HILLSBORO, Ore.—For the first time in his collegiate career, Lewis & Clark College football graduate student quarterback Sam Simril was named the Northwest Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday afternoon. 
 
Simril led football on a massive second-half comeback to help lead the River Otters to their first win over Whitworth University since 2011. With Lewis & Clark trailing 28-7 midway through the third quarter, Simril led the team on four-straight scoring drives to end the half and then scores on two of their three possessions in overtime. 
 
In the final 20 minutes of regulation, he posted two touchdown passes apiece to senior Julius Walker and sophomore Sytyn Lasconia. He tacked on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Rio Cruz in the second overtime and found junior Dante Washington for the game-winning, two-point conversion in the third overtime. 
 
Simril finished the game with a career-high 437 passing yards. He went 34-51 and tied his career-high with five touchdown passes. The graduate student added one rush for four yards and did not take a sack in the 43-41 triple-overtime victory. 
 
His 437 passing yards in a single-game puts him in eighth in program history. Simril has now posted three games with 429 passing yards or more – all three of which rank in the top-12 passing games in program history. This season, he has posted the 15^th (437 yards) and 16^th-most passing yards (429) in a single-game in NCAA DIII.  
 
Simril has started the last two contests for Lewis & Clark. He has gone 54-83 in the two games for 866 yards, eight touchdowns and just two interceptions. In 13 appearances at Lewis & Clark, six of which have been starts, the Portland native has racked up 2,211 passing yards, 24 touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. 
 
Football will return to action on Saturday when they host #21 Linfield University in a de facto Northwest Conference Championship Game at 1 p.m. The River Otters and Wildcats are the final two undefeated teams in the NWC (4-0) this season.