'Right now,' Linfield taking its shot at another national title

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Nov 20, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

COURTESY OF LINFIELD COLLEGE

Linfield football coach Joe Smith addresses his troops.

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McMINNVILLE — Winning football is a tradition at Linfield, much like spiked eggnog at Christmas, or all rising as a judge enters the courtroom, or birds heading south for the winter.

The Wildcats have enjoyed an NCAA-record 54 straight winning seasons, a streak that began in 1956, when Dwight Eisenhower was president, a gallon of gas cost 22 cents and Elvis Presley was fresh out with his first hit, “Heartbreak Hotel.”

So it’s not all that surprising that the fifth-ranked Wildcats, after wrapping up their sixth unbeaten regular season this decade, have a national championship in their sights as they begin the playoffs Saturday against 22nd-ranked Cal Lutheran at Maxwell Field.

What does provide pause is this: Linfield is in the postseason for the first time since 2005, the last of six straight Northwest Conference title seasons under coach Jay Locey.

From 2006-08, with Joe Smith heading the program, the Wildcats had three consecutive 6-3 seasons and finished second in the conference each time.

The only other time Linfield has suffered three losses three seasons in a row since The Streak began was 1995-97 — the first year under Ed Langsdorf, the last two to begin the Locey era. But Locey went 70-6 his last six campaigns, including 13-0 and an NCAA Division III national crown in 2004, before departing for Oregon State.

Smith — a cornerback on Ad Rutschman’s 1992 team that lost to Findlay, Ohio, for the NAIA Division II championship — had served as a Wildcat assistant for 13 years before taking over the reins for Locey in 2006.

Imagine the pressure as Smith’s teams continued The Streak but failed to make their customary appearance in the playoffs.

Imagine the relief when order was restored this fall and the Wildcats stormed through the regular season undefeated.

“Going into the season, we were optimistic we could do it, but it doesn’t always work out the way it looks on paper,” Smith says. “I’m real pleased with the way our guys handled the middle of the season — four straight games on the road — and won some big games late.”

Linfield has been good on both sides of the ball, but especially on offense, with a consistent attack led by Aaron Boehme, the Northwest Conference offensive player of the year.

The 6-5, 210-pound junior quarterback — who broke his collarbone in the 2008 opener against Hardin-Simmons and missed the rest of the season — has been so good, he has reminded many of Brett Elliott, who quarterbacked the Wildcats to their 2004 title.

Funny, because Elliott — in his second season as the team’s quarterbacks coach — feels the same way.

“Aaron’s pretty damn good,” says Elliott, 27, who quarterbacked for Urban Meyer at Utah before coming to Linfield, then spent time in training camps or with teams in the NFL, Canadian Football League and Arena League. “Talent-wise, he’s a Division I-caliber player. He’s better than I was in terms of athletic ability and his size, and the way he can run is pretty impressive. He throws the ball with good velocity and has a stronger arm than I had.”

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