Linfield football is six games into the 2022 season and the Wildcats have already claimed five Northwest Conference Football Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week awards. This week, the award went to Blake Rybar, who earned the second weekly nod of his junior campaign on Monday.
 
The junior linebacker from Monroe, Washington, led the Wildcats with eight tackles, seven solo and two for loss, in a 45-0 shutout victory over Pacific Lutheran at home on Saturday. The Lutes were the only other unbeaten team in NWC play entering the contest.
 
With Rybar spearheading the defense, the 'Cats limited the Lutes to five first downs, two of which came off Linfield penalties. The Lutes had just 114 yards of total offense and were a combined 0 of 16 on third and fourth down opportunities. The 'Cats forced PLU to punt nine times.
 
Linfield improved to 6-0 overall with a 4-0 NWC mark with the win. The team already claimed the program's 66^th consecutive winning season with a 42-21 road victory against Pacific on Oct. 15. The 'Cats enter the week ranked No. 4 in the latest AFCA Top 25 while also ranking No. 5 in this week's D3football.com poll. The 'Cats received one first-place vote in the AFCA rankings.
 
The 'Cats will be tested again this week when they make the short trip to Newberg to take on their cross-county rivals in the George Fox Bruins. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Bruins' Stoffer Family Stadium.