McMINNVILLE, Ore. - Sam Riddle passed for five touchdowns and ran for one more as No. 5 Linfield beat Whitworth 65-13 Saturday afternoon in Northwest Conference football at Maxwell Field. With the win, the Wildcats (5-0 overall, 3-0 NWC) assured themselves a 59th consecutive winning season, extending their all-time record for college football at any level.
The Wildcats finished with 719 yards total offense - 352 rushing and 367 passing - in the Homecoming victory, the third-highest single-game total in school history. Linfield held Whitworth (4-3, 2-2), which was averaging 478.5 yards and 42.2 points per game this season, to 264 yards, including just 124 in the first half as the 'Cats built a 34-7 lead.
Linfield was also sharp defensively, sacking Whitworth quarterback Bryan Peterson six times and holding the pass-first pivot to just 164 yards through the air. Tackle Jeremy Girod led the defensive surge with two sacks and one other tackle for loss. Cornerback Kennedy Johnson turned in a career-best and game-high nine tackles from his cornerback position.
Riddle finished with 312 yards passing, completing 18 of 28 with one interception and the five touchdowns. He also carried 10 times for 49 yards and a score.
Charlie Poppen led Wildcat receivers with eight catches for 127 yards and three touchdowns, while Evan Peterson added four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown and Erick Douglas III four caches for 70 yards and a touchdown.
A quartet of Linfield running backs had productive days: Spencer Payne carried seven times for 65 yards, Bryan Cassil seven times for 63 yards and a touchdown, Samuel Robinson 10 times for 50 yards and a touchdown and Tavon Willis nine times for 49 yards.
By game's end, nine different Wildcats had at least one carry, eight had at least one catch and three quarterbacks had played.
For Whitworth, Peterson was 17-for-37 passing for 164 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Drew Clausen had seven catches for 45 yards and a touchdown and Nick Kiourkas five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
A week after Whitworth ran 112 plays - one short of the NCAA Division III record - in a 61-45 win over Willamette, Linfield's defense limited the Pirates to 76 plays while the Wildcats ran 97 of their own, the second-highest total in school history.
Linfield led 13-0 after one quarter, then punched in a trio of second-quarter touchdowns for its 34-7 lead at intermission. By halftime the Wildcats had 352 yards of total offense (148 rushing, 204 passing).
Effective as Linfield's offense was, it was a turnover forced by the Wildcat defense that sparked the initial scoring surge. Safety Mike Arkans intercepted a Peterson pass over the middle and returned it 12 yards to the Whitworth 19-yard line; from there it took the 'Cats three plays to score. The touchdown came on Riddle's seven-yard pass to Poppen on a fade pattern in the right side of the end zone; the point-after kick failed and it was 6-0, Linfield.
The Wildcats ground it out for their second score, going 77 yards in 11 plays. Robinson took it the final eight yards on a fly sweep to the left side with the kick making it 13-0 with 1:34 left in the first quarter. The drive also included a key 12-yard run by Riddle with the Wildcats facing a third-and-10 from the Pirate 40.
After a three-and-out, Linfield scored on its next possession. A seven-play, 45-yard drive concluded with Poppen hauling in a five-yard pass over the middle from Riddle for a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter. That march included a 22-yard pass from Riddle to Colin Nelson down the right sideline.
Whitworth answered with a score, going 72 yards in four plays, aided by penalties against the Wildcats for pass interference and roughing the passer. Peterson hit Clausen with a 29-yard pass for the touchdown and it was 20-7 'Cats with 11:07 to go in the second quarter.
The Pirates had a chance to get within a touchdown when they forced the Wildcats to punt, but Linfield's defense held Whitworth without a first down in its own end of the field. The 'Cats then pushed the lead to 27-7 on Riddle's four-yard run 5:59 before intermission, capping a 50-yard, six-play drive; Riddle and Poppen connected on a 25-yard pass to the Pirate 4 to set up the score
Linfield added one more score in the second quarter, a five-yard slant pass from Riddle to Peterson with 2:56 left in the half. The 63-yard, six-play drive included Riddle passes of 19 yards to Poppen and 40 yards to Peterson.
The 'Cats put the game away with two touchdowns in the first three minutes of the third quarter for a 48-7 advantage. On the first possession of the period, Riddle hit Payne in stride down the left sideline for a 48-yard score. On the Pirates' ensuing punt, Kennedy Johnson returned the ball 19 yards to the Whitworth 34; the next play had Riddle finding Poppen in the end zone on a deep post for the touchdown.
Late in the third quarter, Linfield stretched the lead to 55-7 on Douglas' 17-yard reception from quarterback Matt Yarbrough. Whitworth answered with a score of its own, a one-yard pass from Michael McCune to Nick Kiourkas, and it was 55-13 after three quarters.
Linfield closed the scoring with 10 more points in the fourth quarter, a one-yard touchdown run by Cassil and a 28-yard field goal by Michael Metter.
'CAT SCRATCH: Linfield's string of winning seasons began in 1956; since the first game of that season, the Wildcats' record is 453-116-10 for a winning percentage of .791. The 'Cats have won four national championships and 38 conference titles in that time. The second-longest current streak belongs to Florida State at 37 seasons; the second-longest streaks were 42 seasons by Notre Dame (1889-1932), Harvard (1881-1923) and Central (Iowa) (1961-2002) … The victory over Whitworth was Linfield's 17th straight Homecoming win, and the Wildcats' 42nd triumph in their last 47 Homecoming games … Part of Homecoming at Linfield is the "Walk of Honor," in which the current 'Cats take the field through a cordon of former players. This year 63 grid alums took part, dating back to Cliff Saxton and Pat Smith from the Class of 1952 … When Linfield's string of winning seasons began, its head coach was Paul Durham. On Saturday, a statue of Durham was dedicated in the courtyard of Linfield's health, physical education and athletics complex. Durham coached the Wildcats from 1948-67, compiling a record of 122-51-10 and guiding them to a pair of national championship games … the only games in which Linfield had gained more total yards were against Lewis & Clark in 2001 (793 yards) and Redlands in 2002 (725). The only game in which Linfield had run more plays was against California Lutheran in 1977 (100).
AHEAD: Linfield continues its NWC schedule at Lewis & Clark next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Portland. The Pioneers (0-6, 0-4) lost at Willamette 45-7 on Saturday. Live radio coverage on TrueTalk 800 AM and KLYC 1260 AM starts at 12:30.