Monday, October 23, 2017

‘Cats Win!!! Linfield leaves the Bruins all wet in 12-6 victory in the ‘Catdome.

#18 Duke Mackle's created a critical punt block in the 2nd quarter of action.
Photo Coutsey of Brad Thompson: View Brad's Photos Here.
There’s an old adage in football that if you can win two of the three phases of a football game (offense, defense, special teams), then the odds are the scoreboard is going to reflect a victory. This past Saturday, the ‘Cats did just that in riding their tougher than a pine knot defense and excellence special teams play to a 12-6 victory over George Fox to take the wheel of the Northwest Conference title race with three weekends to go. As you all know by now, it was a wet and windy day in the Pacific Northwest and that old South by North wind that likes to rolls through the ‘Catdome was happy to add an element to the mix that forced each staff to make strategic moves on which side of the field to defend.

Fox won the toss and took the wind at their back to try to establish an early advantage and that decision almost paid off huge in the first quarter as Linfield’s offense struggled mightily and couldn’t flip the field. The ‘Cats defense was able to hold serve but dodged an early bullet with a missed field. The second near miss was early in the 2nd quarter when the ‘Cats special teams had their only blemish, in what was a brilliant day, with a fumbled snap on a punt set Fox up on Linfield’s 19-yard line.  Once again, the defense held up and Fox’s next FG attempt was partially blocked to keep the game at 0-0.  After that, the Bruin offense wouldn’t cross the 50 for the rest of the game (until that last drive) as Linfield methodically put the game out of reach.

At halftime, the ‘Cats only held a 6-0 lead, and while the Linfield defense had the warps on the Bruins offense, all it would take the turn the tide was a blown assignment or ill-timed turnover the Fox could convert to a touchdown. Linfield head coach, Joe Smith, had a big decision to make in if the ‘Cats were going to take the wind at their back in that 3rd quarter or bet that the ‘Cats would hold steady and make Fox win the game going into that wind. Coach Smith knew his guys and bet right. It wasn’t easy sailing in that 3rd quarter as the game hung in the balance as the ‘Cats were pinned deep in their own territory late in the 3rd quarter but the offense was able to put together their best drive of the day that would essentially win the football game.

#10 Wade Ransom dropped the hammer on GFU's QB late in the 4th quarter.
Photos Courtsey of Brad Thompson: View Brad's photos here.

It was a gutsy effort for Linfield as the ‘Cats offense line and overall offense continue to deal with a number of health issues.  I’m not trying to diminish the performance of George Fox’s defense, which was tremendous as well, but the ‘Cats offense is scuffling and playing that physical and skilled Bruin defense only compounded matters.  But that’s football too.  When one group is not able to get it done on the level that is desired, it’s up to the others to pick up the slack and do what it takes to get the hay into the barn. That’s the way Linfield has done it for a long time and will continue to approach each game as long as this staff or descendants of this staff remain at the helm of Linfield football.

Moving forward, as much of a solid team victory Saturday was, Fox was just another team in the way to what this Linfield program is ultimately and continually trying to reach. Linfield will now turn their attention to another defensive standout team in the Pacific Lutheran Lutes. But for now, let’s turn out attention to Saturday’s good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

Defensive Lockdown: This Linfield defense is so darn tough. This group came to play and overwhelmed, blanketed and hammered the George Fox offense into the ‘Catdome turf.  The ‘Cats defense has owned the George Fox offense since the Bruins rebooted their football program in 2014 and that continued Saturday as Linfield’s physicality at the point of attached was bone jaring. It was a brilliant performance that held GFU to only 79 total yards until that final drive of the game when George Fox made the stats and final score a little bit close than it actually was at the end of the game.



Huge 3rd quarter drive: While the offense had a rough go of it, the Linfield offense came through when it mattered most. Late in the 3rd quarter, Linfield had that driving wind in their face, pinned on their own 11-yard line, and facing a 1st and 20 thanks to an unsportsmanlike penalty on the punt return. At this point, Linfield was hanging onto a 6-0 lead and a quick 3 and out might have given the Bruins an opportunity to take a lead. But the offense found their footing and ground out a 15 play – 53-yard drive, that took the game into the 4th quarter (and out of the win), and set up Willy Warne’s 3rd field goal (43 yards) of the day that made it a two-possession football game.

Overall Special Teams Performance: What a great day for the Linfield special teams unit. Besides the one mishandled punt snap in the 1st, this group rose to the challenge. The blocked punt by Duke Mackle was giant, a partially blocked field goal attempt by Freshman Jared Ellisen, huge field flipping punts by Freshman Colton Ramos, clean snapping, clean holding, just solid as a rock all around. The Linfield special teams had a huge positive impact on the outcome of this football game.

Willy Warne was nails: Just a big old tip of the Wildcat sailor’s cap to our junior kicker who scored all 12 of Linfield’s points off of four field goals. The weather was bad and the pressure was high but Warne cut through all of that in nailing all four attempts including a 43 yarder. It’s been an incredible season of growth for Warne who had an up and down 2016 and was not a lock to handle kicking duties coming into 2017.  Willy not only locked up the kicking job at the start of the season but has been a big weapon for the ‘Cats in 2017.

Forcing 3 GFU quarterback turnovers: The ‘Cats had made it a long four years for GFU quarterback, Grant Schroeder.  The Linfield defense has turned the Bruin QB over 9 times over the past 4 seasons including 2 forced fumbles and one interception this past Saturday. The first forced fumble was a meet you at the quarterback sandwich hit by linebackers Jason Farlow and Jake Reimer. The next forced fumble was this piece of brilliant football by Duke Mackle (at the :30 mark of this clip) that set up the ‘Cats 2nd field goal, and the third turnover was the late game interception by corner Andrew Schweiterman to essentially end the chance for any late-game heroics by Fox.  A great combination of hard-hitting, smart, and playmaking football by the defense.

#6 Chidubem Nnoli had a big second half rushing the ball for the 'Cats against GFU.
Photos Coutsey of Brad Thompson: View Brad's Photos Here.

Nnoli 4th straight over 100 yards rushing:  The ‘Cats offense was about as one-dimensional as possible on Saturday with the lack of a passing game, so the challenge to run the ball was that much greater with Fox loading up the box. With that said, Chidubem Nnoli was a workhorse for the ‘Cats.  The Sophomore ground out 120 yards on 27 attempts (4.4 average per carry) with nearly 100 of those yards coming in the 2nd half. Nnoli has performed like a sure fire 1st team all-conference performer this season and was huge once again for the ‘Cats against George Fox.

The Bad

1st half lack of offensive punch: The 'Cats were only able to scratch together an enemic near 20 yards of total offense in that first half.  It was a bad omen that Linfield's offense started their day by coming off the sideline and still couldn't get the snap off in time before a delay of game penalty. In fact, Linfield started off their first two series with negitive plays and it set a bad tone early. Credit Fox's defense for all the chaos they created with their pressure and Linfield paid for it with one bad half of offensive football.

The Penalties, man: George Fox had 11 first downs on the day (4 on the last drive), and out of that 11, the ‘Cats gave the Bruins 4 of them via penalties. Out of that four, one was a roughing the passer and two more were via personal fouls, including that last Fox drive. This team plays with a lot of emotion but the ‘Cats have to be smarter as a big chunk 9 penalties for 95 yards was preventable for the ‘Cats.

Losing the shutout at the last second: This was more in the category of “it would have been nice” to blank George Fox once again but Linfield gave up that last second TD to the Bruins to make the game’s final score tighter.  Yeah, it was a meaningless score but that Linfield defense earned that shutout on Saturday so it was a bummer to see it melt away at the last moment.

The Ugly

Giving up 7 sacks: It was a tough day for the Linfield offense in terms of protecting the quarterback. GFU did a great job in executing their defensive game plan but the Linfield offensive line and running backs, along with the quarterbacks, have to figure it out in terms of the protection and making decisions on-time with the football, and not allow the protection to break down. I really don’t like laying the blame on the feet of this group, because this is a beat up unit with guys sucking it up and playing hurt, but I think they would agree that Saturday was not a performance that can be repeated moving forward.
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