Oct. 21, 2006

Linfield Beats Pacific Lutheran in Sloppy NWC Football Game

Game Statistics

PUYALLUP, Wash. – Trevor Scharer passed for 291 yards and four touchdowns and Scott Birkhofer tied a Linfield school record with five field goals as the visiting Wildcats defeated the Pacific Lutheran Lutes, 44-21, in a Northwest Conference football game played Saturday afternoon at Sparks Stadium.

Jon Hergert - 13 tackles for Lutes

Robert Thomsen - interception return for TD

Scharer, a junior quarterback, connected with Tyler Kaluza on three of his scoring passes. The first, a 3-yard play, came with 2:50 left in the first quarter and put the Wildcats ahead to stay, 10-7. With 5:22 left in the half, Scharer found Kaluza on a 38-yard scoring play, and on the first play of the fourth period it was Scharer-to-Kaluza for 22 yards and another score.

Scharer’s other touchdown pass may have been the proverbial nail in the coffin. Following a big Linfield defensive stand deep in its own end of the field, Scharer found Travis Masters behind the secondary, the play going for 87 yards and a score with just 58 seconds left before halftime.

Birkhofer’s big day tied him with Andy Ward and Ryan Cruz for most field goals in a game by a Linfield kicker. Ward set the record on Nov. 15, 1997 against Eastern Oregon, and Cruz tied it Nov. 3, 2001 against Whitworth.

Birkhofer got the Wildcats on the board first with his longest field goal, a 44-yard effort coming just 2:59 into the game. He added a 25-yard field goal in the second quarter, a pair of 40-yarders in the third quarter, then finished his day with a 28-yard boot halfway through the final period. He might have had a chance to break the record with a 48-yard attempt inside the final three minutes, but the Linfield coaching staff elected instead to take a delay of game penalty and punt the ball away.

The game was a sloppy affair with the Lutes turned the ball over seven times and Linfield giving the ball away five times. Both teams threw four interceptions.

After Birkhofer had given his team the lead, PLU defensive end Andrew Eisentrout made a spectacular diving interception to give the Lutes the ball at the Linfield 42-yard line. Chase Reed ran left, broke a tackle, then cut back to the right and raced into the end zone to put the Lutes on top, 7-3.

Linfield then scored 41 unanswered points, 20 coming directly as a result of three PLU fumbles and an interception.

Trailing 44-7, the Lutes added a pair of big-play fourth quarter touchdowns. The first came on a 75-yard pass-and-run play from Chris Maine to Craig Chiado, and the other on a 38-yard interception return by defensive end Robert Thomsen.

Linfield finished the game with 453 yards of total offense, including 328 through the air. Kaluza had six catches for 97 yards and three touchdowns and Josh Vierra added four catches for 66 yards. Drew Ragan led Linfield’s running game with 64 yards on eight carries. The Wildcats had 7 ½ minutes more possession time than the Lutes.

For the Lutes, Maine came off the bench to complete 6-of-13 passes for 147 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Reed had 47 rushing yards and 34 receiving yards on three catches, while Chiado had five catches for 130 yards.

Defensively for PLU, linebacker Jon Hergert finished with 13 tackles, while Eisentrout had four tackles for loss and a quarterback sack among his 11 tackles, while also adding the interception.