PUYALLUP, Wash. – Luke McNabb passed for a career-high 386 yards and three touchdowns and Linfield pulled away from a 7-7 tie at halftime to defeat Pacific Lutheran 31-15 in Northwest Conference football action Saturday at Sparks Stadium.
 
Linfield improved to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the NWC, moving to within one victory ensuring the program's 69th consecutive winning sason and extending the nation's longest string with winning football campaigns at all levels.
 
PLU (4-3, 3-1 NWC) suffered its first conference loss of 2025 while also losing its 25th straight series contest to Linfield. The Lutes' last win over the Wildcats came in 2001.
 
Linfield weathered a rough first half that saw the Wildcats make three trips deep inside PLU territory in the opening 21 minutes yet come away with no points each time.
 
Linfield marched to the PLU 9 yard-line on its opening drive, but McNabb was strip-sacked for a 10-yard loss by Avery Coleman and Micah Ragaza-Bourassa recovered the loose football.
 
Five plays later, Jacob Schuh sprinted 58 yards through the middle of the line for the game's first touchdown. The extra point by Evan Harvey gave the Lutes the early 7-0 lead.
 
The Wildcats went on another long march, this one lasting 17 plays and reaching the PLU 2, but Gavin Dalziel's 22-yard field goal attempt late in the first quarter on fourth down was no good.
 
Linfield faced a fourth-and-4 play at the PLU 11 with nine minutes left in the second quarter, but McNabb was sacked by Jackson Hale, turning the ball over on downs.
 
With nearly all the breaks seemingly going PLU's way in the first quarter, Lady Luck finally favored Linfield at the 5:49 mark of the second period. A bad snap sailed over the head of Lutes punter Ryan Dikover and was recovered in the end zone by Wildcats freshman Iloa Kaio for a touchdown. Dalziel's extra point tied the score at 7.
 
The second half was all Linfield as the Wildcat defense held the Lutes without to a meaningless touchdown with 3:23 to play after building a 31-7 advantage.
 
The third quarter saw McNabb throw touchdown passes of 27 yards to Dane Meddaugh and 11 yards to Matthew Spurbeck, and a 13-yard scoring strike to Elijah Howard at the midway point of the fourth quarter. Dalziel put the game on ice with a 28-yard field goal with 4:31 to play.
 
Connor Meade scored PLU's lone TD on a 70-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Anthony Mahaffey.
 
Linfield rolled up a season-high 490 yards of offense, 307 of those coming after intermission. McNabb completed 24 of 37 thre3
 
Meddaugh caught five passes for 117 yards. Spurbeck rushed for a game-high 88 yards on 13 carries and also four passes for 32 yards and one TD.
 
Linebacker Trey Dieringer led Linfield with seven total tackles, including five unassisted stops and two sacks. Kaio and Brady Crenshaw each had six tackles.
 
Mahaffey completed just 15 of 36 passes for 196 yards and was sacked four times.
 
AHEAD
Linfield is back at Maxwell Field to take on the Lewis & Clark Pioneers next Saturday in a NWC matchup starting at 1 p.m.
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