Pacific Index

Boxer’s fumble the homecoming game, but they’re not ready to give up

The centerpiece for homecoming is the football game—typically featuring a packed house, with alumni and students filling the stands. Expectations were particularly high this year, after coming off a solid second-half win the previous win, and with memories of a previous year defeat when the Lutes took home the victory at Sparks Stadium with a 17-10 win. It was just one of the multiple one-possession losses the Boxers had throughout their dissatisfying season last year. 

On paper, the matchup this year was looking very competitive for both teams. The Boxers held a 3-1 record, and the Lutes were sitting at a solid 2-2. Both sides were full of talented athletes and there were many great matchups; the most anticipated was between a pair of brothers: PLU quarterback Darius Chaffin and his younger brother, the Boxer’s star receiver Josiah Chaffin. Although they would never see the field at the same time, both of the two were star players capable of big plays that could change momentum in an instant.

On the opening kickoff, the Lutes set the tone immediately. Using some misdirection, they ran the length of the field, untouched for the score.  It was the second kick return touchdown the Boxers had let up this season, and not the start the Boxers were hoping for. On the following drive, the Boxers went down the field but ended up settling for a field goal after stalling out in the red zone. The next two drives led to touchdowns by both teams marching down the field, but there wasn’t much more action after that heading into halftime. The Boxers went into the locker room down 20-10.

  The second half was when the game zoomed out of reach for the Boxers. The offense frequently stalled, and the defense could not find a way to get off the field. The Lutes were running down the Boxer’s throat, and there was nothing they could do about it. Missed tackles and personal fouls quickly became the focus of the game. The Boxers scored a touchdown along with completing the two-point conversion afterward with only five minutes remaining. But down 16 points, the probability of coming back was, at best, very narrow. The Boxers got the ball back once more with very little time remaining, but the Lutes forced a turnover to ice the game.

After the game, Josiah Chaffin talked about his opportunity to compete against his brother. “We were talking about us competing against one another for a while. Pretty much since the day I committed to Pacific,” Chaffin explained. “I had a lot of family come and unfortunately it didn’t go the way I wanted, but to see that we were competing against each other was pretty special.”

Playoff wise, the loss has a major impact on the hopes to make it to the postseason. In the Northwest Conference, only the conference champions head on to the playoffs, so any conference loss is damaging. Essentially, the Boxers will need to win out to have any hope for the playoffs, and even then, nothing is certain. “Our goal for the rest of the season is to win out for the rest of the season,” claims Chaffin. “We focus on winning this week and then we go to the next week and we just focus on who we are playing at the moment.”