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THE
14 PORTS
MOORING MAST
NOV. 16, 2012
Lutes adva ce to N CAA tou rna ment for fi rst time i n Nathan Shoup
SPORTS EDITOR
Ii history told us anything, it told us the Pacific
shoupna@Plu.edu
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Lutheran football team's season should have been over after the third week of the season. The Lutes sat at 1-2 with losses to California Lutheran and Linfield. But the Lutes rattled off six consecutive victories after the Linfield game, and for the first time since 2001 - PLU is playoff-bound. The Lutes were granted an at-large team into the NCAA tournament Sunday afternoon. PLU will play Linfield in McMinville, Ore. tomorrow at noon. "Our time to rise," sophomore tight end Lucas Sontra tweeted after the selection show. The 2001 Lutes squad was the last to recei e an at-Large bid into the tournament after losing a non con feren ce game and not winning the c nference. The 37-2 loss to California Luth ran at home in the season-opener seemingly cia ed the d oor on an at-large bid to the 32-team NCAA tournament. Two weeks later the Lute fell 31 -24 to tomorrow's first - round foe, Linfiel d . The Lutes would have needed to win the rem a inder of thei r games while Linfield would have had to lose twice in conference for the Lutes to win the Northwe t Con feren ce and receive an automatic bid to the tournament. The Wild cats h ave lost only seven regular sea on
games since 2005. PLU he ld up its end of the deal. Unfortunately lor the Lutes, "Linfield played a s trong sea on en TOU te to
a 9-0 record and a no. 3 na tiona l ranking.
The California Lutheran and Linfield losses certainly worked against the Lutes, but their strength of schedule was an ai de California L u the ran sits at 8-1 with a no. 8 na ti onal ranking. Falling to the no. 3 and no. 8 teams in the nation i certainly un de rstand a ble, if not respe ctab le . The Lutes' path to the playoffs was m aybe a little unor thod ox - dropping two of their first three games - but that is irreLevan t. The Lu tes are five wins away from a national ti tle and il's h ard to not get e, cite d about th is team. .
History of the Rivalry
...
Linfield owns a 21 -36-4 advantage over the Lutes, but that record doesn't demonstrate the Wildcats' the past d ecade . PLU has dropp d the 1a t 1 1 con tests to Linfield . The J t L u tes te m to knock off the Wildcats was
dominance over PLU in
the 2001 team - the one that received an at-large bid despite losing a non-conference and conference game. Sound familiar? That team defeated Linfield 31-20 in McMinville in the third week of the season before falling in the third round of the NCAA tournament.
Weather Forecasts are calling for temperatures in the low 50s with a 60 percent chance of rain. Unusual I know. But does the rain give one team an advantage? With a wet football, it is much more difficult to get the passing game going. This puts pressure on the run game. Linfield has been allowing just more than 70 yards per game on the ground while PLU bas been allowing 90 rushing yards per game. The Lutes are rushing for nearly 140 yards per game while Li nfield is rushing for just short of 155 yards per game. Linfield's Maxwell Field is turf, so mud will n t be a factor. The Lutes played in a deluge Oct. 20 at home against Willamette, but the ra in was not a factor. FLU ran for 1 57 yards an sophomore quarterback Dalton Ritchey rushed for three scores. Ritchey also threw for 1 97 yards in th downpour. Considering both �ms' strong TO hing attacks and run defenses, J don't think the weather gives either team an advantage. Seven Lutes were named first-team All Co ni rence selections Tuesday. The selections included two sopho m ores quarterback Dalton Ritchey and wide receiver Kyle Warn r - f ur ju ni ors - off ive lineman Chris Edison, d efensi ve linemen Mychael Tuia sa po, linebacker Jordan Patterson, safety Sean Mcfadden - and senior cornerback Taylor Angevine. Eleven other Lutes were named second-team or honorable mentJon selections. Linfield has its share of all-NWC p layers as well. Senior quarterback Mickey Inns was named offensive playerofthe year and linebacker Dominique Forrest was named defensive player of the year. Outside of the two players of the year for Linfield, th Wildcats had seven first-team selections, fi ve sec nd-team selections and two honorable mention s lections.
Allison McDaniel
Night Football pick 'em Nathan Shoup SPORTS EDITOR
sboupna@plu. dLl
is
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�
Gutierrez Ln.
is out. McDaniel
For the .first time in the history of the Post Sunday Society, Gu tierrez does n t sit in first place . McDaniel, w ho started th e season 0-2, has not missed in the past seven weeks. She owns a one-game lead over the entire fiel d . On ly two weeks remain after this week for th Post Sunday 5 ciety, and it ic; fai r to say that anyone could win the title . Last week, the league p lc k ed t he Sun day NIghl Fuutball game, because the consensus was that Pi ttsb u rgh would roU over Kansaq City o n Monday ight Football. The Steelers narrowly won 1 613 m verti m . Th unday Ni gh t Fo( lball game b LWe n Houstml and ChIcago proved to be, well, boring. The Texa ns on 13-6
in a downpour.
An argument could be made that the player of the game was Houston's punter, Donnie Jones'. quarterback, H' uston's Matt Schaub, com pletec\ six more passes than Jones eight p un ts.
After
such
a
Prediction Linfield has owned PLU over the past decade, but the talent gap has shrunk. PLU led Linfield 14-0 early in the first quarter of their meeting in September befo! the Wildcats grabbed a 31-24 lead late in the game. The beauty of the playoffs is the reality that anything can happen. The fact that tomorrow is a rivalry game only adds to the possibility of the Lutes snapping the skid to Linfield. The Lutes football team is pumped up and so is the university as a whole. The losing streak to Linfield will end tomorrow. In the elements, close games often come down to turnovers and a team's ability to run the ball. The Lutes have intercepted a conference-high 1 9 passes and recovered 14 fumbles - also a conferen e high.
Pacific Lutheran 34,
Linfield 31
AlI-N orthwest Conference all around
The Mast Monday
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yea rs
" thrilli ng"
game last week, i t is fi tting the Bears w ou ld pl a y on Monday Night Fo tbalt th i W . Dickerson and Gutierrez ure the only two who picked the Bears l ast week and picked them again this week.
/"ute sports fanatic pic k: SF record: 7-2
Geoff Loomis
men 's baseball coach
at San Francisco
After a week of extreme indecision, McDaniel was confident in her pick this week. It's amazing what sitting in first place will do to one's confidence.
pick: SF
A San Francisco loss all but elim\nates Loomis from championship c ntention. The first day of spring practice won't come soon enougt� for Loomis if that is the case.
Steve Dickerson men 's basket ball coac h pic k: CHI record: 6-3
Last week, I questioned Dickerson's ability to find a balance b r.veen predicting games and c aCtTh"1g IUs team. He picked last week's game in orectly. Just saying.
record: 6-3
Stacey J./ogensen a I/- wo rld softball player pick: SF record: 6-3 Shone Gutierrez
C h i cago
l'lJO'l'O BY IGOII.STUB.PINSKIY
defensive back ormor Cumnl.inl;'S returns a punl during I he Lntcs 24-31 10s8 t(> Linfi Id Sepl. 20. Curruuings is avpraging nearly iii: yards per punt [@!urn tillS season. Sophomore
men 's soccer player pick: CUI record: 6-3
L.ance Lute
trusty mascot
pick: CUI record: 6-3 Do/ton Ritchey PI;U q�arte rbacf{ plc!e 5F record: 6-3
Hagensen will be remembered as on e of the greatest softball players in PLU history. Will she a d d a Post Sunday Society title to her resume? Gutierrez has fallen back to the I'est of the p ack after picking the last two weeks incorrectly. He should probably shave his head. Lance didn l car a whole lot about I'lli pick this we k. 11 PLV football team has a game with minor significance this weekend.
Ritchey was nam d fir t- te am U-confl' rence l I vee k. A fter a slow start to his picks tIus season, Ritche may not be a first learn c an di da te, bUl he deserves the mos t impr ved award. That lS always bi lter --- sweet