NEWBERG, Ore. --- The George Fox Bruins are back on the road this week, riding high on the heels of back-to-back Northwest Conference victories over Pacific Lutheran and Willamette. Tied for first in the conference with a key matchup looming against Pacific the following week, the Bruins look to keep their focus and avoid a potential trap game at Puget Sound this Saturday.

On paper, the Bruins come into this game as heavy favorites. The Loggers are 0-5 on the season and have lost their last two games by a combined 125-13. The teams have two common opponents: George Fox beat Willamette soundly 44-14 on Saturday, while UPS lost a non-conference shootout 45-38 to the Bearcats in Salem week one. Both teams lost to Redlands in non-conference play; however, George Fox played a competitive game before falling 24-14 to the Bulldogs. By the end of the first half, UPS trailed 43-7 on the way to a 60-10 loss at Redlands.

The last meeting between the Bruins and Loggers ended in overtime disappointment, which should play to George Fox's favor this week in terms of motivation. Leading 17-14 late in the fourth quarter in 2019 with the Loggers pinned inside their 10-yard line, the Bruins could not get UPS off the field on a 20-play drive that led to a tying field goal. Puget Sound scored first in overtime and the Bruins answered with a touchdown, but the PAT bounced off the upright, allowing the Loggers to escape with a 24-23 homecoming victory.

"We are looking to redeem ourselves up there," said head coach Chris Casey. "You have to play on grass up there and it's supposed to be wet so there will be some challenges."

There were other special teams miscues on that day back in 2019, including a blocked field goal; however, special teams has been a strength for the 2-2 Bruins this year. Justin Montijo leads the nation, averaging over 31 yards on five punt returns with a touchdown. Jason Santoni is sixth in Division III football in punting, averaging 42 yards per boot. Santoni is also 3 for 4 on field goal attempts, with all three makes 40 yards or more. The Bruins scored three touchdowns on special teams in the first half of their win over Willamette on Saturday with two punt returns and a return of a fumbled punt snap ending up in the end zone.

"Special teams has helped carry us the last two weeks," said Casey. "Those guys play fast and we are getting very good protection. And of course we are kicking and punting the ball very well. It's a total special teams team effort, all together, all the things you need to do."

George Fox is now second in the NWC in scoring defense, allowing 18.8 points per game. The Loggers have struggled on defense, allowing 51.2 points over their five defeats, including a 69-6 loss to Pacific on Saturday. Both teams are in the middle of the pack in the conference offensively, although the Loggers have had trouble putting points on the board, ranking last in scoring at 15.8 points per game.

Puget Sound returns one of the top receivers in Division III football in senior A.J. Johnson. A two-time d3football.com All-American, Johnson is tied for the NWC lead with 31 receptions and is third in the conference in receiving yards with 368. Last week vs. Pacific, Johnson became UPS's all-time leader in receiving yards with 2,976 after hauling in nine balls for 104 yards in the loss to the Boxers. The Tacoma native is now 11 catches away from Adam Kniffin's school record of 264 career receptions. He already owns the school's single-game receiving yardage record with 280 against the Boxers in 2019. And Johnson pulled in five touchdown passes against George Fox back in 2018, which is tied for a school record.

"My understanding is there's been some NFL interest with him," said Casey. "They throw it well. They are kind of a Mike Leach Air Raid deal. Very tough to defend. They can air it out and go vertical, they have the short passing game and they can run enough. They also have the ability to be in a complete run offense formation in one play and go back to the wide open passing offense on the next, two extremes which is tough on a defense. Coach Bates and our defensive staff have done a great job of defending them."

Murdock Rutledge threw the record-breaking pass to Johnson on Saturday. The 6-foot-5 senior signalcaller from Everett set his own school record with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Izaiah Jerenz in the fourth quarter, giving him 59 career passing touchdowns to overtake Hans Fortune on the all-time list. Unfortunately for the Loggers, Rutledge has been more apt to throw it to the other team than into the end zone this year, with seven interceptions Saturday--three returned for touchdowns--putting a damper on the record-setting play. The eight total interceptions thrown by Logger quarterbacks was also a school record (for both schools), along with the three touchdown returns.

The Bruins have had their own struggles with turnovers. George Fox is minus-1 in turnover margin, averaging over two giveaways over the first four games of the season, something they will need to clean up as they get into the more rugged portion of their schedule next week.

"That's been one of our real hallmarks is we don't turn the ball over," said Casey. "We've had some interceptions, we've had some fumbles. We've got to play fundamentally sound. We've got to emphasize those things, but our guys can't play afraid to make mistakes. They've got to go out and play. They've got to know that their technique and fundamentals will take care of things.

"I saw this statistic many years ago: in the NFL from 1950-something to about 2000, if you were plus-2 in the turnover game, you won 94 percent of the time. That's an example of how important turnovers are."

Bruin quarterback Haiden Schaan is third in the NWC in passing efficiency and yards per game. Through four games, the senior from Medford has completed 64-percent of his passes for 788 yards and five touchdowns with five interceptions. Leon Johnson III was a big-play weapon on Saturday with two receptions of 40-plus yards to set up scores. The 6-5 junior wide receiver has 16 catches for 256 yards and two scores, averaging 16 yards per reception. Ethan Kassebaum leads the Bruins running game with 214 yards on 41 carries and three touchdowns, an average of 5.2 yards per carry. He also has a 50-yard touchdown reception to his credit.

"One of the ways to control an Air Raid type of offense is for your offense to have good ball control," said Casey. "That keeps their offense off the field." 

Defensively, Montijo leads the Bruins with 27 tackles. The senior safety had an interception on Saturday to go with his big plays on special teams. Junior linebacker Joe James had two sacks and three tackles for loss Saturday and leads the Bruin D in both categories. Senior cornerback Lucas Schwin has two interceptions and five passes defensed to go with his special teams touchdown.

Puget Sound defensive back Lucas Varela was a standout Saturday with 17 tackles in the loss to Pacific. He leads the Logger D in tackles despite missing a pair of games. Freshman DB Zerek Waters has a pair of picks and four passes defensed and senior defensive lineman Ezekiel Sayavong leads the pass rush with two sacks and three tackles for loss, although he has not played the last two weeks.

This will be the seventh meeting between George Fox and Puget Sound since the revival of football at GFU. The teams have split the previous six games. George Fox had won three straight in the series prior to 2019's defeat in Tacoma. Saturday's game kicks off at 1 p.m. at Baker Stadium.