Ryan Blair’s four TD passes leads Whitworth in shutout of Willamette 48-0

Whitworth quarterback Ryan Blair tossed four touchdown passes in the first half, picking apart Willamette’s defense with ease.

The Pirates’ defense made it look easy, too. The visiting Bearcats’ offense had no answers throughout the first half as Whitworth’s defensive front swarmed.

Everything went Whitworth’s way on a pleasant Saturday afternoon at the Pine Bowl.

The Pirates played a near-flawless first half and breezed to a big win on homecoming, routing Northwest Conference foe Willamette 48-0.

“The last couple of weeks, we hadn’t played exceptionally well, and we talked this week about elevating our play,” Whitworth coach Rod Sandberg said. “I thought our guys did that.

“We really put the hammer down, and that way a lot of (backups) got to play.”

The 14th-ranked Pirates (5-0, 2-0 NWC) recorded their first shutout since the 2022 season and picked up momentum heading into the meat of conference play.

“We know what we’re capable of and we’re still working to reach that point,” Blair said. “It was good to see our defense get a big zero on the board. … Moving into conference play, hopefully, we can keep running up the numbers and keeping (opponents’) points low.”

Blair, a senior who has emerged as one of the top QBs in Division III, completed 17 of 22 passes for 304 yards and four TDs – despite Whitworth being down two key receivers.

He completed 14 of 18 passes for 280 yards in the first half, leading touchdown drives on five of Whitworth’s first six possessions. The Mead High grad opened the third quarter with a touchdown drive, then rested for the remainder of the day – along with most of Whitworth’s other starters.

On the season, Blair has thrown 20 touchdown passes against one interception.

“Ryan Blair is a winner,” Sandberg said. “We have no surprises that he’s playing this well. … We know his ability, and it’s been really fun to watch.”

Blair opened the scoring with a 49-yard touchdown pass to wide-open tight end James Lee – the Post Falls native’s first career TD. On Whitworth’s next series, Blair fired a high-arcing pass down the sideline to star receiver Evan Liggett for a 44-yard score. Receiver Dawson Tobeck caught a 25-yard TD pass on the Pirates’ ensuing drive. Tailback Luis Salgado jogged in for a 7-yard score a few minutes later, and Liggett capped the first-half scoring with a 6-yard TD catch, putting the Pirates up 35-0 about 2 minutes before halftime.

Liggett finished with 97 yards and boosted his TD total to 10 on the season. The fifth-year Pirate from Kirkland, Washington, leads D-III in TD receptions.

“One-on-one, there’s not a whole lot of guys that can guard him,” Blair said of his roommate and arguably the best receiver in the NWC. “I try to give him an opportunity any time I see him one-on-one.”

Tobeck finished with 98 receiving yards. Salgado ran for 75 yards and two scores, averaging 7.5 yards per carry as Whitworth’s offense moved effortlessly .

Meanwhile, Whitworth played stifling defense, putting pressure in the Willamette backfield on seemingly every down.

The Bearcats (2-3, 0-2 NWC) went three-and-out on five of their six possessions in the first half.

By halftime, Willamette had 75 total yards (2.6 per play) while the Pirates had rolled up 355 (12.7 per play). The Pirates had three sacks and six tackles for loss.

“Pretty salty effort,” Sandberg said of his defense. “That’s a really tough and experienced front seven. They did a really nice job, especially early in the game.”

Whitworth outgained Willamette 543-237.

Whitworth blocked a midrange field-goal attempt early in the fourth quarter and preserved the shutout with a goal-line takeaway in the closing seconds. Pirates defensive back Caden Keithley poked the ball away from Willamette receiver Trajan Clark at the 1-yard line, and the ball bounced out of the end zone for a touchback.

The Pirates face Puget Sound at 1 p.m. Saturday in Tacoma.