‘Cats pounce Pios: Linfield racks up 669 yards, records seven sacks in 70-7 blowout
By Dylan Wilhelm, McMinnville N-R/News-Register electronic edition 11/16/2022. Photos by N-R’s Rusty Rae. Minor edits by Wildcatville
Utter dominance is an understatement.
Linfield put up 669 yards of total offense and recorded eight sacks in a 70-7 thrashing of Lewis & Clark at Griswold Stadium on Sat., Nov. 12, 2022.
Linfield will now prepare for the first round of the postseason, where it will be host of 8-2 Pomona-Pitzer (California) at Maxwell Field on Sat., Nov. 19, 2022 in the first round.
Connor McNabb rushed for a career-high 182 yards and two touchdowns, part of 455 Wildcat rushing yards.
Lewis & Clark came out swinging big, as Cruz Montana found Sean Bodi for a 41-yard strike on third down on the first drive of the game.
Approaching field goal range, the Pioneers looked poised to take an early lead, but Travis Swanson knocked the ball loose on his first sack of the game three plays later, and Linfield recovered.
The strip-sack was a sign of things to come for a dominant Linfield front seven, a unit that put pressure on the quarterback all day. They recorded seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss, holding the Pioneers to just 218 total yards of offense.
Defensive coordinator Jackson Vaughan credited the experience of the front seven, a group that includes five fifth-year seniors.
“They’ve all played so much,” Vaughan said. “They are just so good and so experienced; they’ve given us an advantage over almost anybody we’ve played this year.”
Two plays after the Swanson strip, Connor McNabb avoided three defenders near the line of scrimmage and broke free for a 60-yard touchdown run to give the Cats the lead.
L&C got another deep shot on the following drive, as a well-executed flea-flicker resulted in a 45 yard pass from Montana to Devon Guest.
Montana found Guest in the end zone later in the drive to tie the game at seven.
On the first play of the next Linfield possession, Auzzie Ankai jumped in front of a Blake Eaton pass near the sideline to give the Pioneers possession.
The Linfield defense then flipped a switch, forcing six straight three-and-outs.
“You’re hoping you don’t fall for the trick,” Vaughan said. “After that, the guys kind of settled in… we were obviously pretty good the rest of the game.”
A combination of long returns and a tipped punt gave the Linfield offense excellent field position, and the ‘Cats were able to capitalize, scoring four straight touchdowns to take a 35-7 lead.
Both kickers took turns hitting the posts, as Linfield’s Gavin Dalziel hit the right upright from 45 yards out and Lewis & Clark’s Alex Koga hit the crossbar from 50 yards out.
Heading into the half, it appeared that Dalziel would get another kick.
With eight seconds remaining in the half and on the brink of Dalziel’s range, coach Joseph Smith opted to run one more play to try and get closer.
McNabb ran the ball towards the sideline, but burst upfield when he saw a gap in the secondary.
A Pioneer defender was able to push him out of bounds at the nine to prevent the touchdown, and it looked like there was one second on the clock, enough time for a field goal attempt.
Instead, the clock wound to triple zeros, and the Pioneers began heading to the locker room.
The referees got together to discuss the play, and at one point the clock operator added a second back onto the clock, eliciting confusion from everyone in the stadium.
Ultimately, to Smith’s displeasure, it was ruled that the clock had run out, and the Wildcats were not able to tack on to their lead.
The Linfield explosion continued in the third quarter, as the Wildcats put up 35 points, highlighted by a 40-yard run by Aaron Martinez and punctuated with a Johnny Miller pick-six.
The win caps off the 21st unbeaten regular season in program history. It also captured Linfield’s 31st outright Northwest Conference Title.
The team’s attention now turns to the playoffs, with Pomona-Pitzer coming to town.
Pomona-Pitzer has four common opponents with Linfield this season. The Sagehens defeated Willamette, lost to Pacific, and split two meetings with Redlands.
Should Linfield win, it will advance to the round of 16 to play the winner between Wheaton (Ill.) and Bethel (Minn.).
Kickoff at Maxwell Field is set for 12:05 p.m. on Saturday.
Early in the third quarter, L&C’s Jeremiah Bernal was on the field for a kickoff return. The play seemed like a routine kickoff return, but Bernal was down after the play, and it was quickly apparent that his injury was severe.
The game was delayed for about 20 minutes, as a hushed crowd watched as paramedics and medical staff from both teams helped put Bernal on a backboard and onto a stretcher, where he was then taken off the field and into a nearby ambulance.
As he left the field, he covered his face with his hands. Players and coaches on the Pioneer sideline were wiping away tears.
The two teams were then given three minutes to warm-up again before resuming play.
Vaughan described the raw emotions that players felt, and how difficult it is to get your mindset back on football.
“As a player, it kind of hits you because you know it could be you,” Vaughan said. “Everybody questions their own toughness/durability a little bit … everybody knows that it can happen at any time.”
It didn’t seem apparent that there was any talk of calling off the remainder of the game, although the question “how can you play after something like that” lingered.
As of press deadline, the News-Register has not received an update from the college on Bernal’s status.
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