NEWBERG, Ore. -- For the second time this season, the George Fox football team will welcome a ranked team to Stoffer Family Stadium.

Fox's senior day celebrations will take place following the Bruins' game against the Whitworth Pirates, who are ranked No. 10 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 15 in the D3football.com poll. The Bruins' prior game against a ranked team was a loss versus No. 17 Linfield on Family Weekend.

However, recent years against the Pirates have been favorable for the Bruins — Fox has won two of the past three years, including a 28-14 victory in 2022 to earn their program record eighth win. The Bruins' first-ever win against Whitworth was also their last win over a ranked team, as they beat the No. 22 Pirates. 43-23.

While the Bruins were unable to get the win in their previous matchup, they did hang with a Whitworth team that finished the regular season undefeated and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Fox led the game 13-10, at the start of the fourth quarter before dropping the game in a close 13-24 effort.

DeMontre Thomas II was the starting quarterback in that 2023 game, throwing for 208 yards and rushing for a touchdown. The senior play-caller will start his ninth game of the season on Saturday; thus far into 2024, he has thrown for 1,740 yards, nine touchdowns, and nine interceptions.

Taylor Saben will start at tailback, with William Moffitt splitting carries; the two running backs will look to bounce back after a down rushing performance against Pacific Lutheran, where the duo combined for just 29 yards. However, both athletes showed their skill as pass catchers, with Saben breaking a swing pass for a 69-yard score and Moffitt pulling in two catches for 38 yards.

The other starting pass-catchers for Fox will be the same three receivers that Fox has utilized over the past three games: Elias Polanski, River Osen, and Kaelan Frey. Osen led the team with a career-high seven catches for 73 yards against PLU, while Frey recorded his first career touchdown. Polanski leads the team in receiving yards for the season with 387. 

The Fox offensive line has been a constantly shifting concept thanks to injuries, but will start the same five up front for the third straight game. Derryck Wallace, Bryce Goetz, Kyle Osowski, Michael Echtle, and Lawa Ah Yat will start as linemen, with Thomas McMillan at tight end.

On the defensive side of the ball, it will be the same 11 athletes starting as the previous two weeks for a Fox unit that allows only 263.9 yards per game (2nd in the NWC) and 20.0 points per game (4th). As they have done all season, Zak Holsey and Austin Harrison will start for the Bruins at cornerback.

Starting safety Ty Borde had his first career interception against the Pirates in 2023, while Nolan led the team in both tackles and tackles for loss. Two years prior, it was the final starting safety, Kiegan Schaan, who led the way, recording a sack, interception, and blocked field goal.

Linebackers Noah Tack, Dustin Kunze, and Nash Wylie will command the defense on Saturday. Wylie and Tack both started in the 2023 matchup in Spokane, with Wylie recording five tackles and Tack recording two. In the past week's matchup against PLU, Kunze totaled six tackles and half a sack.

Rounding out the defensive starters are Blake Mazurowski, Kuyper Assink, and Silas Kincaid. The d-lineman were a force to be reckoned with against PLU, with Mazurowski recording a sack, Kincaid totaling four tackles, and Assink recording one QB hurry.

Special teams were key for the Bruins in 2023 and helped them keep the game within reach into the fourth quarter. Ben Rembisz, the starting kicker for Saturday's game, had two field goals in the game. While freshman punter Riley Rutledge has yet to play the Pirates in his career, he totaled a career-high two 50-plus yard punts against PLU.

For the Pirates, the team is looking for their second consecutive undefeated regular season, currently sitting at 8-0 and 5-0 in NWC play. It hasn't always been easy for Whitworth, though — the Pirates trailed in the third quarter to Puget Sound, and took down Pacific by just seven, 39-32. Despite the scares, Whitworth has done one thing and one thing only — win. The team from Spokane enters the game fresh off a 48-9 victory over Lewis & Clark.

The Pirates rolled up a season-high 631 yards and averaged more than 10 yards per play for the third consecutive game. Starting quarterback Ryan Blair completed 25 of 34 passes (73.5%) for a career-high 465 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. For the season, Blair has totaled a program-record 30 touchdowns on the year.

The Whitworth quarterback's favorite target is Evan Liggett, who set a program mark of his own with his 16th touchdown catch of the season in a 225-yard performance. Luis Salgado is a dominant back, who had a "down" game with a 90 yards performance on 17 carries. Salgado holds the highest single-game yardage total this season with 365 yards on the ground against Pacific.

Linebacker Zach Brooks led the defense with a career-high 16 tackles, including 11 solo stops, and forced a fumble against Lewis & Clark, while Micajah Weisner added ten tackles and forced a fumble that was recovered by Daniel McKeirnan. In total, Twenty-two different players saw action on the defensive side of the ball against the Pioneers.

Whitworth never had to punt against L&C.  Iden Bone made two out of three field goals and all six of his extra points.  Jake Gaffaney kicked off nine times and averaged 53.2 yards with one touchback.  Cameron Sheley returned two punts (20 yards) and one kickoff (21 yards) to go along with four pass receptions for 53 yards.

All-in-all, it should be a tough matchup for the Bruins as they hope to repeat their performances from 2021 and 2022. And on Senior Day in Stoffer, anything can happen.

Kick-off for the game is scheduled for 1:05 p.m., with live stream, live stats, and ticket links available on the Bruins' website.