SPOKANE, Wash. – The #14/#18 Whitworth Pirates will celebrate One Big Weekend when the Pirates host the Willamette Bearcats at 1:05 pm on Saturday in the Pine Bowl. Check the online football schedule for ticket information and live links. Saturday's game will also be televised regionally by SWX.
Whitworth (4-0 overall, 1-0 NWC) won 34-23 at Pacific Lutheran last Saturday while Willamette (2-2, 0-1) lost 72-0 at home to Linfield. Both games were NWC openers for the schools.
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.
One SWX Broadcast: Local cable station SWX will carry Whitworth's Homecoming contest against Willamette on this Saturday. Bud Nameck 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.
One Big Weekend: Saturday is part of One Big Weekend at Whitworth as the school celebrates Homecoming reunions and Family Weekend.
Whitworth will also induct the latest class to the Heritage Gallery Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Saturday morning and the class will be introduced at halftime of the football game.
The Pirates: Whitworth never trailed at PLU but led only 20-17 late in the third before pulling away with two fourth quarter touchdowns for a 34-23 win. The Lutes outgained the Pirates 360-351 and had a five-and-a-half-minute edge in time of possession, but for the third game in a row Whitworth did not commit a turnover.
Quarterback Ryan Blair completed 24 of 34 passes for 293 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Evan Liggett was double covered for much of the game and only had one catch at halftime but finished with six receptions for 149 yards with one 53-yard touchdown. Dawson Tobeck made his first start as a slot back and had four receptions for 59 yards and a score. Nathan Owens caught his first touchdown pass of the season and Caelin Johnson grabbed his third. Luis Salgado was limited to 62 yards rushing on 17 attempts. He also caught five passes for 14 yards.
Zach Brooks led Whitworth in tackles for the fourth game in a row with 13 and added a three-yard sack. Jacob Brandvold had eight stops, while Caleb Shawen finished with seven tackles and made the game-clinching interception with two minutes to play just outside the Pirate endzone. JT Muñoz had a sack and another tackle for loss. Joshua Lawson broke up a pair of passes.
The special teams were solid. Whitworth limited PLU to 19 yards per kickoff return and only two yards in punt returns. Matthew Herzog averaged 36.2 yards per punt and Jake Gaffaney averaged 51.3 yards per kickoff. Iden Bone missed a 57-yard field goal attempt.
Sandberg wins in 100th game: Rod Sandberg coached his 100th game at Whitworth last Saturday. Only John Tully, who went 131-103 in 24 seasons as Pirate head coach, reached the 100-game plateau at Whitworth. Sandberg is 78-22 in his 11th season.
Team Captains: The Pirate team captains in 2024 are QB Ryan Blair and OG Jake Trost from the offense and ILB Zach Brooks and DT JT Muñoz from the defense. A special forces captain is selected on a week-by-week basis. The game four special forces captain was Dawson Tobeck.
Special Forces Captains, week-by-week: Sept. 7 – Luke Roberts; Sept. 14 – Ryan Kinney; Sept. 21 - Micajah Weisner; Oct. 5 – Dawson Tobeck.
In the Polls: The Pirates moved up in both Division III polls this week after the win at PLU. Whitworth advanced two spots in the AFCA Coaches poll to 14th and one position in the D3football.com poll to 18th.
Whitworth was picked second in the Northwest Conference preseason poll behind Linfield. The Wildcats received seven first place votes to only one for the Bucs.
It's Better to Take than Give: Whitworth's defense is off to a blistering start taking away the ball. Through four games this season the Pirates have 12 takeaways, which ranks 11th in NCAA Division III. More importantly, Whitworth leads the nation in turnover margin (12-1, or 2.75-1 per game). The Bucs lead the NWC and rank ninth in Division III in pass interceptions with eight. Daniel McKeirnan, who earned first team All-NWC and led the Bucs in interceptions last season, already has three in 2024.
Touchdown Machine: Evan Liggett has eight touchdown receptions in 2024, which leads the NWC and ranks second in NCAA Division III. He has caught 24 passes for 458 yards, an average of 19.1 yards per reception. He ranks second in the NWC in receiving yards and yards per reception. Liggett was a second team All-Northwest Conference honoree in 2023 when he caught seven touchdowns all season.
Inside Men: Zach Brooks and Caleb Shawen, Whitworth's pair of inside linebackers, are proving their worth in 2024. Brooks leads the NWC, and ranks seventh in Division III, in tackles per game (11.3), while Shawen is second on the team in tackles per game (6.8) with an interception and two breakups. Brooks was a first team All-NWC honoree in 2023, while Shawen claimed second team honors.
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 2024, the Pirates are 74-22 since 2014, a winning percentage of .771. That figure is better than the University of Washington (87-38, .696), Washington State (66-53, .555), Eastern Washington (76-42, .644), Central Washington (68-32, .680), Pacific Lutheran (39-47, .453) and Puget Sound (36-54, .400).
Above Water: The Pirates' all-time record in football now stands at 422-418-18. This season Whitworth moved above the .500 mark in all-time won-loss record for the first time since the Bucs were 32-31-2 before the start of the 1929 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. Whitworth won for the 400th time in school history on October 16, 2021 vs. PLU. 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. Since that point Whitworth is 174-81.
Perfect Ten: With the win over Puget Sound last October 14th, Whitworth clinched its tenth 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.
Winning the Opener: Following the win at Gustavus Adolphus on Sept. 7, Whitworth has now won nine of its 11 season-openers under head coach Rod Sandberg. The Pirates are 5-1 at home and 4-1 on the road. Whitworth's only season-opening losses under Sandberg came in 2016 and 2022.
On the Air Again: Whitworth's games will air live this season on the internet at WhitworthPirates.com. Bud Nameck, familiar to listeners in Spokane as the (now retired) longtime host of the KXLY 920am Morning News, is in his tenth season as the voice of the Pirates in 2024. 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.
The Head Coach: Now in his 11th season, 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 78-22 record over that span, including three appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs (2015, 2018 and 2023). 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 .771 is the best among Whitworth coaches with at least five seasons and currently ranks among the top 10 active coaches in all of Division III. He coached the Pirates to the fourth unbeaten regular season in school history (9-0) in 2018 and repeated that accomplishment last season. 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 Bearcats: Willamette comes into Saturday's game 2-2 overall and 0-1 in the NWC. The Bearcats have already doubled their win total from 2023 when they finished 1-8. Willamette averages 15.5 points per game and 241 yards per game of offense. The Bearcats have allowed 37.8 points and 418 yards per contest.
Aric Williams is in his first season as head coach. He came from Montana Tech where he was the defensive coordinator for two seasons. Williams played defensive back at Oregon State and was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005.
Sophomore QB Alex Rivera IV has completed 48% of his passes for 475 yards with five touchdowns and seven interceptions. Sophomore WR Elijah Romero has been the most dangerous target with 16 receptions for 185 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Gabriel Herrera (228 rushing yards) and sophomore Jerrick Little (200 yards) split the running back duties. Both have averaged more than four yards per carry. Senior Hogan Smith leads the defense with 25 tackles, while junior DL Hriday Raj has 4.5 tackles for loss among his 15 stops.
Willamette struggled to get anything going on offense or defense at home last week against nationally-ranked Linfield in a 72-0 loss. The Wildcats led 48-0 at halftime and outgained the Bearcats 522-120. Rivera IV completed 8 of 20 passes for only 38 yards with three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. Herrera ran nine times for 41 yards and caught three passes for 22 yards. Smith led the defense with seven tackles, including a seven-yard sack.
Last Season: Whitworth scored three defensive touchdowns and one special teams touchdown on the way to a 59-7 win over Willamette last season 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 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. Whitworth finished with 409 yards of offense, 343 of which came through the air. Eleven different Pirates caught a pass in the game. Cameron Sheley caught a 22-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Luis 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.
The Series: Willamette University is Whitworth's second-oldest continuing rival. The teams first met on the field in 1908 and Whitworth won 18-0. The biggest Pirate win in the series was 82-7 in 2019. The biggest Bearcat victory was 67-0 in 1912. Willamette holds a 33-28 edge all-time, but the Pirates have won the last ten matchups, the Bucs' longest winning streak in the series. Willamette's last win over Whitworth came in 2013 in Salem by a score of 50-21.
Coming up next: Whitworth will travel to take on the University of Puget Sound in a Northwest Conference contest on Saturday, October 19th.
