'Cats Win! Linfield leavs Willamette all wet after 20-10 victory.

This will not be the cover of Brian Widing's Christmas card.

Photo Courtesy of Brad Thompson: View Brad's 2011 Linfield Photo Gallery Here. 

Saturday was a great day to be a Wildcat. No doubt about it. Our Linfield Wildcats made the short road trip down to Salem and took care of their business in a 20-10 win over the Willamette Bearcats. Linfield now opens the season at 3-0 and more importantly 1-0 in Northwest Conference play. Saturday night was Linfield’s 3rd win in a row against the Bearcats and Linfield’s 5th victory in their last 6 trips to the Catdome Capitol or Catdome South. Either works. Since moving to Division 3 in 1998 Linfield is 11-3 versus Willamette and Coach Smith moved his record versus the Bearcats to 4-2.

As for the game itself, the weather man lied, because what was predicted as just some showers that would give way to cloudy skies in the early evening turned out to be a 4 quarter downpour that made it a wet and wild game for both teams in terms of ball handling. The weather had a big impact on the game but the biggest impact on the contest was the overall play of the Wildcats. Linfield bullied and brusied their way to a 17-0 lead early in the 3rd quarter and looked for the dagger but a missed field goal and a fumble at the goal line breathed life into Willamette and sent the game into a seesaw finish. In the 2nd half Willamette threw their playbook (and I guess Linfield’s too) at the ‘Cats with fake double reverses, fly sweep passes, and found a sweet spot in the ‘Cats defense and when it looked like Willamette could take control, the Linfield offense grinded out a huge drive to burn clock and kicked a field goal to push the game to a 2-score lead, and the ‘Cats defense closed the show.

It was a fun game to win on so many levels. Not only does Linfield keep control of their own destiny but I think the ‘Cats grew up on Saturday night. There is a lot of football to be played but I have a feeling this group of grinders will use Saturday night as a launching pad for the remainder of the season. This is a fun and tough (physically and mentally) group of young men and you should be proud of how they went about their business on Saturday. The 2011 Linfield Wildcats have a big opportunity in front of them, now it’s just up to them to run with it.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

A full 60 minutes of Linfield Football: Awesome job. It wasn’t perfect but I didn’t expect it to be. What I was looking for was how Linfield would handle adversity and there was plenty of it. When the ‘Cats missed their chance to ice the game in 3rd you could feel that big swing of momentum tilt towards Willamette and that was the moment of truth for Linfield. That is the moment teams either rise up and figure it out or collapse under the pressure. The ‘Cats responded beautifully. The defense needs some help and time to chalk up some adjustments and the offense responded with the drive in the 4th quarter to extend the lead to 10. At that point we know the story as the defense iced it for the ‘Cats. It was all three phases chipping in to get the desired result and it was fantastic to see.

Team Defense: Big shout out for the defense. While Willamette did have over 200 yards rushing a big chunk on that was on the Bearcats loan TD drive of the night. The bottom line is our defense was fantastic on the whole. Only giving up 10 points to a team that had 2 weeks to prepare and threw out a gaggle of new wrinkles and looks at the Wildcat defense. This is a fun defense to watch and as an old Wildcat defender, I couldn’t have been prouder of the Salty D.

Offense Line play: The 1st two games of the year the offense line was doing a great job in the run game but at times were having trouble keeping ‘Cats QB, Mickey Inns, off the ground. No such issues on Saturday as the ‘Cats offensive line and running backs were masterful in allowing 0 sacks and keeping hits off of Mickey. Great job big fellas.

3rd and 4th down defense: This was a great stat on the night. Willamette was 0-10 on 3rd down and 0 for 1 on 4th. That’s just flat getting it done. As Coach Smith said before the ‘Cats ran out on the field “Sometimes you’re the walls, but tonight we’re the hammer.” The ‘Cats defense brought the hammer all night long on 3rd down. This isn't just a "good" but rather a “great”.

Mickey Inns: Quarterbacks always get too much credit and too much blame but the praise for Mickey’s performance on Saturday night is more than deserved. The Bearcats defense started to solve the Wildcat rushing attach and in a downpour the offensive staff turned it to Inns to get it done in the pouring rain. Mickey responded with a 20 of 37 performances that covered 329 yards. I’ve already heard some folks say if we didn’t have as many drops that number would have been greater but Mickey would tell you that there were some fantastic “go get it” catches by our WR core in key moments. It’s been fun watch Mickey develop over the past three weeks.

Defensive Back play: I’ve talked a lot over the past month about the talent and promise of our young LBs and defensive line (it’s warranted) but the heart and soul of this team is that talented veteran defensive backfield. They were superior on Saturday night. There were multiple times Willamette broke plays past the 1st level of the defense, and against most defenses it’s off to the races for the Bearcats, but Saturday it was Kole Krieger, Drew Fisher, Christian Hanna, Taylor Skore, Kala’e Parish and Nate Dixon making play after play to contain Willamette. Linfield fans, enjoy every second of watching this group for the remainder of 2011.

Josh Hill’s toughness: J-Hill was a beast for the ‘Cats. He was asked to carry the rushing load for Linfield and was what Linfield needed him to be: tough. J-Hill never gave up his feet and was contently turning 2 yard gains into 4 yards and 5 yards with his desire and willingness to keep moving forward and that led to 36 carries for a bruising 110 yards and a touchdown. Josh has plenty of explosion and speed but he showed last night he can put the hard hat on and grind away.

‘Cats keeping their composure: It was very chippy last night and that is a bit of an understatement. Both teams were getting after each other and as the game grew into the latter stages the pressure of that hot light increased and with it so did tempers. Instead of acting out and getting mentally weak unsportsmanlike conduct penalties the ‘Cats kept their cool and focused on performance. They didn’t get duped into retaliation and as we witnessed Willamette’s inability to stay in control cost them dearly.

The Bad

Not putting Willamette away: Linfield had a point blank shot at sticking the dagger in Willmette’s heart with the 'Cats up 17-0 and knocking on the door deep in the 3rd quarter. The ‘Cats fumbled into the end zone and the subsequent Willamette recovery got the Bearcats and their offense going. Ultimately, it led to Linfield having to overcome their most adversity to date and in some ways I think the experience will help Linfield down the road but I’d rather the ‘Cats “lop off the head” when the chance is right in front of them.

6 fumbles/Drops: I’m not out of my mind about this because the weather did have a major impact on both teams in securing the ball. However, we live and play in the Pacific Northwest so we’re again going to see elements like this for the reminder of the season. We have to be better in this department when the weather is poor.

The Ugly:

The Rain: I was not ready for that on Saturday night. All week long we just had some light showers and sitting around the tailgater before the game (BTW, great job Wildcat fans in owning that parking lot and stadium once again) there was a very light rain, almost mist. I was thinking “No problem, this should be the worst of it right here.” I was dead wrong. Many fans were not ready for the rain as I saw a lot of drenched and soaked fans sticking it out. The constant downpour had an impact on the game but not so much where it was the biggest factor in deciding the outcome (ala 2006 Whitworth). I’d rather it had been clear and in the 60’s but it was one of those issues you just adapted to and moved passed. That game was much too entertaining to let it ruin the experience.