Katelyn McLean | Sports Editor
Whitworth football pulled out a 31-17 win in a game where they committed six turnovers, five of which were in the first half, and possessed the ball for fewer than fifteen minutes the entire duration of the game.
Offensive struggles clouded the first half for the Pirates. Quarterback Jaedyn Prewitt threw three interceptions in the first half, all of which disrupted Pirate drives.
Whitworth’s offense also lost two fumbles to the Lute defense.
“We just couldn’t get a break, couldn’t get things going our way. Football’s just a crazy, unpredictable game,” Head coach Rod Sandberg said. “We’ve got to clean those things up, but I love our team’s resilience in the second half,”
The past two weeks, the team has substituted freshman quarterback Caleb Christiensen if Prewitt starts to struggle and vice versa, but the team was forced to stick with Prewitt today due to a shoulder injury Christeinsen suffered against Linfield last week.
Although Prewitt threw five interceptions, he settled down and moved the offense in the fourth quarter.
“He was our guy, we were riding with him all the way. He’s a competitor. We’re proud of him, we love him,” Sandberg said.
Despite losing the turnover battle in the first half, Whitworth scored seventeen points.
A blocked punt by linebacker Daniel McKiernan that he recovered at the PLU one-yard-line gave the offense excellent field position for Solomon Hines to punch the ball in on a one-yard rush to put Whitworth up 7-0 late in the first quarter. Nate RaPue added a 32 yard field goal, and Kanen Ables caught a 12 yard touchdown pass from Pruitt to go up 17-0.
The Pirate defense stopped PLU and got the ball back, only to turn it over again when Prewitt was sacked and had the ball stripped away. The Lutes scored a touchdown with one second remaining to cut into the Whitworth lead 17-7 before halftime.
No points were scored in the third quarter, but Pacific Lutheran scored a 28 yard passing touchdown and made a 45 yard field goal in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 17.
The Pirates responded and Prewitt threw an 18 yard pass to Ethan Peloquin to reclaim the lead 24-17.
The defense stood strong and got Prewitt and the offense the ball back, and Isaiah Jones ran in an 18 yard touchdown to seal the game.
The Whitworth offense only possessed the ball for 14:34 compared to the Lutes’ 45:26, an uncommon differential for a winning team.
“We had a couple big plays on special teams, some blocked punts, a couple nice returns that were crucial,” Sandberg said.
Patrick Serrano and Dylan Ventress had ten tackles each, and Ventress tallied 0.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks. Jaylen Gonzales finished with nine tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss. Dylan Owen recorded six tackles, 0.5 sacks, and 2.5 tackles for loss.
“Just guys playing with a lot of confidence,” Sandberg said.
The football team returns to action next Saturday, Oct. 23 at home in the Pine Bowl against Willamette at 1pm.