Loggers suffered a hard loss Saturday in front of a stadium packed with students and parents. The Loggers were hoping to get a win over a struggling Whitworth team for homecoming and parent weekend.While the final score does not reflect the rest of the game, the Loggers were still unsuccessful, losing 33-14. The Loggers had the ball on the first drive, but quickly lost it with a fumble on the kickoff. From there Whitworth had a seven play 34-yard drive for the touchdown with 14 minutes left in the first quarter.
After a great kick return by junior defensive back Connor Savage (Bothell, Wash.), the Loggers quickly were forced to punt the ball. It took Whitworth 4 plays and 1:30 to go 78 yards for a second touchdown. At this point it looked to be a long day for the home team Loggers. It hadn’t even passed the ten-minute mark and Puget Sound was down by two scores. The Loggers fought back, however. After some nice defensive stops on fourth down, the Loggers utilized the screen passes for a 55-yard touchdown drive. This made the game 14-7. The Loggers were keeping themselves in the game. At the end of the first quarter it seemed like it was going to become somewhat of a shootout. However, both defenses really took over in the second quarter.
The only scoring was a field goal by freshman Whitworth kicker Kyler Gracey set up from a costly fumble by the Loggers. This made the score 17-7. The rest of the half went relatively silent.However, with 50 seconds the Loggers got the ball back with the whole field to go. Instead of running the clock out, the Loggers’ play-calling took a more aggressive, less conservative approach by throwing the ball. On the second play, junior quarterback Braden Foley (Bothell, Wash.) threw a interception up the middle. Whitworth scared the Loggers with a few successful plays, but missed the field goal, ending the second half.
The second half started with a real defensive battle. Neither teams could get anything going, ending with a scoreless quarter. At this point the game was still in reach for the Puget Sound homecoming afternoon.
The fourth quarter, however, got away from the Loggers. Whitworth was able to put up 16 points and the Loggers could only respond with 7.This loss seems crucial due to their upcoming schedule. Whitworth is the last struggling team that Puget Sound will face for the rest of the season.
We face a tough opponent next week away at our rival Pacific Lutheran, and then face the powerhouse that is Linfield. Linfield is coming off of a 84-7 victory over Lewis and Clark. That is not a typo, and it could have been worse considering they were up 70-0 after the second quarter. The Loggers really need to step up their game so Linfield does not have a similar game against us. Think of the message we can send if we play Linfield even relatively close.Come support our team next week against our crosstown rivals PLU so the Loggers can gain some momentum going into the Linfield game.
