Bearcats on the Road to Battle California Lutheran on Saturday

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University football team will play its second game of the season on Saturday, Sept. 20 at California Lutheran University. Kickoff between the Bearcats, 1-0, and the Kingsmen, 0-1, is set for Thousand Oaks, Calif., at 12 p.m. (PDT). Willamette leads the all-time series, 3-1, including a 20-13 win in the last meeting in 2009.

Willamette shut out Trinity University (Texas) in the second half last weekend to open the season with a 34-10 win. The Bearcats held a slim 13-10 edge at halftime, but gradually pulled away from the Tigers.

California Lutheran trailed Pacific Lutheran University 21-7 at halftime last week before rallying to tie the game at 21-21. PLU, ranked #17 in NCAA Division III prior to the game, scored the next two touchdowns and defeated the Kingsmen, 35-28. The Lutes remained at #17 this week.

The Bearcats are not nationally ranked, but did receive points in this week's D3Football.com Top 25. California also received votes in the poll.

Fans can listen to Willamette's Audio Webcast or follow the Live Stats provided by California Lutheran for free. A fee is required to watch Live Video supplied by CLU.

In the win over Trinity, Dylan Jones (Sr., RB, Santa Maria, CA/Ernest Righetti HS) led the offense with 26 carries for 126 yards and two touchdowns. He scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter for a 20-10 advantage, and later added the game's final touchdown on a 2-yard run with 3:05 left in the fourth quarter. His longest run covered 31 yards.

Jones now has 1,384 career rushing yards for the Bearcats. He has scored a total of 18 rushing touchdowns.

Sophomore quarterback Trent Spallas (Elk Grove, CA/Franklin HS), in his first start, completed 14 of 28 passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions.

The touchdown passes by Spallas covered 1 yard to Joe Mendoza (Sr., WR, Ventura, CA/Ventura HS/Ventura College), 15 yards to Derek Traeger (Sr., WR, Mount Angel, OR/John F. Kennedy HS) and 7 yards to Austin Jones (So., WR, Oakdale, CA/Oakdale HS). Traeger caught 4 passes overall for 35 yards.

Willamette's defense played well against the Tigers, limiting Trinity to 267 total yards. Trinity quarterback Mason Blaschke connected on just 9 of 33 passes for 89 yards. At one point, he was just 1-for-18 passing.

Daley Smith (Sr., CB, St. Paul, OR/St. Paul HS) intercepted one of Blaschke's passes and the WU defense also forced four fumbles. All of the fumbles were recovered by the Bearcats.

Two of Trinity's fumbles were grabbed by Donny Torres (Jr., DB, Long Beach, CA/St. Anthony HS). Jake Straube (Sr., OL, Junction City, OR/Junction City HS) and Hans Lehndorff (Jr., DL, Boulder, CO/Boulder HS) each recovered one fumble.

The recovery by Straube was on a punt return fumbled by Zachary Allen after he was hit by Beau Smith (Sr., WR, Roseville, CA/Roseville HS). That play gave WU the ball at the Trinity 17 and led to a 7-7 tie when Mendoza scored two plays later with 8:08 left in the first half.

WU added Traeger's touchdown at the 4:15 mark of the second period and Trinity tacked on a field goal with 5 seconds left to account for the halftime score.

Trinity finished the game with 158 rushing yards on 50 carries, as the Tigers averaged 3.2 yards per running attempt. The leading rusher for Trinity was Travis Williams with 54 yards on 13 carries.

Jack Nelson (Sr., ILB, Portland, OR/Jesuit HS) earned eight solo tackles for Willamette on his way to nine total tackles against the Tigers. Brendan Manion (Sr., OLB, Los Altos, CA/Archbishop Mitty HS) made seven tackles.

Kyle Shaver (So., OLB, Bend, OR/Mountain View HS), Ben McLane (Jr., ILB, Prineville, OR/Crook County HS) and Mark Mulligan (So., DL, San Francisco, CA/Archbishop Riordan HS) each earned six tackles for the Bearcats.

Punter David Cheng (Jr., Dublin CA/Dublin HS) averaged 37.4 yards per punt with three kicks inside the 20 and a long punt of 52 yards. Conner Mertens (Fr., PK/P, Kennewick, WA/Southridge HS) converted 4 of 5 extra points, missing his only kick following a holding penalty. Bryan Toles (So., DB, Clovis, CA/Clovis North HS) returned a punt 52 yards.

California Lutheran quarterback Nick Isham (Jr.) completed 15 of 25 passes for 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception against Pacific Luthean. David Rico (Jr.) was 8 of 14 for 85 yards and one score. The top receiver for the Kingsmen was Sean Bellotti with 5 catches for 55 yards.

Isham also ran with the ball 8 times for 66 yards. Rico ran 8 times for 35 yards and E.J. Edinburgh (Jr., RB) carried 8 times for 19 yards.

The CLU defense gave up 426 yards, as the Lutes rushed for 253 yards and passed for 173 yards. Lucas Quinn (Fr., DB) of the Kingsmen intercepted a pass. CLU recovered a fumble on a punt return early in the fourth quarter to set up the tying score.

Robert Foy (Sr., LB) topped California Lutheran's defense with 11 total tackles. Logan Sanders (So., DB) and Eddie Flores (Fr., DB) each earned eight tackles, while Jhaylyn Hall (Sr., DB) and Corey Lee (Fr., DB) each made six tackles.

Jack McFarland (Jr.) averaged 38.4 yards per punt. Place-kicker Diego Marquez (So.) was 4 for 4 on extra point attempts.

Willamette will have an off week before taking on George Fox University at McCulloch Stadium on Friday, Oct. 3. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. (PDT).