NEWBERG, Ore. — The George Fox football team ended their 2022 campaign with a rewritten record book and their most successful season since the program was reinstated in 2014.

The Bruins finished the season with an 8-2 record — the most wins in program history — and a second straight runner-up finish in the Northwest Conference. After the season, a record 17 players were named to an all-conference team, with seven players on the first team and two players named All-Region.

Fox started their season with a perfect non-conference slate, lighting up the scoreboards to begin the season 3-0. The Bruins traveled to California to face a Redlands team that received votes to start the year before flying to Texas to meet a Howard Payne team that received votes at the end of the year. Fox took down the Bulldogs, 38-31, before defeating the Yellow Jackets, 42-39.

That success carried over into the home opener, as over 3,000 fans packed Stoffer Family Stadium to watch the high-octane Bruins defeat Chapman, 38-28. The winning streak came to an end with a close loss to Pacific Lutheran on Homecoming weekend, as Fox fell in a thriller, 13-12.

Following the tough loss, though, the Bruins rattled off three straight double-digit wins to improve to 6-1. First, Fox took down Willamette, 27-10, before compiling 455 yards of offense in an emphatic 51-7 win over Puget Sound. After an impressive showing on one side of the ball, the team showed their balance with a defensive masterpiece against Pacific — forcing five turnovers in a 21-7 victory. 

The win streak came to a halt against No. 5 Linfield; Fox jumped out to an early 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter but ultimately fell, 37-10. The Bruins were the only NWC team and one of only three teams — the other two being NCAA Playoff opponents Pomona-Pitzer and Bethel — to hold a lead over the Wildcats into the second quarter.

The Bruins quickly closed out the season with two big wins: a 41-20 takedown of Lewis & Clark and a 28-14 win at Whitworth — the program's first win over the Pirates in Spokane since 2017. With their final victories, Fox set the record for most wins in a season, finishing with an 8-2 record and a 5-2 mark in the NWC.

The 2022 season served not only as a benchmark for the program in wins but accessibility as well; George Fox partnered with KRCW to broadcast four of the Bruins' home games on Portland's CW channel, making games available on Portland Metro cable for the first time.

Those tuning in to watch Bruin football witnessed several standout performers — Leon Johnson III and Jacob Erickson were both named to the D3football.com All-Region team at the conclusion of the season, with Johnson III honored as the NWC Offensive Player of the Year and Erickson the Rookie of the Year; Johnson III was also named First Team AFCA All-American, a first for the Bruins.

Along with these major awards, Fox athletes also racked up weekly honors: Five players (Johnson III, Haiden Schaan, Justin Montijo, Ethan Hoffman, and Kiegan Schaan) were named the NWC Student-Athlete of the Week while two (Motijo and K. Schaan) were named to the D3football.com Team of the Week. In addition to these on-the-field awards, five Bruins were named Academic All-Region for their performance in the classroom.

With several seniors and fifth-year COVID seniors graduating from the university, the Bruins will need to reload in 2023. Of the 17 All-NWC players in 2022, ten were seniors. However, the Bruins will bring back four of the seven first-team all-conference players as they look to build off of a successful season.