Whitford wins football title

Neerim South’s Joel Whitford has continued to carry his College football career forward, forming part of the University of Washington Huskies team to take the Pacific conference title.

With the Pacific 12 north title on the line, the Huskies overcame driving rain and snow to defeat Washington State University Cougars 28-15 and also claim the Apple Cup to set up a match against Utah for the Pacific championship.

The Apple Cup is an American college football rivalry game between the Huskies and Cougars, the two largest universities in the state of Washington.

First played 118 years ago in 1900, the match-up is traditionally the final game of the regular season for both teams.

The game was renamed the Apple Cup in 1962 because of Washington’s national reputation as a major producer of apples.

The Huskies made it clear early that they were going to run early and often until the Cougars could stop it. Just like in last year’s Apple Cup, the Huskies had great success on the ground early, and that helped open some big passing plays on the way to securing their second north Pac-12 title in three years.

The win saw the Huskies, who have an overall record of 9-3 and a Pac-12 record of 7-2, return to the top 10 in the College football rankings since late September. The Huskies extended their Apple Cup streak to six and lead the overall record 73-32 with six draws.

The championship match against Utah was a tightly contested affair, with the Huskies holding on to win 10-3.

Whitford punted three times in the match for a 36.3-yard average, with two of his three punts downed inside the 20.

It capped a strong season for Whitford, who had a 43-yard punt and made the return tackle during the season opener against Auburn. After missing two games, he returned to his punting duties against Arizona where he had three punts for a 49.3yard average.

Whitford consistently cleared 40 yards with his punts over the course of his second season at the Huskies, and while he had just the one punt in the Apple Cup, it was a good one at 48-yards.

The championship win saw the Huskies secure a place in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2001.

The Rose Bowl is played in Pasadena, Los Angeles on New Year’s Day with an anticipated crowd of 100,000.