NEWBERG, Ore. --- The George Fox Bruins look to get back on the winning track this week when they ascend Palatine Hill in Southwest Portland to take on the Lewis & Clark Pioneers.

George Fox (4-3, 4-1 Northwest Conference) had its four-game conference winning streak snapped in a 38-7 road loss to undefeated Linfield, leaving the Bruins in a second-place tie with Whitworth. Lewis & Clark (3-4, 2-3) had won back-to-back games before falling 42-19 at Pacific on Saturday and currently sits in a fifth place tie with Pacific Lutheran.

The Pioneers have experienced gradual improvement since former Linfield head coach and Oregon State assistant Jay Locey took over the reins of the program in 2015. After two winless seasons followed by a pair of 2-7 campaigns, the Pios went 4-5 in 2019 and enter this Saturday's matchup with a 3-4 overall mark in 2021. Lewis & Clark had the same record when the teams last met in a 42-7 George Fox victory in Newberg in 2019.

"Jay and I coached together for nine years and I have a ton of respect for anything that he's a part of," said Bruins head coach Chris Casey. "They fly around on defense and are very well-coached on special teams by Bruce Read, who coached with Jay at Oregon State. They can stretch it vertically for sure with their receiving." 

The Bruins had the good fortune of restarting football when Lewis & Clark's program was at a particularly low ebb. Thus, the Bruins haven't lost to the Pios in six tries, starting with a 30-12 win in Newberg in 2014, George Fox's first football victory of the new era. The average point differential in the series is 25. The 2019 win was the second-biggest rout of the series behind only a 52-13 win in 2016. Ethan Kassebaum caught a 73-yard touchdown pass from Jaden Sheffey and added a 20-yard touchdown run in the second half. Then-freshman Haiden Schaan relieved Sheffey in the second half and threw a 76-yard TD pass to Justin Trimble II. The Pioneers actually had more first downs and twice as many rushing yards as George Fox, but were undone by four turnovers, including a Justin Montijo interception. Caleb Harrel had two picks in the game.

Facing a Linfield squad with designs on a national championship, the Bruins could get little going offensively Saturday against a defense currently ranked fourth in the nation in Division III in yards allowed and second in sacks. The Bruins had just one first down in the first half and eight for the game. Whatever gains they had on the ground were wiped out by seven sacks, which limited the Bruins to one yard rushing as a team for the day.

"They are always a very good program," said Casey, who previously played and coached at Linfield, "but this is probably the best they've been in my seven years here. We played a very good opponent, but we certainly didn't play the way we are capable. We just had a lot of mistakes that were self-inflicted. We are a very good team, but didn't play very well and I give them credit. We had some untimely penalties and weren't very disciplined. We weren't consistent with the kicking game. Our offense never got into a rhythm where we could really run the ball effectively. They do a great job of pressuring the quarterback and in coverage and they can tee off when you are struggling to run the ball. They certainly deserved to win. We were outcoached and outplayed."  

On the positive side, the Bruins' defense made the Wildcats work for most of their points. For the third consecutive game, the George Fox D did not allow an explosive play (40+ yards). Three of Linfield's touchdown drives were 10 plays or more. Two shorter scoring drives were set up by a shanked punt and a long interception return. The Bruins held the 'Cats below their season averages in rushing and passing yards and points. Remarkably, the Bruins were 2 for 11 on third down conversions, which was a higher rate than Linfield had been allowing this season (13.9% is tops in all of college football, not just Division III). But the Bruins faced a challenging field position deficit most of the day, especially when playing into the stiff breeze.

"Our guys continued to give effort and fought hard to the end even though we were down," said Casey. "The second half was 10-7 and that was through struggles with field position and time of possession. [Linfield] just played ahead of the chains with positive plays on 1st and 2nd downs to create manageable third downs. We had a lot of negative plays that put our backs against the wall on 2nd and 3rd downs. But, the guys didn't let the scoreboard affect their effort." 

Despite his 13-yard punt misfire into the teeth of a consistent gale that blew throughout the afternoon, Bruin senior Jason Santoni once again showed why multiple NFL teams have sent scouts to observe his right leg in action. After George Fox went three-and-out on its initial drive, the six-foot-six Central Point, Oregon native unloaded a 74-yard mortar shot that was downed at the Linfield 9-yard line. That broke a school record set just three weeks previous with a 70-yard boot against Willamette. He is the first punter in the NWC in 18 years with two punts of 70 yards or more in the same season (Linfield's James Wilson had three in 2003 with a long of 74). It was the longest punt in the NWC since Puget Sound's Alex Everett had a 75-yarder in 2018. 

The Bruins have hung their hats on special teams all season long. Linfield did not return a kick (granted, there were only two) and averaged just 3.3 yards on three punt returns, while Montjo had a 16-yard return on one of Linfield's two punts. With only eight punt returns on the season, Montijo is no longer eligible for the NCAA leaders list, but his 25.1 yards per return would rank second in all of college football, behind only Mary Hardin Baylor's K.J. Miller (30.6 on 13 returns). He also picked off his team-leading third pass of the season, one of only two interceptions thrown this year by Linfield quarterback Wyatt Smith, a Gagliardi Award candidate for national DIII player of the year.

The Bruins hope to force a few more punts this week when they take on a Lewis & Clark offense that currently sits in the middle of the pack in the NWC, ranked fourth in scoring (34.0) and yards (363.1). The Pioneers have the third-ranked passing attack in the conference led by sophomore quarterback Cruz Montana, who will be on the NWC All-Name team if nothing else. Montana, who actually hails from Eureka, California, has thrown for 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions, completing 52.9 percent of his passes. The Pios spread the ball around with five different receivers checking in with 10 or more catches. Elijah McGee has been a big-play weapon with a team-leading 23 receptions for 428 yards and four touchdowns, an average of 18.6 yards per catch. McGee is tied for first in the NWC in receiving yards per game (61.1). McGee and Aiden Verba-Hamilton (18-336-18.7-3td) rank second and third in yards per reception among the conference's top 25 wide outs. Sophomore Dyontae Navarette is Lewis & Clark's top ball carrier with 390 yards and six touchdowns, an average of 5.7 per carry. McGee will frequently take handoffs from the slot, and is second on the team in rushing yards with an average of 5.1 a pop. 

"They have a couple of receivers that can really stretch the field vertically," said Casey. "They've scored a lot of points in a couple games which means they are blocking well, run and pass. The quarterback makes good decisions and he is also a run threat."

The Pios handed the Boxers short fields with critical miscues in the first half Saturday in Forest Grove, including a fumble on the opening kickoff. Pacific took a 35-3 lead at the half and capitalized on three Lewis & Clark turnovers in all, while also scoring on big plays in the running and passing game. Lewis & Clark's two touchdowns came in the fourth quarter with the game well out of reach and second-stringers on the field. George Fox defeated Pacific 21-14 when the two teams met the previous week in Newberg.

With ten tackles on Saturday, George Fox linebacker Josh Poppleton is now second in the NWC with 53. Lucas Schwin led the Bruin defense with 13 tackles at Linfield and currently ranks second in the conference with 11 passes defended. Sophomore Kiegan Schaan returned to the field Saturday with three tackles after missing the previous two games with an injury. Schaan has returned two fumbles for touchdowns for the George Fox defense this season and has quickly emerged as a standout in a talented Bruin defensive backfield. Sophomore defensive back Anakin Mares leads the Pioneers defense with two interceptions, a forced fumble and 53 tackles. Senior defensive tackle Nicolas Lang has three sacks and six tackles for loss to pace the Pio pass rush.

This will be George Fox's final road game before returning to Stoffer Family Stadium on Nov. 13 to face Whitworth in a game the Bruins hope will be for at minimum a second-place finish in the NWC. Both this Saturday's game at Lewis & Clark and the regular season finale vs. Whitworth kick off at 1 p.m. 

"Our guys will bounce back," said Casey. "That's part of sports. You learn to recover. You have adversity, you face it, you fight it and overcome it. That's the emphasis: not the barrier, but how you overcome the barrier."