McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Quarterback Luke McNabb had a hand in seven touchdowns, passing for five scores and rushing for two more in leading Linfield to its second straight lopsided rout of a Northwest Conference opponent, a 65-19 dismantling of the Willamette Bearcats in the Pacific Office Automation Hall of Fame Game Saturday at Maxwell Field.
 
McNabb passed for a career-high 440 yards and rushed for another 25, helping Linfield complete its 69th consecutive winning season with a 7-2 regular-season record and a 6-1 NWC mark. The Wildcats hold only a slim hope of qualifying for the Division III playoffs, which will be announced Sunday by the NCAA. Linfield's lone NWC defeat came at the hands of NWC champion Whitworth in mid-October.
 
Caleb Woodcock caught a career-high 10 passes for a career-best 153 yards, including two touchdowns, Sean Emberlin caught two passes, both for touchdowns, and linebacker Hudson Reink led a defense that held Willamette to 222 yards.
 
Willamette, under first-year coach Aric Williams, finished its season at 1-9 overall and 0-7 in NWC play.
 
Wildcats cornerback Reid Gray set the tone early on, intercepting WU quarterback Alex Rivera IV on the game's second offensive play and returning the ball deep inside Bearcats territory. A personal foul penalty against Willamette spotted the ball at the WU 8-yard line. Two plays later, Linfield was on the scoreboard as McNabb found Woodcock for a touchdown and the Wildcats led 7-0 following Gavin Dalziel's extra point.
 
Dalziel added a 27-yard field goal at the 8:42 mark of the opening quarter. And after a Willamette drive went for three yards and resulted in a punt, McNabb hooked up with Emberlin on a 71-yard catch-and-run to make the score 17-0 in favor of the hosts.
 
McNabb later found Chase McAuliffe wide open along the left sideline and the sophomore wideout raced 76 yards for another score with 3:37 left in the first period, putting the 'Cats comfortably in front 24-0.
 
McNabb capped a six-play, 42-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. Dalziel's extra point stretched the Linfield advantage to 31-0 with 5:25 remaining in the first half.
 
Willamette score all of its points inf the final 1:20 of the second quarter, first capitalizing on a Linfield turnover in closing minutes of the period when Johnhenry Hankins recovered a McNabb fumble at the Linfield 2. Two plays later, Austin Snodgrass slammed over the goalline from the 1.
 
The Bearcats gained what appeared to be a bit more momentum going into the halftime locker room. Dalziel lined up for 39-yard field goal attempt, but the kick was blocked by Austin Payne and returned 85 yards for a touchdown by Josh Hoefek, cutting the Bearcat deficit to 18 points, 31-13.
 
Linfield outgained Willamette 335-93 in the first half with McNabb passing for 327 of those yards and three scores through the first two quarters.
 
The Wildcats kept the pressure on in the second half, outscoring the Bearcats 24-6 to complete the lopsided victory. McNabb passed for two more scores, one each to Emberlin and Woodcock, and ran 4 yards for his second rushing TD of the day.
 
The fourth quarter belonged to Linfield reserves as backup QB River Lien passed 11 yards for a touchdown to Cade Welch with 12:11 to play and Julian Thomas ran for a 4-yard score with 2:51 remaining.
 
Reink contributed eight tackles, including four solo and an assisted sack, while Bubba Preston, Matua Whalen and Brady Crenshaw all came away with five tackles. Whalen was credited with 1.5 sacks in the day, plus another tackle for loss.
 
THANK YOU SENIORS
Barring a NCAA playoff invitation, Saturday's game likely spelled the end of the careerS of 11 Linfield football seniors: Brandon Dean, Bubba Preston, Makia Williams, Cole Alva, Connor Mehlovitch, Matua Whalen, Joe Higuchi, Blaze Holani, Riley Peterson, Caleb Woodcock, and Gavin Dalziel.
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