hello and welcome in to this edition of
the Wildcat weekly coaches report here
with head football coach Joseph Smith
here right after winning the conference
championship in the Northwest
Conference coach congratulations thank
you so that is now 42 for the Linfield
Wildcats in program history that's now
your 10th as a head coach your thoughts
on a conference championship here this
season certainly our goal every year is to
well be the best team we can be and peak
at the end of the season and make a
strong playoff run but to accomplish those
you have to be the conference champion
and and to assure yourself a chance to
playoff so very pleased I'm very pleased
with that I mean our team has worked
hard this year to get where we are we
certainly stumbled early and had some
injuries that really really sort of you
know took a shot on us and I'm very
proud of the guys for getting better
each week and getting to the point where
where we got to be a pretty doggone team
good team and still getting better not
there yet but it's a good accomplishment
and we're certainly proud of that but
yet obviously look into the future I
want to take a look at that game last
week I'm against Whitworth number one
versus number two in the conference and
Linfield wins in overtime 38 to 31 this
game was everything it was touted to be
and then some fantastic game all the way
through I want to take a little bit more
of a look at the defense too, I know the
score line maybe doesn't show but they
were huge there in the fourth quarter
and overtime in particular they didn't
even allow Whitworth to get over
midfield throughout that part of the
game when you look at their performance
What'd you think of your defensive I
thought the game was almost a tale of
three parts you know and and early on
our offense really had our way with with
Whitworth and and we we should have put
the game away I really feel like it was
probably a 35-point
first half that we only ended up having
21 and and then our defense had a few
let downs and a few things that happened
to us there that they gave them some
life gave them some points and so going
into halftime you know I felt like our
defense you know played well but but
gave up some some big chunk plays and
and then in the second half they were
able to to really lock in and and and
take away most of what Whitworth wanted to
do and so the entire particularly
after the first drive you know Whitworth came out had a good first drive a
second half and then our defense locked
in and they were amazing I thought they
played fantastic the entire third
quarter and then the entire fourth
quarter when they gave us chance after
chance to win it and really proud of
what they did it was so fantastic to see too
because like you said Whitworth had three
different chances in the last six
minutes of the game to try to take the
take the win in the in the ball game and
now when you look over at the offensive
side the ball automatic MVP in my eyes
was Artie Johnson he had such a good
game goes just short of a hundred yards
rushing 11 catches out of the backfield
for 56 yards and two scores we've seen
you guys use him more and more in recent
weeks and use him in a bunch of
different ways what do you think of your
running performance in that game
particularly Artie's performance well
anytime he goes well the offensive line's
doing their job and so you know the
the ability to run the football is
something we have to keep getting better
at and we are at times you know so I
thought Artie played very well he
went north and south you know made good
decisions took care of the football and
ran physically and and obviously his
play was a huge huge factor in why we
won you guys like to run that little
pitch play there that little drop play
out of the backfield that worked really
well for large stretches of the game Zach
Jacobs comes back in to the starting
lineup there at the guard position for a
little bit then back to Center in the
second half when you look now at the
receiver position a big loss no Tyler
Torgerson he was unavailable but Jacob
Calo really stepped up his game seven
catches a hundred yards three of those
were really clutch in the fourth quarter
and overtime combined when you look at
his performance to go along with all
three of the other wide receivers did a
great job in that game your thoughts on
your receivers really stepping up with
in the absence of Tyler Torgerson
yeah losing Tyler is a big big shot you
know for that game and in terms of just
physical energy you know the you know it
doesn't give us a guy to spell every
so now we're going into a three-man
rotation rather than a four-man rotation
so that that certainly played a factor
but and then just not having Torgs
experienced out there you know easy such
a great player for us and it's awesome
having him on the sidelines he was able
to coach a little bit and and give us
some help that way but but I thought
you're you're 100% right with Calo he
he's been a warrior this year for us
he's been playing hurt and so he's not
able to practice a whole lot of the week
and then just is able to to go out there
and suck it up and play hard and the the
play that you know Wyatt scrambled
out of the pocket and was able to find
Kayla kind of deep and that was a giant
play for us that that ultimately we
ended up tying the game off of that and
I couldn't say enough good things about
about Mr. Calo he's blocking great he
catches everything we throw at him and
and he's a big reason why we're being
successful well that's fantastic and now
looking ahead to this week the Hall of
Fame game here at the Cat Dome the
last regular season home game for the
Wildcats they'll take on a George Fox
team that's coming in pretty hot they've
won their last three games in November
they've scored over 50 points on offense
blowing out Willamette and Lewis and
Clark when you take a look at that matchup, a cross county rival what are your
thoughts in that game Linfield still
has a lot to play for even though
they've clinched that conference berth
there's a lot of bragging like rights on
the line so your thoughts on this
matchup going up against George Fox well
I think you're again right on on George
Fox's development there there certainly
a very dangerous team right now I think
their offense has gotten better and
better as the season has gone on
and their defense is quite formidable so
they're a good test good solid team in
terms of what they're trying to do and
we're gonna have our hands full so this
weekend George Fox comes to town kickoff
will be at 1 o'clock we'll have the
coverage for you on the Linfield Sports
Network we'll be honoring the newest
inductees into the Olympian Hall of Fame
but coach best of luck this weekend and
thank you very much thank you
