SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth Pirates and Pacific Boxers will open the 2026 Northwest Conference football schedule against one another on Saturday afternoon in the Pine Bowl. The game will kick off at 1:00 pm and fans can watch on FloCollege.
Both teams are coming off a bye weekend. Whitworth (1-1) defeated Redlands 33-14 in California on September 19th. Pacific (0-3) lost 48-13 at Wisconsin-Stevens Point on the same day.
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 $14 for adults and $8 for senior adults, non-Whitworth students and children. A Family Pass (2 adults, 2 children) is available for $34. Whitworth students, faculty and staff get free admission by using their personal ID number to purchase a ticket.
The Pirates: Whitworth outscored Redlands 23-0 over the final 31 minutes of the game to defeat the Bulldogs 33-14 in Redlands, California on Sept. 19th. Whitworth outgained Redlands 426-291, holding the Bulldogs to 91 yards after halftime. The victory ended the Bucs' six-game losing streak to Redlands that dated back to 2006.
Logan Lacio completed 24 of 38 passes for 303 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Nathan Owens caught five passes for 111 yards out of the backfield, including a 66-yard touchdown, the longest of the young season for the Pirates. Nate Peterson and Chris Holt also caught touchdown passes. Kurt Solano ran for 65 yards on 11 carries, while Grant Spillman rushed for 55 yards and a touchdown on eight attempts.
Drew Cody had another huge game for the defense. He had ten tackles, forced and recovered a fumble, intercepted one pass and broke up another. Omari Williams made seven tackles and broke up a pass, while Ronin Souza made six stops, including a six-yard sack. Wyatt Hess made an interception in the Pirate endzone to prevent a first half touchdown. Whitworth had three sacks on the day and finished with a 3-0 advantage in turnovers.
Except for a failed-two-point conversion attempt in the third quarter, the Pirates dominated on special teams. Matthew Herzog punted five times for an average of 44.8 yards. All five of his punts pinned Redlands inside the 20-yard line. His 53-yard effort with 1:20 to play in the first half was downed at the one-yard line, allowing the Pirates to force a quick three and out and then kick a field goal on the final play of the half. Iden Bone made both of his field goal attempts, including one as time expired in the first half that pulled the Bucs to within 14-13. Jake Gaffaney averaged 63.5 yards per kickoff and had two touchbacks.
NWC Honors: Drew Cody and Matthew Herzog were selected as the Northwest Conference's Student-Athletes of the Week in football on September 21st. Cody won the defensive award while Herzog got the nod for special teams. It was the first career weekly NWC honor for both players.
West Coast Crossover: The game at Redlands was part of a crossover weekend between the Northwest Conference and the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The conferences split 3-3 against one another. In addition to Whitworth defeating Redlands, Lewis & Clark beat Pomona-Pitzer 49-28 and George Fox topped Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 42-25. On the flip side, Cal Lutheran defeated Puget Sound 41-7, La Verne won at Willamette 45-16 and Chapman edged Linfield 24-21. It's the second year in a row the leagues split against one another.
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 Ryen Borchers.
Defensive Stopper: Junior LB Drew Cody has picked up where he left off in 2025. He leads the NWC in tackles per game (11.0) and in takeaways (two fumble recoveries, one interception).
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. 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.
So far in 2026 he is 3 for 4 on field goal attempts.
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 50-13 at home since Rod Sandberg became head coach in 2014.
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.
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 437-424-18. 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 189-87.
Power of 12: With the win over PLU on November 1, 2025, Whitworth clinched its 12th 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.
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 Boxers: Pacific is a very young team trying to overcome significant turnover in the starting lineup from last fall. The Boxers currently list 26 freshmen or sophomores on their offensive and defensive two-deep rosters. That inexperience is a big reason for an 0-3 start, including a 48-13 loss at Wis.-Stevens Point on September 19th. Pacific is hoping a bye before the start of conference play is the kickstart needed to turn the season around.
Ian Falconer has a 21-29 record in his sixth 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.
Junior RB Carson Mullins has big shoes to fill, replacing three-time All-NWC tailback Brody Bantolina. He has done a good job, averaging 4.8 yards per carry and scoring a touchdown. The Boxers have used three different QBs this season. Sophomore Reagan Nicanor has thrown for the most yards (121) and passed for the team's only touchdown and is listed at the top of the depth chart. Junior Lorenzen Horace is the only one of the three to play in all three games. First-year Luke Berlin has thrown the most passes (32). Sophomore WR Angelo Marin has six catches for 70 yards and a score. Freshman LB Alex Deuser leads the team with 26 tackles, including 5.0 TFLs for 21 yards (tied for second in the NWC). Senior safety Noah Narain also has 26 tackles and a forced fumble.
The Boxers have been outscored 103-16 this season and opponents have averaged 426.3 yards per game while Pacific has averaged 162.7 yards per contest.
Last Meeting: Whitworth trailed 7-6 heading into the fourth quarter before outscoring Pacific 22-7 in the final period to pull out a 28-14 win over the Boxers in Forest Grove, Oregon.
Luis Salgado ran for 116 yards on 21 carries and scored two of the three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He also converted a two-point PAT to give the Bucs a 14-7 lead. Logan Lacio completed 23 of 35 passes for 229 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. That TD pass was a 27-yard toss to sophomore Drake Matthies, who caught the first three passes of his Pirate career in the game. Whitworth finished with 372 yards of offense.
The Pirate defense was rock solid, especially in the first half when the Whitworth offense was only able to score three points. The defense allowed only 70 total yards before halftime. Drew Cody led the way with 11 tackles, including a 12-yard sack. Hunter Letteer added eight tackles, while Chris Knutson finished with five stops and two passes defended to go with an interception.
Iden Bone made two out of three field goal attempts, from 36 and 31 yards. His 44-yard attempt in the second quarter was blocked.
The Series: Whitworth leads the all-time series 28-5-1, including a 12-3 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.
Coming up next: Whitworth will travel to Newberg, Oregon to take on George Fox in a Northwest Conference contest.
