Box Score McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- The Lewis & Clark Pioneers had a first-quarter lead in Saturday's 51-17 loss to the No. 8 Linfield Wildcats at Maxwell Field.
Cruz Montana hit Jonathan Newsome for a 75-yard touchdown reception, the longest pass play of the season for the Pios, and Alex Koga scored a 21-yard field goal to set two new school records as the Pios took a 10-7 lead. He broke the Pios record for made field goals (11) and most points by a kicker (60) in a season.
Linfield scored 44 unanswered points through the middle part of the game. The Wildcats (9-0, 7-0 NWC) finished the year undefeated and claimed the outright Northwest Conference championship with the win.
Lewis & Clark ends the year with a 3-6 overall record and 2-5 mark in the NWC.
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Key Moments
After Linfield scored on the game's opening drive, a 7-play, 75-yard drive that ended in Wyatt Smith's 5-yard pass to Devon Murray, the Pioneers ended the next two Wildcats drives with interceptions of Smith. Tanner Ono, who had a career-high 11 tackles to lead the Pios, snagged his second pick of the year three plays into Linfield's second drive at the Wildcats 44. Anakin Mares earned his third of the year and fourth of his career in spectacular fashion at the Lewis & Clark 28. Mares lunged in front of the Linfield receiver, fell to his stomach on the ground and caught the ball off his shoulder. The play was featured in ESPN's College Football Final's top plays on Saturday.
Smith, one of the top-10 quarterbacks in all of NCAA Division III for efficiency, finished 26 for 38 for 325 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Saturday was his first game with multiple interceptions since Nov. 2019. Despite a minus-2 turnover ratio, Linfield outgained the Pioneers in total yardage, 650-251.
Montana's 75-yard TD pass to Newsome was the Pios first play from scrimmage. Koga's field goal capped off a 10-play, 40-yard scoring drive, which was the longest in terms of plays during the first half by either team. Koga entered Saturday tied with Hal Nachtrieb for the most made field goals in a season. The 25-yarder broked that record, which had stood since 1983, and moved Koga past Simon Monley's 2010 record of 58 points in a season by a kicker. Koga added one more point with 10:21 left in the fourth quarter on the PAT following Montana's 27-yard touchdown pass to Reid Fong, the first of Fong's career.
Trailing 10-7, Linfield forced a Pios safety to get within one. After the Wildcats next drive ended on downs at the Pios 9, Linfield scored touchdowns on its next six possessions. Connor McNabb scored two rushing touchdowns on 10 carries for 86 yards. Linfield outgained the Pios, 303-15, on the ground and averaged 7.6 yards per rush. The Wildcats limited the Pios to 0.6 yards on average.
Deeper Look
- Montana finished 19 for 27 for 236 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, his fourth game this year without throwing a pick
- For the season, Montana threw for 1,760 yards, the most by a Pios QB since 2013, along with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions
- Isaac Cordova had a team-high six receptions for 33 yards, and Desmon Holton added four catches for 39 yards
- Newsome finished with three receptions, 89 yards and the TD
- Huxley Richardson had his third-best average on punts (34.2) this season
- Alex Hensley had the only sack of the game for the Pioneers, the sixth of his career
- Linfield had six sacks including two from Vinny Niosi
- Connor Morton had eight carries for 76 yards, and Aaron Martinez had eight rushes for 70 yards for Linfield
- Connor Smith led the Wildcats with 10 receptions for 135 yards
- Mares ends the season with 7.2 tackles per game to lead the team and ranked third in the NWC for passes defended
- Cameron Chang and Nicolas Lang finished the season as the Pioneers sack leaders with 3.5 apiece
