Wolves Power Past Vikings, 35-7

While Mark Thorson had the offense rolling, the WOU defense held another opponent to less than 300 yards and just one third quarter touchdown.

Mark Thorson threw five touchdown passes and Western Oregon’s defense put in another complete performance as the visiting Wolves rolled past host Western Washington 35-7 on Saturday.

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Mark Thorson threw five touchdown passes and Western Oregon’s defense put in another complete performance as the visiting Wolves rolled past host Western Washington 35-7 on Saturday afternoon at Civic Stadium.

With the win, Western Oregon improves to 6-2 on the season and guarantees back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1987. Western Washington fell to 2-6 with the loss.

Thorson came one touchdown pass short of tying the school record for most scoring tosses in a game, but he did become the Wolves all-time passing leader in two categories.

He now has 52 career touchdown passes, moving past Tony Burris (1985-86) who had 47. He also has 507 pass completions, climbing above Brain Traeger (1993-96) who had 496.

The 6-6 senior hit 22 of 34 passes for 311 yards and had no interceptions for the second straight week. He found Isaiah Smith twice in the end zone on passes of 17 and 12 yards, and also fired two six-point strikes to Shaun Kauleinamoku of 29 and 17 yards. He finished the days’ scoring with an eight-yard flip to DJ Jackson out of the back field in the fourth quarter.

While Thorson had the offense rolling, the WOU defense held another opponent to less than 300 yards and just one third quarter touchdown.

JT Gilmore had 10 tackles, while Matt Cox added a pair of quarterback sacks. Zach Christopherson had an interception, his third of the season to kill a WWU drive in the second quarter.

The Wolves actually came out of the blocks slow, going scoreless in the first quarter.

But the visitors scored on the first play of the second quarter, capping their first successful drive of the game with a 17-yard strike from Thorson to Smith. A 21-yard throw from Thorson to Kauleinamoku was the big play in the drive.

After WWU came up short on a fake punt in their next possession, the Wolves took advantage of the short field and went 52 yards on eight plays to score on the Thorson-Smith combination (12 yards).

WOU would score again on their next turn with an impressive seven-play, 78 yard drive, with Kauleinamoku hauling in a 29-yard pass from Thorson.

Coach Arne Ferguson’s team took a 21-0 lead into the locker room at the break, but struggled in the third quarter.

The Vikings scored for the first time in the game with 4:12 left in the period on a 20-yard run by Craig Garner, while the Wolves didn’t pick up a first down after intermission until 1:19 was left in the quarter.

But that drive carried into the fourth quarter and after seven plays and 55 yards, Thorson would find Kauleinamoku again, this time for 17 yards and six points.

The Wolves added their final score, Jackson’s catch and run, capping an eight-play, 76-yard drive with 9:36 left in the contest.

Eight different WOU receivers caught Thorson passes on the day, led by Kauleinamoku’s five for 83 yards.

Smith had four grabs for 50 yards, Brian Devilla had four for 48 and Sean Fullerton added three for 52. Tyler Wilson, subbing for the injured Ben Kuenzi, had 66 yards rushing on 18 carries.

Garner led the WWU offense with 124 yards on 25 carries, 118 of those in the second half.

Western Oregon will travel to St. George, Utah next Saturday to take on Dixie State. Start time is 7 p.m. MST, 6 p.m. Pacific.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports