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2012 NWC Football Coaches' Pre-Season Poll:
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2011 records
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School
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(1st)
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Pts.
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All
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NWC
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1. Linfield (Ore.)
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(6)
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42
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10-1
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6-0
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2. Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)
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29
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6-3
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4-2
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3. Whitworth (Wash.)
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(1)
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26
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4-6
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3-3
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4. Lewis & Clark (Ore.)
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19
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7-2
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4-2
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5. Willamette (Ore.)
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17
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4-6
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3-3
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6. Pacific (Ore.)
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15
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1-8
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1-5
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7. Puget Sound (Wash.)
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6
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0-9
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0-6
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(First-place votes in parenthesis. Points awarded on
7-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches cannot vote for their own
team)
Linfield College, currently ranked No. 5 in the D3football.com
preseason poll, is a strong favorite to be Northwest Conference
football champions in 2012, according to the preseason
poll of league coaches. NWC Coach of the Year Joseph
Smith led Linfield to its third consecutive conference championship
last season.
The Wildcats, who advanced to the NCAA Division III second
round last year and finished 10-1, picked up six out
of seven first place votes and totaled 42 points in the poll.
Linfield returns five First Team All-NWC selections in senior
Mickey Inns (QB), senior Josh Hill (RB), senior Tyler Steele (DL),
junior Dominique Forrest (LB), and senior Josh Kay (PK).
Steele also received third team D3football.com All-American honors
while Kay was a finalist for the Fred Mitchell Award saluting the
nation’s top kicker.
Pacific Lutheran finished behind the favorites in the poll with
29 points. The Lutes graduated three First Team All-NWC
players, but Second Team All-NWC DB Sean McFadden returns for his
junior season.
Whitworth is third in the poll with 26 points and one first
place vote. The Pirates return eight starters on offense and
seven on defense from 2011. Much of their offensive
production will be on senior RB Ronnie Thomas, who earned First
Team All-NWC honors last season.
Lewis & Clark (19 points) just edged out Willamette (17
points) for fourth place in the poll. The Pioneers will be
commanded by Chris Sulages, who earned D3fooltball.com’s 2011
West Region Coach of the Year after leading the team to its first
winning season since 1962. The 2011 NWC Offensive Player of
the Year Keith Welch (QB) returns to direct the Pioneer
offense.
The Bearcats will look to First Team All-NWC honorees Jake
Knecht (WR) and Taylor Reeder (OT) on offense and Cody Pastorino
(S) on the defensive side of the ball. Willamette also
welcomes back junior tailback Terrell Malley, who sat out last
season after being Willamette’s leading rusher in 2010.
Pacific (Ore.) is sixth in the poll with 15 points. In
2011, the Boxers received their first victory since the program was
reinstated for the 2010 season. Junior WR Jordan Fukumoto will
return after becoming the first All-NWC First Team selection for
the Boxers since 1984 last year.
Puget Sound rounds out the poll with 7 points. The Loggers
return WR Adam Kniffin, who received First Team All-NWC honors a
year ago as well as First Team Preseason All-American honors from
D3football.com last month.
The season will get underway on August 30th when Pacific hosts
Simon Fraser.