McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Linfield returned three Puget Sound punts for touchdowns in the second quarter to send the No. 8 Wildcats on their way to a 72-2 win in Northwest Conference football Saturday afternoon at Maxwell Field. The first of those,
Maclain Stoneking's 92-yarder, was the second-longest punt return in Linfield history.
The three returns were just one aspect of the afternoon's quick-strike scoring for Linfield (3-0 overall, 1-0 NWC). The Wildcats also had five touchdown drives of 41 yards or less and four touchdown drives that took less than one minute, leaving Puget Sound (0-3, 0-1) with a time-of-possession advantage of almost 15 minutes.
By game's end, the Wildcats had used six ballcarriers, led by
Connor McNabb with 11 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown; McNabb also caught three passes for 40 yards. Nine Linfield receivers had receptions, with
Joel Valadez catching four passes for 116 yards and a score,
Isaac Hoidal four for 34 yards and a touchdown, and
Devon Murray 2 for 13 yards and two touchdowns.
Colton Smith added two more catches for 69 yards.
Linfield quarterback
Blake Eaton passes for 287 yards, completing 16 of 30 with three touchdowns and no interceptions. The Wildcats had a 471-132 advantage in total offense plus 257 yards in punt returns. In addition to his 82-yarder, Stoneking added a 59-yard scoring return and
Paul Thie a 66-yarder that gave Linfield a 41-2 halftime lead. Thie also had an 81-yard touchdown reception that accounted for the Wildcats' final touchdown.
For Puget Sound, Silas Washington carried 22 times for 65 yards, Joe Gallagher had nine receptions for 64 yards and Isaiah Jerenz made five catches for 40 yards. Logger quarterback Mason Binning completed 14 of 34 passes for 104 yards but was sacked six times and intercepted once.
Linfield's defense recorded eight sacks on the day, two each by
Travis Swanson and
Vinny Niosi. The Wildcats had 10 tackles for lost yardage and four quarterback hurries, two of those by
Blaze Holani.
Linfield needed just two offensive plays to reach the end zone, scoring the game's first points on an 8-yard catch by Murray from Eaton to cap a 34-yard drive. That was set up by the Loggers failing to convert on fourth-and-2 from their own 33-yard line after taking the opening kickoff.
The Wildcats made it 14-0 on their next possession after a short punt gave them the ball at the Logger 32. The score came on Murray's 4-yard reception from Eaton.
Linfield added one more first-quarter touchdown on McNabb's 1-yard run after another short punt put the Wildcats in business at the Logger 41, making the score 21-0.
Then came the burst of punt return scores in the second quarter. Stoneking began it by taking a kick at his own 18 on the right sideline, crossing the field, turning the corner and racing down the left sideline to make it 28-0.
The Loggers managed a safety when Eaton fumbled the ball out of the end zone to avoid a sack, drawing within 28-2 with 8:09 left in the half. Just over five minutes later, Linfield took advantage of two punts in less than one minute to break the game open.
The first was another return by Stoneking that went down the left sideline for 59 yards and a 34-2 lead with 2:48 left in the half. Linfield forced a three-and-out, using a pair of timeouts in the process; this time the Loggers punted away from Stoneking and to Thie, who dashed down the right sideline to make it 41-2 with 2:05 remaining before the break.
Linfield outgained Puget Sound 206-46 in the first half. The Loggers managed minus–3 yards rushing during the opening two quarters, thanks largely to four sacks by the Wildcats, two from Swanson.
Linfield added
Gavin Dalziel's 36-yard field goal on its first possession of the third quarter for a 44-2 lead. The Wildcats next possession went 91 yards in three plays, the score coming on a 61-yard pass from Eaton to make it 51-2.
The Wildcats got two more scores in the quarter to make it 65-2 after three periods: a one-yard run by
Zach Young coming the play after
Colby Kalaukoa's 56-yard interception return and
Dawson Lieurance's 15-yard pass to Hoidal two plays after Puget Sound failed to cover the kickoff deep in its own territory and Linfield's
Caiden Biege-Wetherbee recovered the ball at the 15.
Linfield's final score came early in the fourth quarter as Lieurance found Thie on a medium-range pass on the right sideline and Thie outraced the Loggers to the end zone for an 81-yard touchdown.
ODDS AND ENDS
Stoneking's 82-yard punt return has only been topped by Brandon Hazenberg's 92-yarder against Menlo in 2004 … the 72 points tied for the 11
th-highest scoring game ever for Linfield; the 70-point margin of victory was tied for seventh-largest ever for the Wildcats.
NEXT
Linfield heads to Spokane, Washington, for a key Northwest Conference battle Saturday against the Whitworth Pirates. Kickoff at the Whitworth Pine Bowl is set for 1 p.m.
