NEWBERG, Ore -- The George Fox football team is riding the high of their first win of the season — but they aren't satisfied with just one.

The Bruins enter Family Weekend against Puget Sound fresh off of one of the best single-game offensive performances of all time against Lewis & Clark. Fox finished with 503 yards of offense, the fourth-most in program history, to hand the Pios their first loss of the season, 42-28.

One of the biggest stories of the day was sophomore running back Brody Snyder. Snyder, who entered the game with 28 career rushing yards, put up 145 on the ground with two touchdowns, averaging 9.1 yards per carry. For his efforts, Snyder has moved to the number two running back on the depth chart. Longtime starter Taylor Saben, who had 46 yards on the ground and a rushing TD of his own, will start on Saturday.

Quarterback JJ Leman had a career game himself, throwing for 284 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for a score as well. The freshman will earn the start as QB for the seventh time this season, hoping to build off of his recent scores; in the past four weeks, Leman has improved his passing number in each subsequent game.

Wide receiver Karsen Denault broke the 150-yard barrier for the second time in as many games, pulling in seven catches for 153 yards — 130 of which came in the first quarter. The freshman, who has six receiving TDs on the year, will start alongside Kaelan Frey and Dreylen Tolentino.

The offensive line will feature a shuffle amongst personnel, with Toby Esqueda, Rylan McGraw, Lawa Ah Yat, Miky Amare, and Sean Brewster all earning the starting nod. Ah Yat, who had started the previous five games at right guard, will slide over to center, while Amare, who had been seeing time at left tackle, slides to right guard. No matter the changes, the Bruins will look to copy their offensive performance. 

On the defensive side, Fox will have a change in their starting 11 for the first time in 2025. Sam Astor earns the starting position at cornerback, picking up his first official start thanks to a game where he had six tackles and one pass breakup. Starting alongside Astor will be Ben Nuss.

Also in the defensive back field are safeties Ty Borde and Reyn Asato, alongside cornerback Zak Holsey. Borde and Holsey each recorded an interception against the Pios, while Asato had a key quarterback hurry to force a field goal attempt. Kaikoa Iokia and Caleb McElfish will each start at linebacker for the Bruins as well, with Iokia entering the game after recording a team high in tackles each of the past two games.

Rounding out the defense will be a defensive line that recorded four sacks. Jacob Erickson was double-teamed — and sometimes triple-teamed — against Lewis & Clark, but still managed to record a half sack, while Kuyper Assink recorded 1.5 for the Bruins. Silas Kincaid and Kaden Raever will hold down the fort at defensive tackles.

Punter Riley Rutledge wasn't utilized much as a punter thanks to the Bruin offense, but did shine on one play; the sophomore executed a fake punt perfectly, running for an eight-yard gain to help the Bruins put away the game. Ben Rembisz, meanwhile, made all six of his PAT attempts. Both players will be the starters on special teams.

The Puget Sound Loggers enter the game with an identical record to the Bruins, 1-5, with a 1-2 mark in conference play. UPS comes to Newberg after picking up their first win of the season against Willamette, 45-28.

To call the prolific UPS attack pass-heavy wouldn't cut it — the Loggers have rushed for 455 yards on the season and passed for a mind-boggling 2,338 in six games. In their second game of the year, quarterback Hayden Teeter recorded an NCAA Division III-record 86 passing attempts, throwing for 585 yards and six TDs against Southwestern (Texas). Teeter is second in the nation in passing yards (2,279) and sixth in passing touchdowns (20).

Teeter's top target is Darius Bailey, who is the only player in the NWC that has more receiving yards than Denault. The sophomore has recorded over 100 yards receiving in four of the Loggers' six games this season, and his 711 yards and eight TDs are seventh and 12th in the nation, respectively. Not to be outdone, Joe Gallagher and Isaac Tran are each steady, solid receivers, both having recorded over 500 yards on the year.

While the UPS passing attack has led to a high-powered offense that averaged 30.2 points per game, their defense has kept them out of games — the Loggers allow 48.2 points per game, 232nd in the nation (there are 241 D-III football teams). Puget Sound has allowed 50 or more points in four games; though the Loggers held an improving Willamette team to 28 points, it was tied for the most points the Bearcats had scored against an NWC opponent since 2021. 

All signs point to an offensive shootout between the two teams, and the Bruins will look to prove that their explosion against Lewis & Clark wasn't a fluke, but the new normal. A Family Weekend game at Stoffer against UPS will be a good litmus test.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 pm, with live stats, live video, and ticketing links available on the GFU Athletics website.