Nov. 15, 2007

FOOTBALL: Lutes Tie for Second Place, 17 Players Earn Postseason Honors

LAST WEEK: 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 at McCulloch Stadium. The win improved PLU's season record to 7-2 and its conference mark to 4-2. 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. 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.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Not only did senior defensive end Andrew Eisentrout earn his second straight spot on the NWC first-team this season, but he also split conference defensive player of the year honors with Whitworth’s Jay Tully. Eisentrout led the conference with 11.5 sacks this season, and his 14.5 tackles-for-loss were second only to teammate Robert Thomsen.

NWC FIRST-TEAM HONORS: Several Lutes earned Northwest Conference post-season honors. Senior wide receiver Craig Chiado earned a spot on the all-conference first-team for the third straight season. In spite of injuries that limited him to only seven games this season, Chiado led the conference with 637 receiving yards. His 91 receiving yards per game average was more than 27 yards per game ahead of the second-ranked wide receiver. He also led the conference with 5.86 receptions per game and scored five touchdowns for the Lutes. Senior slot receiver Chase Reed earned NWC postseason recognition for the fourth straight year, being named honorable mention his freshman season and earning first-team honors for the past three years. Reed finished second in the league with a 7.3 points per game scoring average, scoring 11 touchdowns in the Lutes’ nine games. He also finished third in the conference among players with at least 20 receptions with a 14.5 yards per reception average. Joining Eisentrout on the defensive first-team are fellow defensive lineman Thomsen and junior punt returner Matt Wolford. After earning second-team honors following his junior season, Thomsen led the conference with 17.5 tackles-for-loss and finished the season behind only Eisentrout with eight sacks in his senior campaign. He also recovered four fumbles, most in the league. Wolford swept the NWC leaderboard in every punt returning category. His 21 returns for 247 yards averaged out to 11.8 yards per return, highlighted by the longest return in the conference this season, a 58-yard run that scored the only NWC punt return touchdown this year.

NWC SECOND-TEAM HONORS: Senior quarterback Brett Gordon finished his PLU career as the second-ranked quarterback in the NWC this season. In spite of an injury that held made him miss a game and a half, Gordon finished second in the conference with 1578 passing yards and 16 touchdowns. His 58.6% completion percentage and 146.1 pass efficiency rating were first in the conference among players with more than 25 attempts. Freshman wide receiver Greg Ford made a big impact on the Lutes in his first season, finishing fourth in the conference with 522 receiving yards and tying Chiado for second in the conference with six touchdowns. He led the league among players with at least 23 receptions with an astounding 22.7 yards per catch average, and his 91-yard touchdown catch against Willamette was the longest in the conference this season. Senior offensive lineman Kelly Totten earned his third straight spot on the all-conference list after earning first-team honors last season and second-team honors in 2005. Fellow senior offensive lineman Thomas Coffman earned his second-straight spot on the second-team list. Junior punter Doug Rickabaugh finished second in the conference with 2004 punt yards and a 39.3 yards per punt average. Defensively, senior lineman Andy Holden finished the season with 5.5 sacks in eight games to earn a spot on the all-conference second team. Senior linebacker Chad Blau led the Lutes with 63 tackles for the season, earning second-team honors after finishing on the first-team last season. Senior defensive back Jeff Ebel moved up from last year’s honorable mention to earn a second-team spot with 44 tackles this season.

NWC HONORABLE MENTIONS: Senior running back Anthony Canger, junior tight end Monroe Samifua, junior offensive lineman Kyle Edwards and junior linebacker Neal Chalmers all received honorable mention recognition.

NATIONALLY RANKED LUTES: PLU’s defense ranked favorably among Division III schools in numerous categories. As a team, the Lutes finished with 38 sacks, fourth best in the nation. PLU’s 78 total tackles-for-loss ranked 27th highest, and the defense’s 14 fumble recoveries ranked 23rd. Individually, Eisentrout’s 11.5 sacks ranked third, while Thomsen’s 8 sacks ranked 28th to accompany his 17.5 tackles-for-loss, 14th best nationally. Wolford ranked 31st in the country in punt return yardage, while Rickabaugh’s punting distance was 37th best in the nation.

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