Portland, Ore. - Willamette Football closed out their season on the road at Lewis & Clark College and fell to the host Pioneers by a final score of 35-7.
The game started in the Bearcats' favor when Austin Snodgrass jumped on a loose ball on the opening kickoff, recovering the Lewis & Clark fumble and giving Willamette great field position. A sack pushed them back thirteen yards and a 33-yard gain was nullified by a penalty to stop the Bearcat drive and force a punt.
Lewis & Clark took over possession at their own twenty yard line and marched eighty yards in seven plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 16-yard reception by Jordan Lahusky.
Willamette had good field position on their second possession thanks to a Jerrick Little kick return and were able to get as far as the L&C 38 before another sack forced the Bearcats to punt. The Bearcats held strong on their next two defensive possessions, forcing a fumble for a touchback and a turnover on downs to end the first quarter.
With the score still 7-0, Willamette's defense got the ball back again when Javi Rodiguez recovered a Pioneer fumble at the Willamette forty-eight. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, the offense would turn it over right back when quarterback Pres Juarez fumbled on the second play of the drive to give L&C the ball at midfield.
The Bearcats stopped Lewis & Clark again on that drive, but the Pioneers eventually broke through for their second touchdown of the game when Oa Kamakawiwoole found Devin Guest for a 37-yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-0 in favor of the hosts.
Willamette looked like they would get on the scoreboard late in the quarter when Brandon Johnson caught a pass from Juarez for a 36-yard gain to the L&C 22. After a modest gain and another sack, Nick Beswick-Seidl's field goal attempt from 41 yards was blocked and the Pioneers got the ball back with less than a minute remaining in the half. L&C took advantage and Jordan Lahusky scored on a 55-yard run to increase the lead to 21-0 heading into halftime.
The Bearcats finally got on the scoreboard early in the third quarter when a poor punt gave Willamette good field position and a 29-yard completion to Trajan Clark put them near the L&C goal line. Gabriel Herrera went in from one yard out to make the score 21-7 and create some momentum for Willamette.
Unfortunately, the Bearcats would get no closer. The defense continued to make key plays as Salah Hill picked off a pass just outside the endzone when it seemed the Pios might score and Landon Waters intercepted a pass in the endzone on the next possession to stop another Lewis & Clark chance. On the next possession, the Bearcats forced a fumble at their own five yard line and Brayden Duke recovered it to stop yet another L&C scoring opportunity.
Each time they got the ball back, the Willamette offense was either unable to move the ball or had a turnover of their own and a Trey Morris rushing touchdown from ten yards out put Lewis & Clark up 35-7 and that is where the game finished.
Juarez had 139 yards passing for the Bearcats with completions to five different receivers. Brandon Johnson and Elijah Romero each hauled in two catches for 44 and 36 total yards, respectively. Jerrick Little had 28 rushing yards to lead the team, with Austin Snodgrass right behind with 25 yards.
Orion Woods led the defense with 13 tackles, followed by Brayden Duke with 11. Austin Payne and Johnhenry Hankins each registered a sack. Landon Waters and Salah Hill had pass interceptions and Javi Rodriguez, Austin Snodgrass, and Duke each recovered a Pioneer fumble.
