Pacific Lutheran needed just two minutes and five plays to drive 87 yards for a touchdown the first time it had the football against Menlo College on Saturday.
An easy day for the Lutes? Hardly.
PLU scored just once more and had to lean on its swarming defense to secure a 14-6 nonconference victory at Sparks Stadium.
“It was kind of an old-fashioned, slam-bang football game with a few big plays,” said PLU coach Scott Westering, whose team ran its record to 4-1. “(Menlo) is as physical of a team as we’ve seen this year. Nothing came easy.”
The Lutes had held Menlo (5-1) to fewer than 200 yards of total offense until the final 21/2 minutes of the game, when quarterback Matt Pelasasa led the Oaks, who were trailing 14-6, from their own 20 to the PLU 11 with no timeouts.
But then, with just 11 seconds remaining, PLU defensive back Sean McFadden intercepted the ball after a teammate tipped it high into the air.
“Character. Resolve. Faith. Belief. We relied on all those things,” Westering said. “We just hung in there and made a big play at the end.”
Led by McFadden and linebackers Michael Warsaw, Jordan Patterson and Adam Schwander, the Lutes sacked Pelasasa five times, intercepted him twice and forced him to hurry several other throws.
PLU got off to a quick start when quarterback Zack Halverson hit Alex McDiarmid on a 60-yard bootleg pass on the game’s first play from scrimmage. Four plays later, freshman running back Niko Madison scored on a 10-yard sweep and the Lutes had a 6-0 lead.
Menlo tied the contest at 6-6 (both teams missed extra-point kicks) later in the first quarter on a 12-yard slant pass from Pelasasa to Michael Alexander.
The Lutes scored what proved to be the winner with 24 seconds to go before halftime when Halverson lofted a pass that 6-foot-3 freshman Kyle Warner snagged over a smaller defender from 2 yards out. Halverson then hit McDiarmid on a 2-point conversion pass.
The score was set up on an interception by Justin Whitman at the Menlo 33.
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