Linfield
looks to extend 'The Streak'
By Dylan
Wilhelm, Sports Editor, McMinnville N-R/News-Register 10/14/2022
When Linfield takes the field on Saturday in
Forest Grove to take on the Pacific Boxers, it will be business as usual for
the Wildcats.
Linfield (4-0, 2-0 NWC) is looking to continue
its dominance over the Boxers (3-1, 2-0 NWC), who the Cats have beaten 41 of
the last 43 times they have played, including 13 straight.
While a win would help Linfield in its quest for
a NWC championship and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III
postseason, it would also extend a streak that has been alive since before a
man landed on the moon.
A win on Saturday would secure Linfield’s 66th
consecutive winning season, which is the longest streak at any division or
level of college football. The next closest streak is 42 years, by the Mount
Union (Ohio) Raiders.
Since Linfield’s streak began in 1956, the
Wildcats have posted an astounding .837 winning percentage in the regular
season.
They have won or shared 43 conference titles and
have posted 22 undefeated regular seasons. They’ve won four national
championships, finished as national runner-up three times, and have made seven
trips to the national semifinals across NAIA Division II and NCAA Division III.
Every year the number grows, it becomes more
mind-boggling to those who know of it, except for those on the Linfield campus.
For them, it is simply the standard.
“It’s the expectation, not the goal,” said Joe
Stuart, Linfield play-by-play announcer and Broadcast Operations Coordinator.
“The goal is winning the conference and contending for a national title.”
Stuart is a McMinnville native and a Linfield
graduate, so he is versed in the culture that is instilled in not just the
football team, but Linfield athletics as a whole.
“The standard is excellence,” Stuart said.
“Literally the words in the hallway across my office, it says ‘Culture of
Excellence.
“You’re a part of something a lot bigger than
yourself that, at this point, thousands of people have put a ton of hard work
into sustaining. Which is a pretty cool thing to be a part of when you kind of
zoom out with a wide lens.”
Coach Joseph Smith has been a part of the
football program for over 25 years, first as an All-American defensive back,
then as an assistant, and now as the head coach in his 17th season as head
coach.
“It means a lot,” Smith said of the streak. “The
values and the principles that coach (Paul) Durham and coach (Ad) Rutschman
founded this program and steeped it in have held true. We’ve held on to those
through coach (Ed) Langsdorf and coach (Jay) Locey and now my staff and I. I’m
really proud of that.”
Smith also mentioned that the values instilled
in the program have always been about doing things the right way, on and off
the field.
“What I’m most proud of is, you know, it means a
lot to our graduates, they’re really neat young men. They go out and they’re
very successful afterwards,” Smith said.
“I think winning on the field is really a
byproduct of how we go about doing things every day - the core principles of
the program.”
While a win on Saturday would officially extend
the streak, Stuart says that it is just another box to check as they continue
through the season.
“It definitely means something to re-clinch the
streak every year,” Stuart said. “But I would say for the most part, it’s not
some super major part of the season, because at the end of the day, what’s
going to matter is how far these guys can go in the playoffs.”
A win over Pacific would leave them and Pacific
Lutheran as the only unbeaten teams in the conference. Pacific Lutheran takes
on Whitworth on Saturday. Linfield hosts Pacific Lutheran next Saturday in
McMinnville.
Kickoff for Saturday in Forest Grove is set for
1 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on Linfield’s website at
golinfieldwildcats.com/watch.
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