the second quarter. He also averaged 58.0 yards on 10 kickoffs, including three touchbacks. Spencer King only had to punt twice in the game and averaged 33.5 yards per attempt.
Team Captains: The Pirate team captains in 2023 are WR Dylan Ashbeck and QB Ryan Blair from the offense and safety Atticus Templeton and CB Tiliti Adams from the defense. A special forces captain will be selected on a week-by-week basis. Last game was linebacker Zach Loveless.
Whitworth's special teams captains, week by week: Sept. 2 – LS Marcus Viramontes; Sept. 9 – KR Cameron Sheley; Sept. 16 – LB Zach Brooks; Sept. 30 – Luke Roberts; Oct. 7 – Zach Loveless.
Offensive Defense: Whitworth's defense has been downright offensive the last two weeks, scoring four touchdowns. JT Muñoz had a 33-yard fumble return for a touchdown on the final play of the first half against Pacific Lutheran on September 30th. Muñoz now has two defensive touchdowns in his career following a fumble recovery touchdown against Puget Sound in 2022.
At Willamette, Dylan Ventress and Atticus Templeton returned fumbles for touchdowns, while Omari Williams took an interception to the endzone. Whitworth's four defensive touchdowns leads the NWC and ranks second in NCAA Division III, behind only William Paterson College (5). The Pirates lead the Northwest Conference, and rank seventh in NCAA Division III, in turnover margin (+2.25 per game) with 14 takeaways and only five turnovers this season.
Winning in the Redzone: Through four games of 2023, Whitworth has won the redzone on offense and on defense. On offense, the Pirates have scored 15 out of 19 trips into the redzone, a .789 average. The Bucs have been even better on defense, limiting opponents to seven scores on 13 trips to the redzone, a .538 clip that leads the NWC and ranks 11th in NCAA Division III.
Leading the Evergreen State: Since Rod Sandberg took over as head coach in 2014, Whitworth has the best winning percentage of any football playing university in Washington State. Heading into 2023, the Pirates are 64-21 since 2014, a winning percentage of .753. That figure is better than the University of Washington (73-37, .664), Washington State (61-46, .570), Eastern Washington (72-35, .673), Central Washington (59-28, .678), Pacific Lutheran (34-42, .447) and Puget Sound (33-48, .407).
400+: Whitworth won for the 400th time in school history on October 16, 2021 vs. PLU. The Pirates' all-time record in football now stands at 411-417-18. 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 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.
Nine in a Row: With the win over Pacific (Ore.) last November, Whitworth clinched its ninth consecutive winning season under head coach Rod Sandberg. That extended the longest streak of winning campaigns in school history. The previous long streak of seven was set between 1959 and 1965.
West Coast Crossover: September 16th was part of a crossover weekend between the Northwest Conference and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. In addition to Whitworth's 24-17 win at Chapman, Pacific Lutheran defeated California Lutheran and Linfield won at Redlands. George Fox lost at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Pacific (Ore.) fell at Pomona-Pitzer and La Verne won at Puget Sound, ending the weekend with three victories for each conference. Last season the NWC went 6-1 against the SCIAC on the crossover weekend, including Whitworth's 12-7 win over CMS.
Looking Back at 2022: Whitworth posted its ninth consecutive winning season under head coach Rod Sandberg, extending the longest stretch of winning campaigns in school history with a 28-17 win at Pacific (Ore.) on Nov. 5. A season-ending 28-14 loss to George Fox dropped the Pirates from a tie for second place to fourth place in the final Northwest Conference standings. Whitworth suffered back-to-back losses to Linfield and Pacific Lutheran early in the NWC schedule, costing the Pirates a chance at the league title. Whitworth opened the season with a 35-17 loss at eventual NCAA Division III playoff participant Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) before defeating Eastern Oregon and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Winning the Opener: Whitworth has won eight of its ten season-openers under head coach Rod Sandberg, including last week's win at Eastern Oregon. The Pirates are 5-1 at home and 3-1 on the road. Whitworth's only season-opening losses under Sandberg came in 2016 and 2022.
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 ninth season as the voice of the Pirates in 2023. 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.
One SWX Broadcast: Local cable station SWX will carry Whitworth's Homecoming contest against Puget Sound on this Saturday. Austin Getz will handle play by play duties, while Mike Peterson provides color commentary. 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.
The Head Coach: In nine 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 64-21 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 .753 is the best among Whitworth coaches with at least five seasons and currently ranks among the top 20 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 Loggers: Puget Sound is 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the NWC following last Saturday's dramatic 29-27 win over George Fox. UPS has shown dramatic improvement over 2022, when the Loggers finished 1-8 overall and 1-6 in the NWC. Puget Sound is averaging 411 yards and 26.5 points per game, while allowing 401 yards and 29.75 points per contest. Head coach Jeff Thomas is in his 14th year at UPS and has posted a 37-83 record. However, defensive coordinator Jeff Housman will be acting head coach for the game on Saturday.
Part of Puget Sound's resurgence is due to the offensive production of quarterback Mason Binning and wide receiver Izaiah Jerenz, both juniors. Binning has completed 61% of his passes for 1,202 yards with eight touchdowns and six interceptions. He has also run for 114 yards and two scores. His favorite target is Jerenz, who leads the NWC in receptions (32), receiving yards (512) and receiving touchdowns (7). Senior RB Henry Hernandez has 201 yards (4.8 ypc) and two touchdowns on the ground. Junior DB Amarian Culpepper leads the defense with 32 tackles (4th in the NWC) and one interception. First-year DB Masen Brubaker has 20 stops, including 4.0 for losses of nine yards.
Last Saturday Puget Sound scored nine points in the 2:33 of the game to rally for a dramatic Homecoming win over George Fox at Baker Stadium. The Loggers kicked the winning field goal as time expired. Binning completed 41 of 66 passes for 416 yards with a touchdown and an interception to earn NWC Offensive Player of the Week recognition. Jerenz hauled in 13 passes for 154 yards with a touchdown. JohnJohn Nelson had 17 catches for 154 yards, while Hernandez ran for 79 yards and a score. Culpeper tied for the team lead with seven tackles. Senior LB Max Aneklev also had seven stops, including an eight-yard sack and a pass breakup.
Last Meeting: The Whitworth defense posted its first shutout in four seasons while the offense averaged 8.9 yards per play in last season'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. Dylan Ventress had seven tackles. 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. 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.
The Series: Puget Sound is Whitworth's oldest and longest running football rival. Whitworth's first official collegiate game was a 6-0 victory over the College of Puget Sound in 1904 (when Whitworth was located near Tacoma). The teams have played each other 75 times and the Pirates hold a 48-26-1 edge in the series with the Loggers. The biggest Pirate win in the series was 70-11 in 2012. The biggest Logger win (41-0) came in 1967. Puget Sound ended a 23-game losing streak to Whitworth in 2019 with a 34-23 victory at Baker Stadium.
Coming up next: Whitworth will host Pacific (Ore.) on October 21st for its second straight game at home.
