Linfield takes most NWC football All-Conference first-team honors
Linfield’s football team extended it’s NCAA all-division leading record of winning seasons to 69 in 2025 while going 7-2 overall and 6-1 in Northwest Conference play. The team’s NWC run, in which their only loss came to champion Whitworth, was rewarded with 13 all-conference honors (eight first-team, four second-team and one third-team).
Junior quarterback and Scappoose-native Luke McNabb led the offensive first-team selections, being named the NWC’s best QB in his first season leading the Wildcats’ offense. McNabb earned NWC Offensive Player of the Week twice and threw for 2,057 yards in the teams’ seven conference games. On the year, McNabb completed 164 of 262 passes, threw for 27 touchdowns and rushed for 337 yards and seven scores with his legs. McNabb also fell shy of breaking Linfield’s single-game record for touchdown passes (8) on Nov. 8 at the University of Puget Sound with seven darts to the endzone. He tied Wyatt Smith and Brett Elliott with the performance, while Smith holds the record, set on Oct. 12, 2019, versus Puget Sound.
A favorite target of McNabb, senior wide receiver Caleb Woodcock, also picked up first-team honors after setting career highs in receptions (42), yards (555) and touchdowns (10). Woodcock was second-team in 2024.
Juniors Cade Johannsen and Reid Gray took first-team honors as a punter and punt returner, respectively, to round out Linfield’s offensive nominees. Gray was also named to the defensive second-team as a defensive back, where he totaled 23 tackles, six pass breakups and an interception. The juniors’ return prowess was on full display on Oct. 4 at George Fox University as he unleashed a 94-yard kick return touchdown. Gray had 419 total yards as a punt and kick returner.
Johannsen averaged 44.8 yards on punts and stuck opponents inside their own 20-yard line on 12 occasions.
On defense, sophomore linebacker Hudson Reink, junior defensive backs Kenyon Johnson and Brady Crenshaw and senior linebacker Blaze Holani were first-team recipients at their respective positions. In 2024, Holani was a second-team selection and Johnson was named an honorable mention.
Reink had 60 tackles for the ʼCats, while Holani notched 38 tackles, four sacks, four QB hurries and six pass break-ups. In the secondary, Johnson had three interceptions and six pass break ups, while Crenshaw was a glorified hit stick with 51 tackles, three forced fumbles, two interceptions and two pass break ups.
Linfield’s eight first-team selections were the most of any NWC squad.
Sophomore offensive lineman Dylan Howell, graduate defensive lineman Kaanan Huffman and junior defensive lineman and West Linn High School alum Jaydon Kaio walked away with second-team awards along with Gray, while senior defensive lineman Matua Whalen was the ʼCats lone third-team selection.
Huffman was a team defender, recording 19 tackles (10 assisted) and 2.5 sacks. Comparatively, Kaio was a one-man wrecking crew with 26 tackles (17 solo), six sacks, two forced fumbles and three QB hurries.
Whalen provided consistency for the ʼCats in his fourth year, tallying 19 tackles (10 solo) through eight games played.
Pacific Lutheran University running back Jacob Schuh won Offensive Player of the Year. George Fox University had two POY’s in defensive end Jacob Erickson (Defensive Player of the Year) and wide receiver Karsen Denault (Rookie of the Year). Whitworth’s Rod Sandberg earned Coach of the Year.
Comments