By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- Willamette University wide receivers Justin Genovia (Sr., Aiea, HI/Iolani School), Dom Thornton (Fy., West Jordan, UT/Kearns HS), and Jared Paredes (Jr., West Covina, CA/Northview HS) each hauled in four passes for the Bearcats on Saturday, Nov. 5 against Linfield University at Maxwell Field. Linfield, ranked #5 in the D3football.com Top 25, defeated the Bearcats, 65-0, as the Wildcats improved to 8-0 overall, 6-0 in the Northwest Conference. Willamette fell to 2-7 on the season, 0-6 in the NWC.
Genovia gained 79 yards on his four catches. He leads the Bearcats with 36 receptions for 474 yards this season. Thornton picked up 38 yards on his four catches, while Paredes earned 30 yards on his four receptions. Willamette passed for 157 yards as quarterback Dante Chaney (Jr., Arlington, TX/Mansfield Legacy HS) completed 14 of 25 attempts with no interceptions. Linfield held the Bearcats to 16 rushing yards on 33 carries, including 24 yards lost on four quarterback sacks.
The Wildcats finished with 531 yards of total offense with 435 passing yards and 96 rushing yards on 26 carries (3.7 avg.). In the air, Linfield was 27 of 36 with seven touchdowns. Blake Eaton led the Wildcats by going 17 of 20 through the air for 257 yards and six touchdowns. Colton Smith caught six passes for 102 yards, while three other Linfield players registered at least 50 yards on receptions. Devon Murray caught four passes for just 22 yards, but scored three touchdowns. Linfield's top rusher was Zach Young with four carries for 28 yards. Connor McNabb rushed for 22 yards on five carries.
Defensive leaders for the Bearcats were Hogan Smith (So., DB, Prineville, OR/Crook County HS) and Michael Wong (So., LB, Apple Valley, CA/Apple Valley HS). Smith earned five solo tackles and one assist for six total tackles. Wong was credited with five unassisted tackles, including three tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
John Kenny (So., DB, Salem, OR/West Salem) supplied WU with four solo tackles for Willamette. Christopher Brown (Sr., LB, Ketchikan, AK/Ketchikan HS) registered three solo stops and one assist, while Dominic Corado (So., DB, Lake Forest, CA/JSerra Catholic HS) produced two unassisted tackles and two assists. Keaton Adams (Gr., DE, Colorado Springs, CO/Doherty HS) finished with three total tackles, including two tackles for loss.
On defense for Linfield, Adin Wolf topped the tackle chart with four solo stops and one assist. Johnny Miller and Chris Collins each recorded four unassisted tackles. Miller led the Wildcats with 2.0 quarterback sacks.
