FOREST GROVE, Ore. - Pacific Lutheran scored 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull away from upset-minded Pacific, 50-23, in a soggy Northwest Conference football game played Saturday night.

With the victory, the nationally-ranked Lutes improve their season record to 7-1 and their conference mark to 4-1, setting up a regular season-finale clash with the Willamette Bearcats, also 4-1, for second place in the NWC. The game will kick off at 12:30 p.m. next Saturday at Puyallup's Sparks Stadium.

The Boxers, 0-8 overall and 0-6 in the conference, pulled to within eight points at 31-23 after scoring on a 12-yard pass from TC Campbell to Brian Taylor late in the third quarter, but the Lutes responded with touchdown drives covering 73, 51 and 50 yards to wrap up the victory.

The game was played in a relentless rain throughout its three-hour duration, but that didn't stop PLU quarterback Jordan Rasmussen from throwing for 313 yards and four touchdowns on 26-for-38 accuracy. His scoring aerials covered 36 yards to Greg Ford, 38 yards to Kyle Whitford, three yards to Isaac Moog and two yards to Aaron Blaska.

The Lutes also scored four touchdowns on the ground. Alec Simmons, who finished with a game-high 162 yards on 15 carries, scored on a 36-yard run. Other rushing touchdowns came from Rasmussen from one yard, Va'a Logotala from one yard, and Cody Pohren from 15 yards.

PLU finished the game with 580 yards of offense, including 267 on the ground, compared to 254 for the Boxers.

- PLU -