Jaedyn Prewitt made just his second start of 2022 on Saturday, but it’s still been a long season.

Gifted a second senior year thanks to having one autumn wiped out by COVID-19, Prewitt was displaced as Whitworth’s starter at quarterback after the Pirates’ season-opening loss. When his replacement suffered a broken ankle five games later, Prewitt wasn’t available for relief, having sustained a concussion in practice days earlier. He remained out a week ago when Whitworth had to turn to a fourth-stringer up from the JV team.

But what goes around – or gets benched, humbled and hurt – comes around.

Prewitt put an end to his two-month limbo in spectacular fashion, passing for 286 yards and four touchdowns in the Pirates’ 59-0 Northwest Conference whitewash of Puget Sound at the sun-splashed Pine Bowl.

“I had a few jitters,” admitted Prewitt, a 6-foot-5 slinger from Monroe, Washington. “But I have three games of football left in my life. Why play scared? You can’t do anything but go out and have some fun.”

Just how seriously Prewitt was going to take the fun concept became clear on the next-to-last play of the first quarter. Selling a fake handoff, he sailed a majestic ball down the right sideline as another fifth-year senior, Alan Ballew, sprinted under it – the play covering 73 yards to the end zone.

“People were telling me (the pass traveled) 60-some yards,” Prewitt said, “but in the moment it didn’t feel like I threw it that hard.”

He added touchdown passes of 37 yards to slot receiver Riley Morrison and 1 to tight end Isaac Fields, the latter as the clock ran out on a 35-point first half.

Meanwhile, Whitworth’s defense was even more dominant.

At 0-5 in the NWC and 1-7 overall, the Loggers were overmatched, but they do have the conference’s top rusher in Silas Washington and capable targets for sophomore quarterback Mason Binning. The Pirates (5-3, 3-2) limited Washington to just 50 yards on 18 carries, and Lindon Sevilleja picked off Binning twice – once in the end zone thwarting UPS’ best chance to score, and then setting up the Pirates with a short field for that half-ending touchdown.

And with two defensive end starters lost to injury, the Pirates still crashed through for six sacks – the crusher by JT Munoz, who stripped Binning and scrambled to his feet to recover the ball after assorted caroms sent it skittering 30 yards back to the end zone.

It was Whitworth’s first shutout since a 52-0 blitz of Willamette in 2018.

“There have been some challenges the last few weeks,” Pirates coach Rod Sandberg said, “but we have 120 guys on our team and we’ve needed them all – in practice, on scout teams, stepping up and playing positions they haven’t before.”

And one who’s been itching to play.

Prewitt was Whitworth’s starter throughout the 2021 spring season and the bulk of that fall, but Sandberg opted to go with sophomore transfer Ryan Blair even after Prewitt’s 404-yard effort in the opener.

“Gut-wrenching,” Prewitt called it. “To have the leash pulled on you like that is a tough thing. But it doesn’t matter – you have to be the best teammate you can be. You can still have a good time, keeping guys’ heads up and making sure the starter is supported, and staying ready.”

Some of that was out of his control – the concussion coming when he was whiplashed to the turf on a tackle in practice. When Blair broke his ankle against Pacific Lutheran, No. 3 quarterback Logan Lacio had to step in – only to suffer a concussion himself on the game’s last play. So with only Noah Stifle available against Willamette last week, the coaching staff cooked up a wildcat package with four running backs taking direct snaps.

The Pirates used it some against UPS, too – and have rushed for 520 yards in the past two games. But there’s more comfort in being multidimensional.

“Jaedyn is a talented guy and somebody we trust and he’s proved it,” Ballew said. “He handled the situation so well. It was fun to see him throwing it around out there. He had a dominating performance today.”