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| #7 Tavon Willis reached out for his 4th touchdown of the season vs the Pios |
| Photo courtesy from Brad Thompson: View Brad's photos here |
What I wanted to see this past Saturday was a team that was
excited to play football and not mail it in because they were facing a
rebuilding program and that’s what I saw before and during the game. It can be
tough to get yourself mentally ready for that challenge when the team you’re
facing isn’t at your level but it spoke volumes about the ‘Cats that
they were locked in and ready to go. Yeah, the beginning of the game wasn’t
perfect for the offense and we’ll talk about that below but once the damn broke
it was a tidal wave of ‘Cats reaching the end zone and living in the Pioneer
backfield.
At the end of the day, Linfield accomplished what they set to and that was to turn in a sharp performance and get in as many ‘Cats as possible for some serious varsity minutes. Mission accomplished on both of those fronts.
Now let’s be real, the ‘Cats have played and dispatched
three not very good football teams to open up the season. Linfield has done what great teams should do
to lesser opposition and that’s roll them right out the door but all that
changes this weekend with a huge NWC showdown with Pacific. The Boxers make the return trip back to
Linfield sitting at 3-1 and coming off their most complete game of the season
in crushing PLU 34-7. This is a very
tough Pacific team. They have a veteran
group on offense, a poised duel threat QB, hard charging RBs, a tough defense, and
a trio of play making receivers that have put up some big numbers. You know Pacific has done a lot of reflection
of last year’s 59-0 loss to Linfield and I’m sure have spent a lot of extra
time in perpetration on how they’re going to attack the ‘Cats this
weekend. It’s a dangerous opponent for
Linfield and the ‘Cats better be ready to roll.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good
Defensive Domination: The numbers speak for themselves: 135
yards of offense allowed (97 yards of passing, and 38 yards of rushing) over 65
offensive plays. The ‘Cats defense piled
up 13 tackles for loss and All-American defensive end Alex Hoff feasted with 5
TFL’s, a sack, a fumble recovery, and caused general chaos in a little over a
half of action.
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| #55 Alex Hoff dominated the Pios defensive front in the 1st half of play. |
| Photo courtesy from Brad Thompson: View Brad's photos here |
Passing Attack: The ‘Cats quarterbacks went 23 of 31 for 392
yards (12.6 yards per pass attempt) and looked sharp. Sam Riddle tossed four TD’s in only one half
of action as our QB went 12 of 17 for 174 yards and looks to be developing
deeper chemistry with his receiver corps.
Young ‘Cats getting extended time: This is what I was really
hoping to see on Saturday as Linfield was able to get deeper in the roster and
let a number of other units get extended reps during live varsity action. It was fun to get a glimpse at some of the
other talent on the roster as Linfield continues to be deep with players that
can produce and have a number of up and coming prospects in the freshman class.
1st unit penalties down: The ‘Cats 1st team was only
penalized twice during the first half of play and that is some big improvement
from the first two games of the year.
This has to continue to be a major point of emphasis for this team as discipline
is going to be a major factor is if this Linfield team will be able to fully
realize their potential.
Preserving the shutout: Redlands was able to escape the
shutout two weeks ago with a late TD off a Linfield turnover deep in their own
territory and that looked like it might have been the case again as the Pios
blocked a Linfield punt on the Wildcat’s 13 yard line with 1:37 left in the
game. Facing a 2nd and Goal from the 4, the ‘Cats brought the house
and Linebacker Caden Wakefield forced a fumble that was scooped up by freshman defensive
end Deven Illingworth who scooted 85 yards for the game’s final score. It was a great little moment on multiple
fronts and great to see Linfield blank another team.
Team cohesion: This is something that you won’t see on a
stat sheet but you can feel it before the game, during the game, and in the
post-game wrap. This group is starting
to truly carve out their own unique identity.
That might have been the biggest win of the day in my eyes is not that fact
Linfield beat someone by 73 points but you can see and feel this group coming
together as a single unit and that bodes well for the remainder of the season.
Linfield's defense continues to dish it out. #Catdome https://t.co/BKOdsDXOs4— Catdomealumni.com (@catdomealumni) October 5, 2015
The Bad
Slow offensive start/short yardage: Yeah, it’s nitpicking but
‘Cats offense took a few series to get the ball rolling again and made little
mistakes that negated what should have resulted in earlier touchdowns. I’m still waiting for a faster and cleaner
start from this offense and it needs to happen soon as the level of competition
is going to increase significantly this weekend vs Pacific.
The Ugly
Nothing: Game was relatively free of injury, lots of ‘Cats
clocked in well-deserved reps and produced results, and Linfield started the
conference season off at 1-0. On top of
that, the weather for the game was probably the nicest I can remember for a
Linfield road game at L&C. It was a
great day to be a Wildcat!
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