TACOMA, Wash.—Lewis & Clark College football came back from a pair of one-score deficits to grab a second-half lead, but the University of Puget Sound scored the final 14 points to earn a 42-38 victory over the Pioneers in the second-ever Northwest Scholars Series matchup. 
 
THE BASICS
Puget Sound 42, Lewis & Clark 38
(Lewis & Clark 0-1)
(Puget Sound 1-0) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Senior quarterback Cruz Montana threw for a career-high 352 yards and accounted for five touchdowns and sophomore Lindell Betts and freshman Isaiah Arriola each recorded their first career touchdowns in the loss. 
 
Montana threw for at least 58 yards in all four quarters and finished the game with four passing touchdowns and one rushing score. He added 19 rushing yards to his total. 
 
Junior running back Elijah Washington made his first start as a Pioneer and racked up 152 all purpose yards. He rushed the ball 20 times for 63 yards and added a team-high eight catches and 89 receiving yards. 
 
Senior Devon Guest led the team's wide receivers with seven grabs for 60 yards. Senior Elijah McGee (two catches, 69 yards), senior Ben Burnham (one catch, 18 yards), Arriola (two catches, 66 yards) and Betts (one catch, 50 yards) all posted touchdown catches. 
 
Senior linebacker Justin Hope led the team with seven solo tackles, nine total tackles and two tackles for loss. Fellow senior Silas Ticeson (four solo tackles) posted seven tackles and junior Conner Hilberg chipped in five tackles (two solo). Sophomore Thomas Reagan led the team with two pass breakups, while sophomore Mitchell Sarmento added a pair of QB hurries.
 
Freshmen Thien Hoang went a perfect 6-6 on kicks. Hoang hit all five of his point after attempts and connected on a 38-yard field goal on his lone attempt. 
 
The host Loggers took a 7-0 lead on their first drive of the contest when Henry Rodriguez broke a 50-yard touchdown run. 
 
Lewis & Clark's offense would be held in check until late in the quarter. On their third drive of the day. Montana connected with Guest for a conversion on 4^th and 9 and three plays later the senior quarterback found Burnham across the middle for an 18-yard touchdown pass to tie the game early in the second quarter. 
 
Puget Sound retook the lead with 3:46 to go before halftime, but Lewis & Clark would have an answer. The Pioneers drove down the field in seven plays thanks to a pair of third-down catches from Guest. With Lewis & Clark at the Puget Sound 35, Montana found Arriola cutting across the middle at the 20-yard line and the freshman raced down the sideline and into the end zone for his first collegiate score. 
 
Lewis & Clark would carry the momentum into the second half. The Pios would start the drive with a short field after a 33-yard kickoff return from sophomore Jordan Lahusky. They would drive the ball down to the edge of the red zone before being faced with a 4^th and 5. Lewis & Clark trusted their freshman kicker with his first field goal chance and Hoang came through by booting the field goal straight through the uprights from 38-yards out. 
 
After forcing a Loggers punt, the Pioneers took their first 10-point lead of the game on the next drive. Montana found Betts running in behind the defense for a 50-yard touchdown pass to stretch the lead to 24-14. 
 
The offenses would both pick up from there with the two teams combining to score touchdowns on seven-straight possessions. 
 
Montana made it 31-21 when he capped off a 12-play, 65-yard drive with a QB sneak from the one-yard line. 
 
After a long touchdown run for Puget Sound, the Pioneers needed just one play to respond. Montana found McGee running in behind the Loggers defense for a 61-yard touchdown catch with 11:51 to play (38-28). 
 
Puget Sound cut the deficit to 38-35 on a Mason Binning touchdown pass to Izaiah Jerenz with 8:04 left. 
 
The Loggers grabbed control of the game, when they decided to go for an onside kick and managed to come out of the pile with the ball inside the Pioneers territory. Puget Sound scored on their next play from scrimmage to grab a 42-38 lead. 
 
Lewis & Clark would be forced to punt on their next possession but got the ball back one last time thanks to a pair of big plays from Brian Kincade. The sophomore made a big tackle on second down to avoid giving up a game-ending first down and then recorded a sack on third down to force the Loggers to punt. 
 
The Pioneers took a pair of deep shots but couldn't connect and ultimately turned the ball over on downs. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Montana bested his previous career-high for passing yards of 327 vs. Pacific University (October 29, 2022) by 25 yards. He also tied his career-high with four passing touchdowns (October 23, 2021 vs Puget Sound) and five total touchdowns (October 15, 2022 vs. Willamette). 
• Junior kicker Beno Boda handled the kickoff duties in his first career organized football game. The Pioneers men's soccer/football player kicked off seven times for 382 yards (54.6 averaged). 
• The Pioneers finished 6-14 on third down and went 2-5 on fourth down conversions. As a team, Lewis & Clark racked up 461 total yards on offense. 
• Lahusky posted three kickoff returns for 86 yards (28.67). 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will take on rival Willamette University on Saturday at 1 p.m. in their 2023 home opener. The matchup will be the Pioneers first-ever game in the Oregon Cup.