McMINNVILLE, Ore. – No. 8 Linfield scored touchdowns on four of its five first-quarter possesions, starting the Wildcats on their way to a 70-14 win over Willamette in Northwest Conference football Saturday afternoon at Maxwell Field. The Wildcats outgained the Bearcats 516-154 in total offense in the NWC opener for both teams.
Blake Eaton completed 15 of 19 passes for 174 yards and five touchdowns for the Linfield (3-0, 1-0 NWC) with
Devon Murray catching three of those for 56 yards and three touchdowns and
Colton Smith five for 44 yards.
Connor McNabb rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown while
Tyler Larson had nine caries for 65 yards.
For Willamette, Gabriel Herrera carried 17 times for 43 yards and a touchdown. Max Grizzell completed 7 of 10 passes for 35 yards and a touchdown for the Bearcats (1-3, 0-1) and Justin Genovia had five catches for 31 yards.
The Wildcats rolled up 516 yards of total offense; they used three quarterbacks, had 12 players catch a pass and seven players get at least one carry. Linfield had a balanced attack with 285 yards passing and 231 yards rushing.
Defensively, Linfield limited Willamette to 154 yards total offense and 59 of those came on the Bearcats' final possession of the game. Other than that final drive and a pair of possessions following Wildcat miscues deep in their own territory, the Bearcats ran just five plays on Linfield's side of the 50. Thirty Wildcats had at least one solo tackle, led by rovers
Johnny Miller and
Caiden Biege-Wetherbee with four each, and another six had at least an assisted tackle.
The Wildcats struck quickly in the first quarter, scoring on drives of 65 yards in two plays, 47 yard in three plays, 44 yards in four plays and 29 yards in five plays.
Linfield took the lead less than a minute into the game, on a 21-yard run by McNabb and a 44-yard pass from Eaton to Murray. With 43 seconds gone Linfield was up 6-0.
Next was McNabb's 26-yard run setting up an eight-yard pass from Eaton to Murray and it was 12-0 with 12:13 left in the opening quarter. Eaton made it 19-0 on a 23-yard quarterback draw less than four minutes later. McNabb wrapped up the first-quarter surge with a 16-yard run, going up the middle, breaking tackles and lunging into the end zone for a 26-0 lead.
The Wildcats added a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to go up 40-7 at halftime.
A 25-yard pass from Eaton to
Connor Wolfe keyed a five-play, 36-yard drive capped by Eaton's nine-yard pass over the middle to Smith for nine yards and a 33-0 lead. Late in the quarter, Linfield went 42 yards in nine plays, Eaton and Murray connecting for a third score of the half with a four-yard pass to make it 40-0.
Willamette got on the board in the final minute of the half after Bearcat linebacker Michael Moreno forced a fumble while sacking Eaton and recoverd it at the Linfield 7-yard line. Herrera scored from the 1 with 36 seconds left before intermission.
Linfield scored after taking the third-quarter kickoff,
Isaac Hoidal making the grab of a nine-yard pass from Eaton for a 47-7 advantage. The Wildcats then forced a Bearcat punt but the snap eluded George Wiles-Koehler and went through the end zone to make it 49-7.
Jackson Pfeifer then closed the third quarter and opened the fourth with a pair of touchdown runs for Linfield: an 11-yarder capping a 30-yard, five-play drive and a 10-yarder than wrapped up a 41-yard, four-play drive to put the score at 63-7.
The Wildcats then set up the Bearcats' second touchdown by muffing a punt and Willamette recovered at the Linfield 6. From there, Grizzell connected with Mason LaPlante for the touchdown to make it 63-14.
Linfield closed the scoring with 4:58 left in the game, Carson Van Dkye finding
Cade Welch on the right side of the end zone; Welch reached over a Bearcat defender to grab the ball to complete a 15-yard scoring play and put the final at 70-14.
NEXT
Linfield travels to Lewis & Clark next Saturday to face the Pioneers. Kickoff at Griswold Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
CAT SCRATCH
This was the 95
th game in a rivalry dating back to 1902. Linfield now leads the series 56-36-3 and has won the last eight meetings and 13 of the last 14 … the 14 points were the most Willamette has scored in the series since a 55-14 loss in 2017 in Salem … Linfield has scored at least 50 points in each of the last six meetings, including 70 points or more in three of those games.
