TACOMA, Wash. – It was a six overtime marathon. The University of Puget Sound and Whittier College football teams engaged in a six overtime battle that ended with a Whittier 26-yard field goal and a final score of 42-39. Both teams traded leads throughout the game in a hard-fought battle.
The Loggers and Poets traded the lead five times in the game before the game was finally settled on a Whittier field goal. The Loggers struck first on the first of four touchdowns from Duncan White, who set a Logger record with 64 pass attempts. Duncan found John Martino to kick off the scoring on a five-yard slant route. The Poets responded later in the first, but White found Adam Kniffin on a three-yard pass to give the Loggers a 13-7 lead.
The Poets broke loose just a little over two minutes later with a 20-yard touchdown run to take a 14-13 lead. The Poets gained 354 yards on the ground led by Kimble Tillman's 238 yards and three touchdowns.
White's third touchdown pass of the half came just minutes later to tip the scales back to the Loggers 20-14 going into halftime. White found Ryan Rogers on a 29-yard pass down the sideline. Rogers slipped the defender and stumbled into the end zone to give the Loggers the lead.
Tillman struck again in the third, this time on a seven-yard run that once again tipped the seesaw to the Poets. The Loggers regained the lead in the fourth on a Thiesen Chang field goal. However, Tillman gave the Poets a 28-23 lead on a 58-yard run.
White and Lukas Diesing connected on the longest touchdown pass of White's career for a 46-yard touchdown to give the Loggers a 31-28 lead. A wild fourth quarter was capped by a 29-yard Whittier field goal with 3:05 remaining.
"I loved how are guys battled to the very end," said head coach Jeff Thomas. " It was great to see them fight and compete."
The very end was pushed past regulation as the game rolled into overtime, tied at 31-31. A hard-fought battle was marred by turnovers in the fourth quarter an overtime periods as the two team combined for 12 turnovers. Cory Dunn was a constant frustration for the Whittier offense as he recorded three interceptions to lead the Loggers, who intercepted Whittier passes six times in the game. Nasser Abdelrasul, Nassar Kyobe and Taylor Firman each stepped in front of a pass for the Loggers.
Due to turnovers and missed field goals, neither team was able to increase their number on the scoreboard for the first three overtimes. Casey Larson , who led the Loggers with 137 rushing yards on 27 attempts, finally put the Loggers ahead with a 1-yard run in the fourth overtime. White found Diesing for the two-point conversion to give the Loggers a 39-31 lead.
However, the Poets escaped a fourth down situation with a 20-yard touchdown pass and ensuing two-point conversion to tie the game at 39-39. After another scoreless overtime period, the Poets emerged as the victors. After the Loggers missed a 42-yarder, the Poets were able to put in a 26-yarder to seal the game.
The game was the longest in documented Puget Sound history, going six overtimes and four hours and fourteen minutes. Five different Loggers found paydirt and the Logger defense was one interception shy of the team record.
The Loggers host cross-town rivals Pacific Lutheran next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Baker Stadium to open NWC play.