Woods and Rodriguez each record 9 tackles, Smith with 8, as Bearcats fall at PLU

Puyallup, WA - Bearcat Football dropped their third straight conference game, this time on the road at Pacific Lutheran University.  The Lutes outscored the Bearcats 40-0 by halftime and went on to a 50-0 victory.

The game started well for Willamette as they stopped Pacific Lutheran on their first possession and took over at their own twenty yard line after a Lutes' punt.  On the Bearcats' first play from scrimmage quarterback Alex Rivera IV had his pass intercepted by Sam Morasch.  On the next play for PLU, running back Jacob Schuh ran the ball up the middle for a touchdown to give Pacific Luthern a 7-0 lead after the extra point.

The Bearcats were forced to punt on their next possession and this time the Lutes marched seventy-one yards in seven plays to take a 14-0 lead on a pass from Darius Chaffin to Thor Stepina.  

After PLU took a 21-0 lead, Willamette was able to move the ball into Lutes territory, but on a 4th-and-3 from the Pacific Lutheran thirty-eight, Rivera IV's pass was intercepted and returned to the Willamette seventeen.  Another Chaffin to Stepina connection made the score 27-0 just a few seconds into the second quarter.  

Willamette worked their way into Pacific Lutheran territory again but their drive stalled at the PLU fifteen and Nick Beswick-Seidl's 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked.  The teams traded possessions near the end of the quarter until the Lutes scored again, this time on a 37-yard run by Chaffin.  

Pacific Lutheran tacked on ten more points in the third quarter to take the 50-0 lead that would become the final score.  Back-up quarterback Diego Franco would get the Bearcats down inside the twenty again in the final minutes, but Willamette turned the ball over on downs and the Lutes ran out the clock.

Orion Woods and Javi Rodriguez led the Willamette defense with nine tackles each, including one tackle for loss.  Hogan Smith added eight tackles while Dominic Corado chipped in with six and had a forced fumble and fumble recovery.  Kylan Keeler added a sack for the Bearcats.

Pres Juarez started the second half at quarterback for Willamette and completed 6 of 12 passes for 61 yards.  Starting quarterback Alex Rivera IV led the Bearcats in rushing with 21 yards on 6 attempts and Brandon Johnson caught 4 passes for 46 yards.

Willamette returns home for their next game when they host George Fox University on Saturday, October 26th, at 1:00 pm.