Salem, Ore. - Willamette Football took a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter against the visiting Boxers, but couldn't hold on in a 24-10 defeat by Pacific University. The Bearcat defense caused two turnovers and made several key stops, but it wasn't quite enough on Senior Day for the Bearcats.
Willamette got off to a strong start on their first possession, quickly getting into Boxer territory after a 20-yard completion from Pres Juarez to Jonah Luhrsen, an 11-yard run by Jerrick Little, and a nine-yard run by Austin Snodgrass moved the Bearcats to the Pacific twenty-four. The drive would stall out, however, as two false start penalties and a sack would force a punt.
The first drive for Pacific saw a healthy dose of Brody Bantolina, the leading rusher in the conference, who carried the ball on seven of the first nine plays and eventually moved the Boxers to the Bearcat 9-yard line. Bantolina carried the ball three more times on the drive and was stopped on 4th-and-goal at the Willamette one-yard line by Dominic Corado and Salah Hill to stop the scoring drive and give the ball back to the Bearcats.
That next drive for Willamette was a 17-play, 99-yard drive that took over eight minutes and spanned the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. The big plays on the drive were a 21-yard connection from Juarez to Luhrsen on 3rd-and-12 and a critical 4th-down completion to Luhrsen from Alex Rivera IV that kept the drive alive. Faced with a 4th-and-1 at the Boxer 10-yard line, Juarez faked the hand-off to running back Gabriel Herrera and scampered ten yards into the endzone to give Willamette a 7-0 lead.
The lead was short-lived as Pacific's Josiah Chaffin returned the following kick-off 79 yards for a touchdown to tie the score 7-7.
The Boxers got the ball back after a Willamette punt and again moved deep into Bearcat territory, picking up big yards on a fake punt and rush by Kalai Pasi. With a Boxer first down at the Willamette 13-yard line, the defense held strong again with tackles at the line of scrimmage by Austin Payne and John Williamson and a pass breakup in the endzone by Salah Hill forcing Pacific to settle for a 30-yard field goal to make the score 10-7.
This time it was Willamette's turn for a long kick-off return as Austin Snodgrass returned it 79 yards down the right sideline to the Boxer 19-yard line. The Bearcats were only able to gain one yard of offense and failed on their attempt to tie the score as Nick Beswick-Seidl's kick went just left with 47 seconds left in the half.
Pacific received the second-half kick and Bantolina quickly got them into scoring territory on rushes of 15 and 16 yards. The Boxers capped off the drive with a 10-yard pass from Braeden Titus to Brandon Racz to take a 17-7 lead early in the third quarter.
The Bearcats continued to struggle a bit on offense the next few drives, but the defense came up with big stops to keep the game close. Hogan Smith recovered a fumble at the Bearcat 19-yard line on one possession and on the next Boxer possession Dominic Corado picked off a Titus pass at the Bearcat twenty after a tip from Brayden Duke.
Willamette moved the ball on their first possession of the fourth quarter thanks to a series of penalties by the Boxers, a couple of pass interference calls and a personal foul after a 20-yard scramble from Juarez that moved the Bearcats to the Boxer twenty-five. Willamette moved to the Pacific seven-yard line, but a sack moved them back to the nineteen and they were forced to settle for a 36-yard field goal from Beswick-Seid to cut the Boxer lead to 17-10.
The Boxers turned to their rushing attack again on the next drive as Bantolina started the drive with runs of 6, 8, and 28 yards to move into Willamette territory. The Bearcats were hoping to hold again as they had on several occasions during the game, but Lucas Voss found the end zone from two yards out to give Pacific their final margin of victory at 24-10.
Herrera led Willamette in rushing with 59 yards on 12 carries, while Luhrsen was the leading receiver with 54 yards on 4 catches. Javi Rodriguez led the defense with 10 tackles, followed by Dominic Corado and Austin Payne with nine and Hogan Smith with eight.
The Bearcats play their final home game of the season on Saturday, November 16th, when they travel to play Lewis & Clark College. Kick-off is scheduled for 2:30 pm.
