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Nov. 10, 2007 Pacific Lutheran Edges Willamette, 17-10, in Season Finale
SALEM, ORE. - Pacific Lutheran built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and got big plays from its defense to hold off Willamette and earn a 17-10 Northwest Conference football win on Saturday, Nov. 10, at McCulloch Stadium. The win, coming in the regular season finale, improves PLU's season record to 7-2 and its conference mark to 4-2. Willamette ends its season at 4-6 overall, 3-3 in the NWC. The Lutes took a 7-0 lead when senior slotback Chase Reed scored on a 7-yard run with 3:25 left in the first period. Another pair of seniors, quarterback Brett Gordon and wide receiver Craig Chiado, set up the touchdown by combining on a 46-yard pass play. The next touchdown came on yet another big play as freshman wide receiver Greg Ford took a Gordon pass and escaped the defense to complete a 91-yard touchdown on the final play of the opening quarter. Willamette got a touchdown back at 9:51 of the second quarter when Ryan Whitcomb hit running back C.J. Washington on a 54-yard pass play. The Lutes put their final points on the board early in the fourth period when Neal Chalmers booted a 40-yard field goal, his longest successful kick of the season, for a 17-7 lead with 13:44 left in the game. Matt Wolford set up the field goal with a 22-yard punt return deep into Willamette territory. Pacific Lutheran made a big stand on Willamette's next possession. The Bearcats had a first-and-goal at the PLU 3-yard line when the stubborn Lutes forced the home team to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Matt Bicocca with 9:46 to go in the fourth quarter. That wasn't the only big goal-line stand for the Pacific Lutheran defense in this game. The Lutes held firm, stopping the Bearcats on a fourth down at the PLU 4-yard line with about five minutes remaining in the first half. Following its field goal, Willamette had three more possessions, but the Lutes kept the Bearcats out of the end zone to earn the victory. The game was evenly matched in the statistical category as Willamette gained 289 total yards to 284 for Pacific Lutheran. The Lutes limited the Bearcats' running game to 189 yards, though PLU managed just 22 rushing yards. Gordon had a strong game, completing 16-of-26 passes for 262 yards, though he was sacked six times. Chiado, who came back from a cracked rib to play in this game, caught seven passes for 129 yards, and Ford had four grabs for 106 yards. Defensively, Robert Thomsen had a monster game with five tackles for loss, including 1 1/2 quarterback sacks, among his nine tackles. Andrew Eisentrout and Andy Holden both two quarterback sacks and Chris deVries had 1 1/2 sacks among his seven tackles. As a team, the Lutes recorded eight sacks for a total of 40 yards in losses. Senior linebacker Chad Blau made nine tackles to tie Thomsen for the team lead in that category. - PLU -
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