TACOMA, Wash. –
Luke McNabb passed for 313 yards and seven touchdowns – all in the first half – and the Linfield Wildcats rolled to a 77-14 Northwest Conference rout of the Puget Sound Loggers Saturday at Baker Stadium.
The Wildcats (6-2, 5-1 NWC) defeated the Loggers for the 35th consecutive time, continuing their winning string in the series that spans to 1987.
Eleven Wildcats caught passes in the game and five different quarterbacks saw action behind center.
Linfield's 77 points ranks as the fifth-most ever scored by a Wildcats team, matching the 77 points scored four times previously, all since 2015.
Puget Sound lost its third straight game to fall to 1-8 and 1-5 in the NWC.
Linfield piled up a season-high 627 yards of offense while holding the Loggers to 296. The 'Cats rushed for a season-high 231 yards. UPS finished with minus-28 yards rushing.
Paavan Bankston led Linfield's defense effort with six tackles and an interception.
Blaze Holani and
Kenyon Johnson also recorded interceptions in the game. Linfield defenders recorded eight tackles for loss, including four sacks, two of them by linebacker
Trey Dieringer.
McNabb and the Wildcats raced to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter, including two touchdown passes less than one minute apart to
Chase McAuliffe and
Caleb Woodcock.
Jayce Bareng and
Matthew Spurbeck pulled in short TD passes from McNabb to close the quarter.
The Loggers got on the scoreboard two minutes into the second quarter as Teeter found Bailey for a 9-yard scoring pass. The Wildcats followed that with 28 more points in the half, as McNabb laced touchdown tosses to McAuliffe, Woodcock and two more to Bareng.
The Wildcats continued to score at will in the third quarter. After a long kickoff return by
Iloa Kaio, backup quarterback River Lein scored on a 1-yard run on the Wildcats' first possession of the second half.
Lein guided the Wildcats on another scoring drive at the end of the third quarter, capping the drive with freshman tailback
Dace O'Bagy's 8-yard run up the middle, making the score 70-7.
The Loggers scored their only TD of the half at the midway mark, but the Wildcats countered with
Julian Thomas' 28-yard run with 6:34 remaining, pushing the score to 77-14.
NEXT
Linfield returns to home to Maxwell Field next Saturday when the Wildcats will face the Willamette Bearcats for Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
