SALEM, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College football scored the first three touchdowns and withstood pressure late by the University of Willamette Bearcats to win their eighth consecutive Wagon Wheel trophy, 28-20, at McCullouch Stadium on Saturday.
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 28, Willamette 20
(Lewis & Clark 5-0, Northwest Conference 2-0)
(Willamette University 1-4, NWC 0-2)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Pioneers put together three drives of eight-plus plays apiece to score first in each of the first three quarters to build a 21-0 lead. Lewis & Clark's defense sent extra pressure defensively throughout the game and recorded five sacks for the second time in three games. With the victory, Lewis & Clark moved to 5-0 for the 7th time in program history.
 
Quarterback Dashiell Weaver ran for a 10-yard touchdown on the game's opening drive and connected with Dez Holton on two of his three touchdown passes. He finished with 209 yards through the air and was the Pios' leading rusher with 75 on the ground.
 
Senior linebacker Daryl Scott led the game with 13 total tackles, two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks on the day. JT Chavez, who entered the game second in sacks among NWC defenders, added 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and seven total tackles. He now has 5.5 sacks on the year.
 
Garrett Lee caught the other receiving touchdown from Weaver, one of his career-best eight receptions that led all receivers on the day. Lee finished with 87 yards. Sytyn Lasconia bounced back from his first zero-catch day last week against Puget Sound with four receptions for 68 yards. Holton finished with four catches for 26 yards and the two scores after missing last week's game.
 
On the offensive line, starters Ramseez Packer and Cody Wong were missing, and the Pios adjusted with starts from Ryan Rodriguez and Dashon Jones. Lewis & Clark totaled 133 rushing yards. Jordan Lahusky rushed for 36 yards, Isaac Glover added 20 and Chili Stephens had two carries for five yards.
 
The first half featured long drives from both teams, but only Lewis & Clark cashed in for points. The Pioneers opened with a 10-play, 83-yard effort that included Lee's longest catch of the day, 22 yards, and ended with Weaver's 10-yard TD run, the transfer sophomore's second this season.
 
Willamette answered with a 13-play drive, but Lewis & Clark's Jack Warren blocked Nick Beswick-Seidl's 33-yard field goal attempt to keep the Pios ahead 7-0 with 2:32 remaining in the first quarter.
 
On the Pios' second drive, Weaver took off, but fumbled when hit by Jonjon Delgado. Fortunately, the ball flew into the grasp of Glover, who took it to the Bearcats' 5. Three plays later, Weaver hit Holton for a 5-yard TD that withstood a Willamette challenge to determine if Holton reestablished himself inbounds before making the catch. 
 
Trailing 14-0 with 13:01 remaining in the second quarter, Willamette went 12 plays to set up another field goal attempt. Beswick-Siedl missed wide right, this time from 40 yards out.
 
After each team punted for the first time, Weaver was intercepted for the second time this season when his pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Hriday Raj and popped into the air, landing in the arms of Austin Payne. Willamette entered the game fourth in the nation in total takeaways, and Payne's interception was the eighth of the season for the Bearcats' defense.
 
A tackle-for-loss by Kahiau Chang and a sack by Chavez stalled Willamette's momentum, and the Pioneers took their 14-0 lead into the half.
 
Willamette opened the second half with two more plays that lost yardage and faced a 4th-and-2 from the Pios' 47. Logan Wacker and Scott combined to stop quarterback Luke Rasmussen for a 1-yard gain and turned the ball over on downs. 
 
The next series featured a 15-yard run from Glover and a 19-yard completion to Lasconia to get the Pios in the red zone for the third time. Weaver found Lee in the middle of the end zone, Lee's third TD catch of the season, and Trevor Kew's PAT put Lewis & Clark ahead 21-0 with 6:48 remaining in the third quarter. Weaver ended the game 20-for-23 for 209 yards and his four total touchdowns.
 
Willamette started to show signs of life on the next possession. The Bearcats, who are in their first year with new head coach Aric Williams and led nearly all of their 31-28 loss at Pacific Lutheran the week before, got three runs of 13 or more yards and scored on Rasmussen's 7-yard pass to Jonah Luhrsen to cut the Pios' lead to 21-7. Rasmussen finished 12-of-18 for 141 yards for the game, and Luhrsen had seven catches for 42 yards. 
 
Both teams traded punts before Lewis & Clark tried a 40-yard field goal by Kew that missed slightly to the right to end the third quarter.
 
Starting from their own 23, Willamette threw a 64-yard bomb to Trajan Clark on the third play of the series to close the gap to 21-14 with 13:53 left in the game.
 
Lewis & Clark responded with a 7-play, 63-yard scoring drive that began with a 29-yard Lasconia reception, the Pios' longest of the game, and ended when Weaver found Holton for a 7-yard score for a 28-14 lead.
 
On the next series, Willamette ran nine times on a 13-play, 63-yard effort that ended on Jerrick Little's 1-yard rush TD. The Pioneers nearly ended the drive earlier, but a pass interference call in the end zone on 4th-and-6 gave the Bearcats a first down. Beswick-Seidl's PAT was blocked, and with 5:16 remaining, Lewis & Clark led 28-20.
 
Lewis & Clark faced a third down just once on the first seven plays of its final drive, which forced the Bearcats to use the rest of their timeouts. Weaver snuck for a first down on 3rd-and-1 from the Willamette 28, and Lewis & Clark kneeled on the ball to secure the victory. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Lewis & Clark is 5-0 for the first time since the 2012 season and just the second time since 1963
• Weaver entered the game ninth in the country for passing TDs and has now thrown 18 touchdowns in his five starts
• Rio Cruz returned a punt 45 yards late in the third quarter, his longest of the season, and Westin Wade returned three kickoffs for 64 yards, including a 36-yarder
• Luke Griffin broke up two passes, including one would-be touchdown
• Jaden Mwendapole also had a pass break-up and led the Pios with four solo tackles
• Lewis & Clark extended its longest winning streak in the Wagon Wheel series to eight straight
• It was the closest game in the battle since 2021, when Lewis & Clark won at Willamette, 43-41

WHO'S NEXT
 
Lewis & Clark is on the road for the second consecutive week when they travel to George Fox University on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. It's the second meeting between the teams this year after the Pioneers won 38-10 last month in the Oregon Cup round robin.