PORTLAND, Ore.—Senior quarterback Cruz Montana threw for a career-high 317 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, but Lewis & Clark College football suffered a 56-41 setback in a high-scoring affair on Saturday afternoon at Griswold Stadium. 
 
THE BASICS
Pacific University 56, Lewis & Clark 41
(Lewis & Clark 4-3, Northwest Conference 2-3) 
(Pacific 4-3, NWC 3-2) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Lewis & Clark's offense put together one of their best performances of the season, but the Pioneers couldn't slow down the high-powered rushing attack of the Boxers. 
 
Montana beat his previous career-high for passing yards by nearly 50 yards (270), as he went 28-43 for 317 yards and three passing touchdowns. He tacked on 10 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. 
 
Senior receiver Sean Bodi enjoyed a career day. He posted a career-high nine catches and 110 yards and added his second touchdown reception of the season. 
 
Junior Devon Guest matched Bodi with a game-high nine catches and chipped in 89 yards and a touchdown. 
 
Junior running back Dyontae Navarrete continued his best season to date. The Pioneers number one back rushed the ball 21 times for 92 yards and two scores. He chipped in two receptions for an additional 18 yards. Junior Elijah Washington added 34 rushing yards on just five carries and a huge special teams play in which he forced a fumble and recovered the fumble at the one yard line. 
 
Senior Sam Meinhard led the Pioneers by tying his season-high with 10 tackles. Meinhard posted a team-high four solo tackles and 10 total tackles. 
 
Junior Justin Hope, senior Jake Bushman and freshman Jack Warren chipped in seven tackles apiece. All three finished with at least a .5 tackle for loss, with Warren credited with the Pioneers only sack of the game. 
 
Freshman Andrew Baum came through with a fumble recovery on a key defensive stop for the Pioneers. 
 
Lewis & Clark got off to a strong start to the contest. On the opening drive, the Pioneers drove 67 yards on nine plays to take a 7-0 lead. Navarrete picked up right where he left off last Saturday. The junior posted a 22-yard catch on third and six and then powered the ball in from the six-yard line for a touchdown. 

Pacific threatened to counter but after driving the ball all the way down to the one-yard line, Kash Taylor fumbled the ball as he tried to break the plane and Baum collected the fumble for a huge stop. 
 
The Boxers tied the game on their next possession and grabbed a 14-7 advantage with less than five minutes to go in the half. That was more than enough time for Montana and the Pioneers. Montana came through with a big 18-yard run on third and 12 and then found Guest for a 26-yard catch to put the Pioneers inside the five. On third and goal, Montana found senior Jonathan Newsome for a two-yard touchdown catch to tie the game with under a minute to go in the half. 
 
The second half was an offensive slugfest. The teams combined for 69 points with Pacific scoring on each of their first five possessions and Lewis & Clark forced to play catch up. 
 
Pacific scored on back-to-back drives and forced a Pioneers punt to take a 28-14 lead. On the Pioneers second drive, Pacific picked up a sack of Montana on third and three to force a second punt. Huxley Richardson sent a perfect punt inside the Pacific 10 and Tyler Vargas tried to field it on a bounce. Washington, who serves as the long snapper on punts, hit Vargas to jar the ball loose and then jumped on the loose ball at the one-yard line. Two plays later, the Pioneers were in the end zone after a one-yard QB sneak by Montana. 
 
Lewis & Clark cut the deficit to 35-28 on their next possession. Senior Reid Fong came through with a huge 30-yard catch and Montana and Bodi connected for a 20-yard touchdown pass. 
 
After another Boxers score, Lewis & Clark used an 11-play, 65-yard drive to get back within seven. Washington broke off a 19-yard rush early in the drive and Bodi posted two catches for 27 yards. On third and one, Navarrete bulled his way into the end zone to make it 42-35. 
 
Pacific extended their lead to 49-35 on their next drive and then forced a Pioneers punt to snap a string of seven-straight touchdown drives between the two teams. 
 
Lewis & Clark's defense came up with a three-and-out to keep their hopes alive. On third and six, Jordan Fajardo pressured the Pacific quarterback into dumping the ball off and Bushman came up with a huge stuff for a four-yard loss.  
 
The Boxers put the game away three plays later, when they forced a Montana fumble. 
 
Lewis & Clark scored on their final drive of the game. Montana connected with Newsome (17 yards) and Bodi (27 yards) to get the Pioneers just outside the red zone. After a defensive penalty on what would have been the final play of the game extended the game by one play, Montana found Guest for a touchdown to cut the final score to 56-41. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Montana's 317 passing yards are the most by a Pioneers quarterback since October 12, 2019, when Caden Voges threw for 408 yards. 
• Navarrete's 10 touchdowns on the season (all rushing) are tied for 13^th all-time in a season by a non-quarterback. He is now up to 929 career rushing yards in just 11 collegiate games. 
• Both teams were strong on third/fourth down conversions. Pacific went 6-10 on third down and 2-2 on fourth down. The Pioneers were 9-14 on third downs (0-2 on fourth down). 
• Montana is now in 10^th-place in program history for passing yards (3,868). He is just 132 yards away from becoming the eight quarterback in program history to throw for over 4,000 yards. 
• Alex Koga went 5-5 on PATs and now stands just five points away from tying Andrew Foote ('09) for first all-time in program history in career points by a kicker (118).  

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will go on the road for the final time this season, when they travel to take on George Fox University on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The game will be televised locally on KRCW. KRCW is available on Channel 32 for Dish and DirecTV users, and Channel 3 for Xfinity users. The video feed will also be available online for fans outside of the Portland area and Ryan Goff, the voice of the Pioneers, will be providing an audio feed.