Pacific University junior quarterback
Kenyon Harris tossed his first two touchdown passes in a 52-14 loss to No. 25 Linfield on Saturday.
Harris, who was the third quarterback on the day for Pacific, came off the bench to complete 15 of 22 passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.
The efforts by Harris were overshadowed by his Wildcat counterpart, Wyatt Smith, who completed 24 of 35 passes for 303 yards and four touchdown passes in the win. Three of the touchdown passes went to Keegan Weiss, who caught eight passes for 97 yards in the win.
With the win, Linfield raises its record to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Northwest Conference. The Boxers fall to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in the Northwest Conference.
Linfield scored the first 24 points of the game before Harris came off the bench to engineer a 5 play, 60-yard drive that culminated in a seven-yard touchdown pass to senior
Kobe Williams (pictured), who made a sensational one-handed catch. Harris led the Boxers down the field with a 14-yard rush and back-to-back completions to Hargis and Williams.
The Wildcats answered the Pacific touchdown with a 12 play, 75-yard drive and an Artie Johnson three-yard touchdown run that put the visitors ahead 31-7 at halftime.
Facing a 45-7 deficit, Harris and the Boxers organized a six play, 59-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter. During the drive, Josh Harris ran 15 yards on a 3
rd and 1 play to extend the drive for the Boxers. Three plays later,
Kenyon Harris found
Kyle Kern for a four-yard touchdown reception to cut the Linfield lead to 45-14. Linfield added a final touchdown on its last drive for the final margin.
Linfield outgained the Boxers by a 529-238 margin in the win, including a 6.9 yards per play advantage compared to 3.7 for the Boxers. Three Boxers –
Gage Quinabo-Reis,
Alika Sarono and
Michael Timmerman – had eight tackles in the loss. Plus, Timmerman had three tackles for loss in the contest.
Ty Hargis returned eight kickoffs for 195 yards with a long of 39 yards.
Next up for Pacific is a trip to Salem to face Willamette in a 6 p.m. matchup on Saturday, Oct. 19.
