PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark celebrated their 15 seniors before the game and then used a 38-point second quarter to rout visiting University of Puget Sound on Saturday night at Griswold Stadium.
THE BASICS
Lewis & Clark 66, Puget Sound 24
(Lewis & Clark 4-5, Northwest Conference 3-3)
(Puget Sound 3-5, NWC 2-4)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Senior
Elijah Washington tied the program record with five total touchdowns and the Pioneers posted their most points since 2010 in the blowout victory.
Prior to the game, Lewis & Clark honored their 15 seniors:
Elijah McGee,
Huero Lopez,
Huxley Richardson,
Cruz Montana,
Josh Dozier, Washington,
Silas Ticeson,
William Powell II,
Jordan Fajardo,
Logan Herman,
Ward Anderson,
Rusty Nozoe, Zian Lucero, Malia Hunter and Emma Ramsey.
Washington made his final game at Griswold Stadium a memorable one. He became the fourth player in program history to post five non-passing touchdowns in a game by scoring the first three TDs of the game and five touchdowns in the first 43 minutes. He rushed for four scores and added one receiving touchdown. On the night, he racked up 18 rushes for 169 yards and tacked on two receptions for 19 yards. Washington added a 14-yard kickoff return for 202 all-purpose yards.
His fellow senior and fellow Elijah,
Elijah McGee, had a huge game of his own. McGee, who's played as a receiver all season, rushed four times for 117 yards and a touchdown – with two of his runs coming out of the wildcat formation. McGee also had a 41-yard completion and served as the Pioneers punt returner.
As a team, Lewis & Clark rushed 33 times for 353 yards – an average of 10.7 yards per carry. Five different Pioneers posted carries of 10 yards or more and McGee (55 yards) and Washington combined for 12 double-digit yard carries.
Senior quarterback
Trey Morris went 10-14 for 149 yards and three touchdown passes. Fellow senior
Cruz Montana finishes off his home career by going 2-4 for 14 yards and a touchdown – which came on his final pass of the game.
Senior
Ben Burnham led the receivers with five catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns.
Sophomore
Andrew Baum paced the defense with five solo tackles and seven total tackles. He added two of the Pioneers nine QB hurries.
Seniors
Justin Hope, Ticeson and Herman along with freshman
Rylen Kahahawai all added five tackles. Ticeson registered a pair of sacks and Lopez (forced fumble) and Powell II (fumble recovery) combined for a turnover in the second quarter. Sophomore
Thomas Reagan added his second interception of the season.
Neither side could get anything going in the first quarter. Lewis & Clark managed one first down on their first two drives, before picking up 16 yards on their first three plays of the third drive to end the quarter.
The Pioneers opened the second stanza with a 36-yard pass down the sideline from Morris to Guest and were off from there. Washington ran the ball in from the one on third and goal for his first touchdown of the night.
After a turnover on their next drive, Lewis & Clark scored on their final five drives of the half.
The Pioneers pushed their advantage to 14-0 with 8:00 minutes to go before halftime when Morris connected with Washington for a pass in the flat and Washington turned the corner and dove for the pylon for a 12-yard touchdown catch.
Lopez forced a fumble on the first play of the next Loggers drive and Powell dove on the ball at the Puget Sound 29. The Pioneers only needed four plays to score from there, as Morris found
Wayde Bowman for a 13-yard catch to get the ball down to the two-yard line and Washington would punch it in from there for his third touchdown of the quarter.
After a long touchdown catch from Puget Sound put them on the board, Lewis & Clark responded in kind with a 55-yard touchdown run from McGee on their first play of their drive.
The visitors scored another long touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-12, but the Pioneers answered with another four-play drive. Morris found
Desmon Holton (16 yards) and Washington (seven yards) and then connected with freshman
Julius Walker for a 16-yard touchdown pass.
Lewis & Clark got the ball back with 15 seconds left before halftime after Ticeson dragged down Puget Sound quarterback Mason Binning for a sack on fourth and five. Washington rushed for 33 yards to give the Pioneers a chance for a late field goal and freshman
Thien Hoang's field goal was good from 36-yards to make it 38-12 at halftime.
The Pioneers would tack on three more touchdowns in the third quarter and a single score in the fourth. Burnham posted touchdown catches of 18 and 14 yards and Washington recorded touchdown runs of 26 and 27 yards.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Lewis & Clark's 66 points are tied for their third-most in program history. The Pioneers scored a program-record 68 points in a 68-64 win over the Loggers in 2010.
- Washington became the fourth Lewis & Clark player in program history to score five non-passing touchdowns in a single-game. He matches Mickey Hergert (1963 vs Pacific Lutheran University), Dan Ruhl (1989 vs Western Oregon University) and Keith Welch (2010 vs Pomona-Pitzer).
- Lewis & Clark racked up 10.1 yards per play on the night. They finished with 557 yards on 55 offensive plays.
- Hoang set the program record for points in a single-season (61) and tied the program record with nine made PATs on the day. His 12 points (9-9 PATs, 1-1 FG) is a new career-high.
- The Pioneers defense totaled six tackles for loss, three sacks, nine QB hurries and two takeaways which were all among their top-two performances of the season.
- Richardson finished the day with four punts for 148 yards (37.00 average) including three punts inside the 20 and one punt inside the five-yard line.
- With the win, Lewis & Clark sits in a tie for third place in the Northwest Conference (3-3) with Pacific Lutheran University with one game to play.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark will travel to Willamette University for their season finale on Saturday at 1 p.m. With a win, the Pioneers can guarantee a top-four finish in the NWC, a .500 record and extend their program record of five-straight Wagon Wheel victories.
