SPOKANE, Wash. –Whitworth will host Willamette on Saturday in the final home football game of the 2026 season. The Pirates will take the opportunity to recognize 24 seniors who will make their last appearance in the Pine Bowl. That recognition will come about 25 minutes before kickoff, which is scheduled for noon. The game will be streamed live on FloCollege.
In addition, the Bucs can clinch their 13th consecutive winning season with a victory on Saturday.
Whitworth (4-3 overall, 3-2 NWC) won 33-24 at Pacific Lutheran last Saturday to improve to 3-0 on the road this season. Willamette (1-7, 0-5 NWC) is coming off a 55-0 loss at George Fox last Friday night.
Senior Recognition: There are 24 seniors on Whitworth's 2026 roster. Those who are playing for the final time at the Pine Bowl will be recognized prior to Saturday's kickoff. The seniors are David Araiza, Iden Bone, Caleb Cabrera, Collin Campbell, Deacon Dietz, Wyatt Doran, Colin Fulton, Chayce Gomes, Stanton Gustavson, Chris Holt, Luke Jacobson, Connor Johnson, Milan Johnson, Logan Lacio, Brenden Nixon, Nate Owens, Connor McChesney, Jacob Peck, Mason Podoll, Lucas Reynolds, Isaiah Sittauer, Kurt Solano, Drake Watko and Omari Williams. A couple of those players still have a year of eligibility remaining and may choose to enjoy their recognition next season.
The Pirates: Whitworth pulled out a seesaw 33-24 win at Pacific Lutheran on Halloween Day. The Pirates led 10-0 early in the second quarter before falling behind 17-10. Whitworth rallied to a 20-17 lead, but fell behind again 24-20, then scored the final 13 points of the game. PLU had the advantage in first downs (22-18), rushing offense (151-98) and total offense (403-322). Yet Whitworth ended up ahead on the scoreboard, thanks to some spectacular special teams.
Iden Bone led the special forces by making all four of his field goal attempts, from 21, 37, 39 and 47 yards. The 47-yarder came in the fourth quarter and gave the Bucs the lead for the final time at 26-24. Jake Gaffaney kicked off seven times and averaged 62.4 yards per kick with a pair of touch backs. Most important, Whitworth netted 42.1 yards of field position per kickoff. Finally, Hayden Throneberry set up two Pirate touchdowns with long punt returns. His 44-yard return to the 16-yard line set up the first touchdown and his 46-yard return in the third quarter to the nine-yard line set up the second that briefly put Whitworth back in front 20-17. However, his nine-yard return in the fourth quarter might have been his best effort as he had to race forward to field a short punt and prevent the ball from bouncing far deeper into Pirate territory.
Logan Lacio completed 25 of 34 passes for 224 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Keagan Lime caught nine of the passes for 93 yards, while Tyson caught his team-leading fourth touchdown catch of the season. Whitworth's running game finished with a net of 98 yards and Nathan Owens provided the spark late. He gained 56 of his 62 yards on three carries in the Pirates' final scoring drive, including a 33-yard touchdown burst. Grant Spillman also ran for a touchdown.
Drew Cody led the Whitworth defense with a career-high 14 tackles, including one for loss. He also broke up a pair of passes. Omari Williams also had a career-high with 11 tackles and came away with his first interception of the season late in the game. Ryen Borchers also picked off a late pass and had four tackles. In addition to his big day returning punts, Throneberry had eight tackles and broke up a pass.
Team Captains: The Pirate team captains in 2026 are QB Logan Lacio and center Caleb Cabrera from the offense and CB Omari Williams and LB Drew Cody from the defense. A special forces captain will be selected on a week-by-week basis. Last week's special forces captain was senior LB Collin Campbell.
Defensive Stopper: Junior LB Drew Cody continued to dominate on defense like he did in 2025. He leads the NWC in tackles per game (10.3 – 21st in Division III) and is second in total tackles (72). Cody has four takeaways (two fumble recoveries, two interceptions).
Last Fall Cody led the NWC in total tackles (106), tackles per game (9.6) and solo tackles per game (5.4). He also had 7.0 tackles for losses of 23 yards. He was named first team All-NWC.
A "Bone" to Pick: Whitworth place kicker Iden Bone is a D3football.com preseason All-American in 2026. For good reason. He is the Pirates' all-time leader in made field goals with 40 in 56 attempts. Over the last two seasons he has made 27 of 31, with a career-long of 55 yards. So far in 2026 he is first among NWC kickers in points per game (7.9). He is 11 of 12 on field goal attempts and has made all 22 of his PATs. Bone has made 73 consecutive extra points.
In 2025 he finished the season as the league's leading scorer in overall points (82) and points per game (7.5). He made 16 of 19 field goal attempts and all 34 of his extra points. Bone ranked second in NCAA Div. III in field goals per game and top ten in field goal percentage (.842). He set the school record for most field goals made in a season, breaking the previous record of 15 set in 2015. In 2023 he set the school record for made PATs in a season.
Home-Sweet-Home: Including the exhibition game date against the Utah Islanders, six of the ten games on the schedule are in the Whitworth Pine Bowl this season. It is the first time since 2021 and only the second time in the last decade the Bucs have had six home games in a regular season. The Pirates are 50-15 at home since Rod Sandberg became head coach in 2014.
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 2026, the Pirates are 92-27 since 2014, a winning percentage of .773.
Above Water: The Pirates' all-time record in football now stands at 440-426-18. In 2024 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 191-89.
Lucky 13?: With one more win this season, Whitworth can clinch its 13th consecutive winning season under head coach Rod Sandberg. That would extend the longest streak of winning campaigns in school history. The previous long streak of seven was set between 1959 and 1965.
Looking Back at 2025: Whitworth bounced back from a 1-2 record against non-conference opponents to run through Northwest Conference action 7-0. The conference title came during what might have been considered a rebuilding season when the team was only returning a pair of starters each on offense and defense from 2024. Whitworth fell to Chapman 18-16 in the NCAA playoffs when a two-point conversion attempt with no time left failed to tie the game.
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 13th 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 92-27 record over that span, including five appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs (2015, 2018, 2023, 2024 and 2025). 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 15 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 then duplicated that accomplishment in 2023. In 2023 and 2024 Whitworth had the first-ever back-to-back ten-win seasons in school history, and the Pirates have made three straight 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 Bearcats: Willamette (1-7 overall, 0-5 NWC) is hungry to pick up its first Northwest Conference win of the season. The Bearcats are coming off a tough loss at George Fox last Friday. They come into the game averaging only 8.9 points and 208.0 yards per game, while giving up 32.1 points and 376.9 yards per contest.
Second-year head coach Aric Williams came to Willamette from Montana Tech, where he spent two seasons as Defensive Coordinator. He is a 2004 graduate of Oregon State, where he was a second team All-Pac 12 cornerback.
Five different players have taken snaps at quarterback for the Bearcats this season. Junior QB Diego Franco tops the depth chart this week. He has completed 20 of 57 passes for 210 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Though listed as a backup on the depth chart, junior RB Colby Ford leads the team in rushing with 220 yards and one touchdown. First-year WR Keion Afford leads the receivers with 24 catches for 310 yards, while senior Jordan Robinson has two touchdowns among his eight receptions. Senior LB Javi Rodriguez is one of the best in the NWC. He is second in the conference in tackles per game (9.1) and leads the league by a wide margin in tackles for loss (16.0 for 71 yards).
Last week, in a rare Friday night game at George Fox, Willamette fell behind 28-0 in the first quarter and 45-0 at halftime in a 55-0 loss to the Bruins. The Bearcats finished with only four first downs and 135 yards of total offense. The defense allowed 521 yards.
Last Meeting: Whitworth clinched the Northwest Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs with last season's 29-0 win at Willamette. It was the first shutout posted by any school in the NWC last fall.
The defense was especially dominant in the first half, holding Willamette to a single first down and 36 total yards. The Bearcats finished the game with 134 yards of offense and only 19:50 in time of possession. Whitworth had a 3-1 advantage in turnover margin. Wyatt Hess picked off his team-leading third pass of the season while Omari Williams made his second interception, which came in the endzone to prevent a score. Chayce Gomes recovered a fumble on a punt. Drew Cody tied his season-high with 13 tackles and added a pass breakup on third down.
Luis Salgado ran for 126 yards on 23 carries to become only the fourth player in school history to surpass 3,000 yards in a career. Logan Lacio completed 26 of 31 passes for 197 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He threw four-yard touchdown passes to Gomes and Deacon Deitz. Deitz finished with five receptions for 30 yards, while Nate Peterson had four for 26 yards.
Iden Bone made both of his field goal attempts, from 28 and 36 yards. Whitworth only punted three times in the game and Matthew Herzog averaged 41.3 yards per kick. Jake Gaffaney averaged 61.2 yards per kickoff and had a pair of touchbacks.
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 33-30 edge all-time, but the Pirates have won the last 11 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 play at Puget Sound on November 14th in the final game of the 2026 season.
