Box Score

ELLENSBURG (Sept. 12) -- Central Washington University redshirt freshman Ryan Robertson (Sammamish/Eastlake HS) had 227 passing yards and four touchdowns in the first half, and the Wildcat defense held a normally-potent West Texas A&M offense more than 140 yards below its season offensive average as the sixth-ranked Wildcats cruised to a 34-10 win over the visiting Buffs on Saturday afternoon at Tomlinson Stadium.

With the win, CWU kept its undefeated record intact at 3-0 while dropping the Buffaloes to 0-3. The Wildcats also earned a bit of revenge against West Texas A&M, which knocked Central Washington out of the 2008 NCAA Division II playoffs in the first round.

Robertson and the Wildcat offense came out firing on all cylinders in the opening half, as he completed 18 of his 24 passes before the intermission and dished out scoring tosses to four different receivers as Central built a commanding 31-3 lead at the break. He had all but 29 of his passing yards in the opening 30 minutes and helped engineer five scoring drives on the Wildcats' six first-half possessions.

Sophomore Jamal Weems (Seattle/Cleveland HS) opened the scoring with an 18-yard reception on Central's second drive, and sophomore Justin Helwege (Sammamish/Eastlake HS) then capped the Wildcats' next possession with a two-yard scoring catch to make it a 14-0 game with just over four minutes left in the first quarter.

West Texas A&M responded on its next series with a 23-yard field goal from James Chandler after the Central defense allowed just two offensive yards on three plays once the Buffs got inside the 10-yard line

As the second quarter unfolded, Robertson and the Wildcat offense continued to have its way with the WT secondary. Senior Johnny Spevak (Edgewood/Puyallup HS) caught a 20-yard touchdown pass with 10:24 to go in the second quarter for his 45th career receiving score. Robertson then completed the quartet of scoring strikes as he connected with senior Reggie Westmoreland (Stockton, Calif./Edison HS) on a 25-yard pass play with 6:22 left before halftime as the Wildcats pushed the lead to 28-3. Senior Garrett Rolsma (University Place/Curtis HS) finished off the first half scoring with an 18-yard field goal just before the break.

While the offense accumulated points and time of possession, Central's stingy defense continued to stymie its opponent. The Wildcats held West Texas to just 69 offensive yards in the first half, including zero net yards in the second quarter. And although the Buffs did net 161 offensive yards in the second half and became the first Central foe to score in the final 30 minutes of a game in three contests this season when Taylor Harris found Josephius Martin on a six-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, CWU kept the Buffs under 200 yards passing (174) and with just 230 yards of offense for the game. WT came into Saturday's contest averaging 310.5 passing yards and 373.0 yards of offense per game.

Central had the game's only takeaway -- a fumble recovery by senior linebacker Buddy Wood (Chattaroy/Riverside HS) in the fourth quarter -- but had a second wiped out on a roughing-the-passer penalty in the third period after senior Jerome Williams (Seattle/Ballard HS) had intercepted a Harris pass.

Rolsma, who extended his streak of extra points made to 72 on Saturday, capitalized on Wood's fumble recovery with a 37-yard field goal with 2:32 remaining.

Robertson finished the game with 256 yards passing on 21 of 36. Senior Randall Eldridge (Lynnwood) had 64 rushing yards to lead a respectable ground game effort for the Wildcats, while Spevak led all receivers with nine receptions for 121 yards.

The defense was led by linebackers Wood and Prince Hall (Moreno Valley, Calif.) with 10 tackles each. Hall, Eugene Germany (Pomona, Calif.), and Taylor Tanasse (Yakima/West Valley HS) each had a quarterback sack, while senior cornerback Courtney Smith (Stockton, Calif./East Union HS) led the Wildcat secondary with four pass breakups, four tackles, and added 1 1/2 tackles for loss.

West Texas was led by Harris, who was 23 of 38 for 174 yards and one touchdown, and running back Kelvin Thompson, who accumulated 81 rushing yards on 16 carries although the Buffs as a team had just 56 yards on the ground.

Central Washington will host NAIA member Azusa Pacific next Saturday (Sept. 19) at Tomlinson Stadium at 1 p.m.

NOTES: Spevak's 100-yard receiving game was the record-breaking 18th of his CWU career. After tying the record two weeks ago at Mesa State, he broke the tie against West Texas on Saturday ... Central converted on 9 of 17 third-down conversions for the game, nearly matching its entire total for the first two games. The Wildcats, who were 8 of 10 on third down in the first half, were a combined 12 of 29 on third down in its first two wins ... Central scored more points in the first 24 minutes of Saturday's game (28) than it had tallied in the first two games of the season combined (23) ... Smith (545 yards) leapfrogged Williams (528) to move into 10th in career kick return yards ... Wood became the third player in school history with 300 or more career tackles (303) ... CWU improved to 63-30-3 all-time in home openers.