The Puget Sound Loggers were trying to use a butter knife to cut down a mighty oak in Saturday’s game against Linfield.

Rain fell from the sky in sheets for Linfield’s final home game of the regular season. Regardless of the downpour, the Wildcats put on a tour de force of their program that illustrated its strength from the freshman to the senior class. In honor of all of his hard work throughout his Linfield career Tom Knecht, ’16, started at quarterback for the Wildcats and wasted no time in putting together a scoring drive.

An eight-yard pass from Knecht to fellow senior Brian Balsiger put the ’Cats on the UPS 35 and Spencer Payne, ’17, took care of the rest with a 32-yard rush into the end zone.

Linfield’s defense cut the Logger’s first possession short at seven seconds after safety Mikey Arkans, ’17, intercepted a pass from UPS quarterback Hans Fortune at the UPS 23-yard line.

Despite their stellar field position, the ’Cats were held to a 33-yard field goal from Michael Metter, ’17.

On their next possession the ’Cats only needed 18 seconds and Payne’s legs to reach the end zone. From the Linfield 26-yard line Payne rushed downfield outmaneuvering and outrunning every defender in his path. The 74-yard rush concluded with Payne leaping over two UPS defenders and trotting across the goal line.

In total, Payne finished the day with 210 net rushing yards with three touchdowns, something Linfield fans have grown accustomed to seeing.

Alongside Payne with three rushing touchdowns was wide receiver Johnny Carroll, ’18. Carroll’s hands were on fire despite the heavy rainfall. In the second quarter alone Carroll had three touchdowns, two of which were fantastic leaping or one-handed grabs in the corner of the end zone.

“Every day receivers are out here working on one-handed catches and two-handed catches. You never know when someone is going to grab your arm or you have to make a play,” Carroll said.

“The biggest difference [between] this week and last week was we came out every day, and we practiced with buckets of water and dunked our balls in them and we put butter on our balls. We did everything we could to make the balls as hard to catch as possible.”

Carroll’s final touchdown reception came with 0:21 left on the clock and sent UPS into the half scoreless against Linfield’s 52 point lead.

The Loggers started off with the ball in the second half but once more their possession was chopped down by an interception. Defensive tackle Sam Gomez, ’19, read the play so well that the pass seemed to fly into his hands as if it were intended to.

“I was hearing Eli Biondine behind me calling ‘watch the screen!’ so I read it and he pretty much threw it right into my hands. I wish I could’ve scored but it happens,” Gomez said.

From a freshman in Gomez to a senior in Knecht, there were ample examples of Linfield’s talent.

The highlight of Knecht’s final regular season game at the Catdome came at the end of the third quarter as he ran the ball 14 yards for a touchdown.

The ’Cats concluded their scoring onslaught after running back Gabe Caskey, ’19, punched into the end zone with a four-yard run to bring the score to 72-0.

UPS managed to squeeze in a 32-yard field goal with 5:10 remaining in the game. When all was said and done the score totaled 72-3, Linfield.

This was a game of finality. In terms of the regular season it will be the last time the ‘Cats storm Maxwell field. In terms of collegiate football careers some will soon be coming to a close but others are just being born. What remains steadfast about Linfield’s football program is its ability to produce quality men and quality players.

“I feel pretty surreal right now. I mean my career has flown by but it’s nostalgic because all my boys are here,” Knecht said. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person here at Linfield. The coaches here and faculty and everyone around me have molded me into the person I am today. I think I’ve grown as a football player but more as a person and I feel pretty good about that.”