By Gerry Painter, Wildcatville contributor
Linfield football fans still talk about the many memorable football games played between Linfield and Pacific Lutheran when Ad Rutschman and Frosty Westering were the rival coaches.
Ad Rutschman started coaching at Linfield in 1968. Frosty Westering arrived at PLU in 1972. From then until Ad retired in 1991, the two coaches went head-to-head 24 times. Ad’s team prevailed in 14 games and Frosty’s in 10 games.
The 24 games included 4 playoff games, Linfield winning 1 and PLU the other 3.
Frosty continued coaching through the 2003 season. His overall record playing Linfield was 16 wins, 20 losses and a 20-20 tie 1993.
Ad’s widest margin playing PLU was 26 points in 1986. That year Linfield won the NAIA Division II National Championship. Frosty’s widest margin against Linfield was 33 points in 1999, the year PLU was the NCAA Division III National Champ.
In the 24 games Ad and Frosty played each other, Linfield scored 470 points and PLU 490. That was an average differential of less than 1 point per game. For 6 games the differential score was 1 point. For half the 24 games, the margin of the winning team was 10 or less. Close games were the norm.
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Researcher/writer Garry Painter is a Linfield grad and Wildcat football
season ticket holder.
