McMinnville, Ore. (Sept. 7) – Three first quarter touchdowns fueled the 23rd ranked Linfield University Wildcats in a 31-7 win over the Denison University football team in the season opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Maxwell Field and Memorial Stadium in Oregon.
The Big Red suffered through a tough opening quarter on the west coast. Denison received to start the game and immediately went backwards on its opening possession. A pre-play penalty was followed by an errant snap and a sack, which put Denison in a hole and forced a punt from its own end zone.
The Wildcats used a short field to go 35 plays on seven plays. The drive was capped with a five-yard TD pass by Blake Eaton to Conner Wolfe. The score gave Linfield a 7-0 lead at the 9:07 mark of the first quarter.
After forcing a three-and-out, Linfield needed just two plays to go 90 yards for another score. A 20-yard rush was followed by a 70-yard pass and run from Luke McNabb to Wolfe. Linfield tacked on the point after for a 14-0 lead with 7:06 left in the opening quarter.
Linfield's defense turned a Denison fumble into points on the ensuing drive. A strip sack caused a fumble, which was picked up and returned 36 yards by Blake Rybar. The score stretched the Linfield lead to 21-0 at the 6:23 mark.
The Wildcats scored twice in the second quarter. Linfield converted a 25-yard field goal attempt to stretch the advantage to 24-0 midway through the quarter at the 7:24 mark. Linfield's opportunistic defense struck again on the next Denison possession. Chance Sparks stepped in front of a pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown that made it 31-0 with 4:38 left before halftime.
Things quieted down over the final 30 minutes. Neither team scored in the third quarter. Denison was able to keep Linfield off the scoreboard altogether in the second half.
Denison recorded its first touchdown drive of the season late in the fourth quarter. The Big Red moved the ball 69 yards on nine plays to pick up its first points of the season.
Junior quarterback Cade Nowik accounted for much of the production on the drive. Nowik connected with Aidan Brownlee for a 40-yard pass that advanced the ball to the Linfield 35-yard line. Denison picked up another first down before being faced with a 4th and 12 on the Linfield 26-yard line. Nowik was able to use his athleticism to escape and scramble 26 yards all the way into the end zone. Daniel Cunningham tacked on the point after to make it 31-7 with 3:02 to play.
Denison committed three turnovers which played a role in the loss. The Big Red offense finished with 209 yards of total offense. Defensively, the Big Red were able to limit Linfield to just 58 rushing yards (2.2 per rush).
Neither team found much success on third down, Denison converted 4-of-16 attempts and Linfield converted just 2-of-13 chances.
Nowik finished with 92 yards passing and 58 yards rushing in his first start. Trey Fabrocini added 45 yards on 16 carries.
Christian Lariviere and Drew Duffy both finished with seven tackles to lead Denison. Sean Carr added six tackles.
Denison faces another nationally ranked opponent next week. The Big Red welcome Alma College to Granville for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 14. Alma, who entered the season ranked seventh in the D3football.com preseason poll, dropped a slugfest to 17th ranked UW-River Falls by a 41-35 score on Saturday.