Chris Forrer – For the Review. Linfield football continued its stellar season in fantastic form, gutting out a tough 30-27 win over the Bearcats on Oct. 24.
All season long, head coach Joe Smith and his Wildcats knew the showdown against Willamette in Salem, Ore., would be a tough game and, after opening the season undefeated at 6-0, the stakes only grew higher.
The ’Cats were led yet again by senior quarterback Aaron Boehme, who amassed 195 yards passing, three total touchdowns and a career-high 100 yards rushing.
“It was an amazing feeling to get the win,” Boehme said. “There aren’t many feelings better than this.”
The ’Cats went straight for the throat on their drive to begin the game. Boehme launched a 50-yard strike on the fourth play from scrimmage to senior wide receiver Chris Slezak, who scored after less than two minutes had elapsed. Following a missed point-after kick by freshman kicker Maika Kunioka, his second of the season, the ’Cats led 6-0.
“We’ve been able to score quickly on our first possessions,” Smith said. “It’s been big for us.”
Near the end of the first quarter, Linfield struck again on a short run by Boehme to lead 13-0. Sophomore running back Aaron Williams picked up 20 of his game-high 126 yards on the drive.
In all, the ’Cats racked up 227 yards on the ground against a Willamette defense that has previously allowed only 123.4 rushing yards per game.
“We have become a much more physical football team,” Boehme said. “Aaron [Williams] ran hard and gave us a boost numerous times.”
At the beginning of the second quarter, Willamette came within striking distance on a big run by running back Jamiere Abney.
Abney might have gone the distance for a score but was brought down by Wildcat sophomore defensive end Kole Kreiger, who finished the game with a team-high 10 tackles. The Bearcats settled for a field goal, decreasing the Linfield lead to 13-3.
“They ran a lot of fly sweep plays along the sidelines, and that’s where I was defending,” Kreiger said. “The ball came my way often, so I just did my job and made tackles.”
For the remainder of the half, the Wildcats’ offense began to falter, with two consecutive drives snuffed out on attempted fourth-down conversions. The Linfield defense continued to hold, however, and held Willamette to another field goal near the end of the half. The score was 13-6 heading into the locker room.
“We were disappointed in our play in the second quarter,” Smith said. “We could have put it away, but we left two fourth downs unconverted and that was big. We have to get those.”
To open the second half, the Wildcat defense continued its trend of taking away turnover after turnover from opposing offenses.
Willamette chose to go for the first down facing fourth and one deep in Linfield territory, but senior defensive end Ian Estrada stripped the ball from Bearcat quarterback Brian Widing, and junior cornerback Bryce Comfort recovered the fumble.
“Our coaches prepared us for every single play they ran,” Kreiger said. “Our young guys on the scout team ran their offense as well as [Willamette] did. We put in a lot of extra time and practice as well.”
On the next drive, Boehme almost single-handedly willed the ’Cats down the field, picking up 44 all-purpose yards en route to a field goal by Kunioka.
“Boehme is a legitimate running threat,” Smith said. “If we turned him loose every game, he could pick up a ton of yards, but we try not to do that too much.”
The game got interesting on Willamette’s next drive.
On fourth down and 17 yards to go, the Bearcats ran a trick play that outsmarted the ’Cats’ defense and led to a touchdown, narrowing its deficit to three as the third quarter came to a close.
“Willamette competed, no question about that,” Smith said. “They are a well-coached team.”
To open the final quarter, Linfield’s offense showed off its Northwest Conference ranking. The tandem team of Boehme and Williams led a 77-yard charge down the field effortlessly, and Williams shot into the end zone to push the ’Cats’ lead back to 10.
“The game plan worked out really well,” Williams said. “The offensive line had a good game so we could run right at them between the tackles.”
Not to be outdone on its next offensive series, the Bearcats relied on Abney to retaliate. He responded with consecutive runs of 23 and 18 yards that led to a touchdown after only 33 seconds.
On the Wildcats’ ensuing drive, running out the clock was just as important as scoring. The ’Cats plugged down the field during the course of six minutes and finally scored again on a 7-yard pass by Boehme to sophomore tight end Chris Saunders.
“We sealed the win on that last drive,” Smith said. “We took time off the clock, drove and scored.”
With little more than three minutes remaining in the game, Willamette managed to put together another scoring drive, converting on two difficult fourth downs and bringing the score to 30-27. The Bearcats attempted an onside kick in desperation, but the punt bounced over the heads of the awaiting receiving and kicking team members, and a Wildcat victory was sealed.
“I’m very proud of this team,” Smith said. “This is a big win, and we’re very happy about it.”
The win improved Linfield’s record to 7-0 this season and dropped Willamette to 6-2. The Wildcats moved up one more spot in this week’s d3football.com Top 25 poll to No. 5.
The ’Cats return home again Oct. 31 to face the University of Puget Sound. The Loggers are winless this season with an 0-6 record, but Smith said the team is taking the contest seriously nonetheless.
“We are a self-referent team, which means we’re always looking to improve ourselves first and foremost,” Smith said. “That’s sufficient motivation for everyone on the squad.”