SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates open the 2025 college football season on Saturday at home against Gustavus Adolphus College, an NCAA Division III school from Saint Peter, Minnesota. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm in the Pine Bowl with a FloCollege streaming broadcast beginning at 12:45 pm.
Whitworth is coming off a 10-2 record in 2024 that included a runner-up finish in the Northwest Conference, an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs and an appearance in the second round. Gustavus Adolphus went 5-5 last fall and 4-4 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference.
The Pirates: Whitworth returns only two starters on offense and one on defense from a team that outscored opponents by an average of 33-19 in 2024.
The two returning starters were both All-Northwest Conference honorees in 2024. Senior RB Luis Salgado claimed his second straight first team All-NWC award after running for 1216 yards (6.8 ypc) and scoring nine touchdowns. Senior TE Taylor Wells caught 12 passes for 92 yards and two scores to gain honorable mention All-NWC consideration. Logan Lacio (Jr.) takes over as the starting QB and he will work behind a revamped offensive line led by juniors Caleb Cabrera and Jaysen Akahi-Vida. Dawson Tobeck, a senior, is the leading returning WR. He caught 22 passes and five touchdowns in 2024.
Junior cornerback Omari Williams, a second team All-NWC selection last fall, is the lone returning starter on defense. He had 52 tackles, four interceptions and ten pass breakups in 2024. Senior Chris Knutson, who played significant time as a backup in the secondary last season, will take over at the other corner. Nathan Hummell, a fifth-year Pirate, and senior Lane Watkins, have played plenty of snaps on the defensive line over the last two seasons and will become full-time starters for the first time in 2025. Whitworth will have three new starting linebackers, including veteran ILB Hunter Letteer.
Junior placekicker Iden Bone, who earned first team All-NWC as a freshman in 2023, is back to kick extra points and field goals. Sophomore Matthew Herzog will resume his duties as the Pirates' punter. Junior RB Nathan Owens claimed honorable mention All-NWC as a kick returner last fall.
Team Captains: The Pirate team captains in 2025 are RB Luis Salgado and TE Taylor Wells from the offense and safety Trey Rose and DL Lane Watkins from the defense. A special forces captain will be selected on a week-by-week basis.
Running Man: Luis Salgado is a two-time first team All-Northwest Conference honoree. He has gained 2,206 yards in his career with a 6.4 yards per carry average. He has run for 22 touchdowns. Also a threat catching the ball out of the backfield, Salgado has 72 career receptions for 489 yards and four scores. In 2024 he was Whitworth's first 1,000-yard rusher since Duke DeGaetano ran for 1,001 yards in 2016 and posted the second-highest single season total in school history with 1216 yards, behind only the 1293 yards Damian Putney put up in 1999.
In the Polls: The Pirates are listed among "others receiving votes" in the D3football.com and AFCA Division III Coaches preseason polls. Whitworth was picked second in the Northwest Conference preseason poll behind Linfield. The Wildcats received five first place votes while the Bucs got two and PLU one.
Looking Back at 2024: Whitworth opened the season with a 40-7 win at Gustavus Adolphus, leading to a 3-0 record against non-conference opponents. The Pirates finished 6-1 against the Northwest Conference, including a 31-0 win at George Fox and a 39-32 win at Pacific in which Luis Salgado broke the NWC record for rushing yards in a single game (365). The only loss was 34-7 to Linfield in the season finale. At 9-1, Whitworth was invited to the NCAA Division III playoffs and defeated Pomona-Pitzer 21-13 in the first round to claim a second straight 10-win season for the first time in school history. The Pirates were defeated in the second round by eventual champion North Central (Ill.).
Class of Distinction: Thirty-two Whitworth Pirates played their last game in the Pine Bowl against Pomona-Pitzer in the opening round of the NCAA Division III playoffs last November. That number marks the largest outgoing class in team history, which included nearly a dozen 5th-year players who used the extra eligibility awarded after the COVID-19 outbreak. Among that number were 10 starters on defense and nine on offense. Fourteen of those 19 departed starters earned All-NWC recognition. Quarterback Ryan Blair was the NWC Offensive Player of the Year. Linebacker Zach Brooks was the NWC Man of the Year, an award encompassing athletic ability, academics, leadership and community service.
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 2025, the Pirates are 84-24 since 2014, a winning percentage of .778.
Above Water: The Pirates' all-time record in football now stands at 428-420-18. Last 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 record in football was 248-337-18, 89 games under .500. Since that point Whitworth is 179-81.
11th Heaven: With the win over Puget Sound on October 19th last fall, Whitworth clinched its 11th 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 last Sept. 7, Whitworth has 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.
Watch on FlowCollege: Like the rest of the Northwest Conference, Whitworth's home athletic events will be steamed through FloCollege in 2025-26. Fans can sign up to watch Pirate sports on the FloCollege portal. Registration is $120 for an annual subscription or $20 per month. Those who register with a .edu email address get a significant discount.
Inland Northwest Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Bud Nameck, familiar in Spokane as the KXLY channel 4 sports director for over 20 years and the longtime host of the KXLY 920am Morning News, is in his 11th season as the voice of the Pirates in 2025. 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.
Listen to Road Games: Fans can tune in online to listen to Pirate ROAD games for free at WhitworthPirates.com. Bud Nameck will provide play by play when Whitworth is away from the Pine Bowl.
The Head Coach: Now in his 12th 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 an 84-24 record over that span, including four appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs (2015, 2018, 2023 and 2024). 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 .778 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. In 2023 and 2024 he coached Whitworth to the first-ever back-to-back ten-win seasons in school history, as well as the first back-to-back NCAA playoff appearances. 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 Gusties: Gustavus Adolphus is coming off a 5-5 campaign in 2024, including a 4-4 mark in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. The team averaged 20.4 points and 326 yards per game, while allowing 22.5 points and 331.6 yards per contest. Like Whitworth, the Gusties lost a lot to graduation following the season.
Head coach Peter Haugen is in his 17th year as head coach of the Gusties. His record at Gustavus is 81-69.
Sophomore Jacob Ginskey is slated to take over the starter's role at quarterback. He started two games in 2024 and finished the season 32 of 69 for 610 yards with seven touchdowns – a total that led the team. His favorite target figures to be senior WR Caden Kleinschmidt, who earned second team All-MIAC recognition last fall with 31 catches for 646 yards (20.8 ypc), including seven touchdowns. Junior TE Jordan Wold figures to see his role increase after he caught seven passes for 66 yards and one touchdown in 2024. Junior defensive end Max Olson returns after recording 38 stops last season, including 9.5 for losses of 56 yards. Senior Bode Hogan will become a starter at middle linebacker after serving in a backup role last year. Senior Owen Forsythe is a strong punter who averaged 39.0 yards per kick in 2024.
Last Meeting: While the offense took a while to find its rhythm, the defense was in mid-year form in Whitworth's season-opening 40-7 win at Gustavus Adolphus. The Pirates officially took the ball away six times, including five interceptions. The one fumble recovery was a defensive touchdown. The Bucs also took back possession after a blocked field goal when the ball passed the line of scrimmage and Whitworth was able to recover.
Daniel McKeirnan had two of the five interceptions, while Zachary Brooks came up with 11 tackles to lead a Pirate defense that held the Gusties to 290 total yards. Ryan Kinney scored Whitworth's first defensive touchdown of the season when he picked up a mishandled snap at the Gusties' 16-yard line and scored in the third quarter. Chris Knutson returned a first-half interception 63 yards deep into GAC territory. Omari Williams had Whitworth's fifth interception of the game in the fourth quarter. The Pirates finished the game with five sacks.
Receiver Evan Liggett was the best offensive player on the field, catching eight passes for 183 yards with touchdowns of 36, 39 and 43 yards. Quarterback Ryan Blair completed 22 of 38 passes for 332 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in his first start since the 2022 season. Tight end Taylor Wells caught five passes. Whitworth's rushing attack was kept in check for much of the day. Luis Salgado ran for 41 of the Pirates' 61-net yards on the ground.
Placekicker Iden Bone made two field goals, missed one and had one blocked. He also went 4 of 5 on extra point attempts. Matthew Herzog averaged 37.2 yards per punt, while Jake Gaffaney averaged 61.9 yards per kickoff, including three touchbacks. Nathan Owens returned both GAC kickoffs and averaged 21.5 yards.
The Series: Whitworth defeated Gustavus Adolphus last September in the schools' only other meeting. The Gusties are the fourth team from the MIAC to appear on the Pirates schedule. The Bucs have played Bethel (1-1), St. John's (0-3) and St. Scholastica (2-0).
Coming up next: Whitworth will play at Eastern Oregon on September 13th in the 2025 road opener.
