CWU FOOTBALL GAME DAY
#21/12 Central Washington University Wildcats (3-2, 3-0 GNAC)
at Humboldt State University Lumberjacks (3-1, 2-0 GNAC)
Date: Saturday, October 2, 2010
Time: 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
Site: Redwood Bowl (FieldTurf; 7,000 capacity), Arcata, California
All-Time Series: Central Washington leads 16-5-1
Last Meeting: CWU 38, HSU 7 (Oct. 24, 2009 at Ellensburg, Wash.)
Buy Tickets: At the gate
Game Notes: Download
Television: None
Radio: KXLE-AM 1240 (Ellensburg)
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GAME OVERVIEW: EXPANDED
• Central Washington is playing the first of two games against Humboldt State this weekend. The Wildcats travel to the Redwood Bowl in Arcata, CA, for a 6 p.m. kickoff on Saturday. As a part of the five-team, eight-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule, the Wildcats will later host the Lumberjacks on Oct. 23 for Central's Homecoming game.
• After going winless in the first six series meetings between 1958 and 1997, the Wildcats have won the last 16 games over the Lumberjacks. Central and Humboldt State have been affiliated with the same football conference for all but two years since 1997—first with the Columbia Football Association (through 2000) and then with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (2001-05, 2008-present). Even in the years in which the GNAC did not sponsor football (due to affiliate membership by CWU and Western Washington in the North Central Conference in 2006 and 2007), CWU and HSU played each other once in football. All-time, Central has a 16-5-1 record against Humboldt, including an 8-3-1 mark at the Redwood Bowl (with eight consecutive wins). The Wildcats' last loss in Arcata came in 1968.
• The Wildcats moved up one more spot in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II poll to 21st this week following their win over Simon Fraser last Saturday. That ranking extended Central's streak of consecutive top-25 rankings in the AFCA poll to 38 straight. However, in the D2football.com poll, the Wildcats dropped one spot from 11th to 12th despite their victory in Burnaby.
• Central plays its final regular-season game outside the state of Washington this Saturday as it visits Humboldt State. Following this week's game, the Wildcats have four home games at Tomlinson Stadium plus the Oct. 16 Battle in Seattle VIII at Qwest Field in Seattle against Western Oregon. The Oct. 2 date for an out-of-state finale is the earliest for a Wildcat team in 19 years (Sept. 28, 1991).
• The Wildcats are playing consecutive games outside the state of Washington for the third time in the past two years, but it will mark just the seventh such occurrence since the 2001 season. In 2009, Central opened at Mesa State and Minnesota Duluth on consecutive weeks, and then finished the regular season at Dixie State and Western Oregon, going 4-0 in the process. Before splitting on back-to-back weeks in the 2007 NCAA Division II playoffs (win at Nebraska-Omaha, loss at Grand Valley State), Central had road trips of 3-0 and 2-0 records during the 2002 campaign.
• Dating back to the end of the 2008 season, Central has won its last eight road games, with its last road loss coming at West Texas A&M in the 2008 NCAA Division II playoffs. Overall, the Wildcats have won 10 straight road contests in the regular season, with their last regular-season road loss coming at Division I-Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) member Montana on Sept. 27, 2008. And even more impressive is Central's current road win streak of 13 games against NCAA Division II members, which traces back more than three years to a 35-28 loss at North Dakota on Sept. 15, 2007.
• The Wildcats have an all-time football record of 10-12-1 in the state of California. Over the course of its football history, CWU has visited six different teams from the Golden State, beginning with a 1958 tie at Humboldt State. In analyzing the Wildcats' record in California all-time, they were winless in five trips (0-4-1) between 1958 and 1976, and their recent visits south have been much more successful. Central has won its last six games played in California and has claimed seven of its last eight games played in the state. In addition to Humboldt State, Wildcat football teams have visited Azusa Pacific (2-1-0), Cal Poly (0-1-0), Chico State (0-1-0), Saint Mary's (0-2-0), and UC Davis (0-4-0) over the course of the program's illustrious history.
• The Wildcats are looking to extend their win streak against current or former members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference to 35 games this week. Central's last loss against a GNAC foe was on Sept. 25, 2004—a 28-21 defeat against Western Washington at the Battle in Seattle. Since that time, the Wildcats have earned 10 wins each versus Western Oregon and Humboldt State, seven versus Western Washington, six versus Dixie State, and one versus Simon Fraser.
• Saturday's game will pit two teams who have the most combined conference wins without a loss in GNAC history. Central comes into the game with a 3-0 league record, while Humboldt State has a 2-0 mark in conference play. In the eight-year football-playing history of the conference, never before have two teams with a combined 5-0 GNAC record faced each other.
• Central has a 6-4-1 all-time record on Oct. 2, including their most recent win on the date against Humboldt State six years ago. The Wildcats blasted the Lumberjacks, 45-0, for their largest win in the series on Oct. 2, 2004, in Ellensburg as CWU held HSU to 10 rushing yards and running back Emilio Iniguez ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns in the Wildcat victory.
CENTRAL NOTES
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RUSHING DAY OF MONSTROUS PROPORTIONS: Last Saturday's 44-30 victory over Simon Fraser was keyed by a monstrous day running the football by the Wildcat offense, as Central totaled 381 net rushing yards from three players combined. Senior
Bryson Kelly (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS) and redshirt freshman
Ishmael Stinson (Tacoma/Charles Wright Academy) both had career-best days against the Clan, combining for 400 net rushing yards and five touchdowns between them. Kelly totaled 246 yards on 30 carries with four of those scores, doubling his season total for rushing touchdowns—and nearly for total rushing yards—in the process, while Stinson more than tripled his previous season total for yardage (75) with his 154-yard assault on SFU. It marked the first time since Oct. 5, 1991, that two Wildcat players rushed for 100 or more yards in the same game, and the 400-yard total between the two was the most by any two 100-yard rushers in the same game in school history (previous record was 308 by Kenny Thompson and Tyson Raley vs. Western Washington in 1990). As a team, Central's 381-yard total was the most since rushing for 370 yards against Azusa Pacific on Sept. 19, 1998, and it was just eight yards fewer than the Wildcats had accumulated in their first four games combined this season.
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BREAKDOWN OF THE TOP RUSHING PERFORMANCES: Kelly's 246 rushing yards, which are the fifth-most in a single game in Central Washington historys just the third 200-yard rushing effort during the Wildcats' 12-season Division II era. Nat Conley set the school record with a 322-yard day (on 40 carries) against Humboldt State on Oct. 27, 2001, while Emilio Iniguez totaled career-bests of 219 yards and 39 carries in a win over Montana-Western on Sept. 3, 2004. Other former Wildcats among the top 10 for single-game rushing effort are all-time leading rusher Dan Murphy (269 vs. Azusa Pacific in 1998), Tom Craven (265 at Linfield in 1993 NAIA playoffs), Lynn Robinson (250 in 1926), Ted Huber (237 at Simon Fraser in 1982), Pat Patterson (236 vs. Lewis & Clark in 1989 NAIA playoffs and 229 vs. Eastern Oregon in 1989), and Corky Bridges (233 at Humboldt State and 227 vs. Pacific Lutheran, both in 1958).
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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Kelly and sophomore K
Sean Davis (Federal Way/Todd Beamer HS) both earned Player of the Week honors from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference following last week's win at Simon Fraser. For Kelly, who was a second-team all-GNAC performer last season as a junior, it was the first conference Player of the Week award of his career, while Davis earned the Special Teams Player of the Week award for the second straight week. Kelly was actually selected as the co-Offensive Player of the Week, sharing the award with Simon Fraser RB Gabe Ephard, who totaled 222 rushing yards against the Wildcats.
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KELLY BREAKS 1,000-YARD PLATEAU: Kelly's stellar performance against Simon Fraser enabled him to become the 26th player in CWU football history with 1,000 or more career rushing yards. Now with 1,130 yards in 18 career games, Kelly moved from 31st to 19th on the school's all-time list and needs just 400 yards to crack the school's top-10 list.
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MORE ON DAVIS: Davis became the first player in CWU history to begin a season a perfect six-for-six in field goal attempts when he booted three more three-pointers against Simon Fraser last week. He had an impressive first two weeks in the placekicking role, hitting on a 50-yard attempt in his 2010 debut against Eastern Washington and following it up with made kicks from 43 and 46 yards against Dixie State. Against SFU, he connected from 26, 35, and 28 yards and also added five extra points in as many attempts against the Clan. He has already ascended to second place among Wildcat point scorers in 2010 with 23 counters in just three games played.
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NATIONAL RANKING SUCCESS: This week's game will mark the 52nd time in Central's 12 years as a member of the NCAA Division II that the Wildcats will take the field ranked among the top 25. They have had quite a successful run in the national polls, with a 41-10 all-time mark (80.4 percent) when earning a top-25 ranking. This week's game will mark the sixth time CWU is playing when ranked 21st nationally in the AFCA polls, including its fifth time playing away from home with that ranking.
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TEAM CAPTAINS: Three seniors and a junior were selected as team captains for the 2010 season. Taking on the captaincy role for the Wildcats this season are seniors LB
Adam Bighill (Montesano/Montesano HS), RB
Bryson Kelly (Mukilteo/Kamiak HS), and WR
Jamal Weems (Seattle/Cleveland HS), as well as junior DE
Tyrell Nielsen (Woodland/Woodland HS). All four were voted as team leaders for the first time in their respective careers.
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COMINGS ...: One new player who has recently enrolled in school, has joined the Wildcat program, and is expected to travel for this week's game at Humboldt State. Joining the Crimson and Black is senior DB
Matt Mosley (Chandler, Ariz./Corona del Sol HS), who played previously and earned his degree from the University of Washington. Mosley is expected to wear jersey number 5 for this week's game at Humboldt State.
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... AND GOINGS: Two players to have seen significant playing time in the early part of the 2010 season left the program at the beginning of this week. Senior QB
Alex Cate (Salt Lake City, Utah/Cottonwood HS), who had started the first two games of the year but had not dressed for either of the past two games due to injury, has left school. Also quitting over the course of the past week was sophomore K
Pavel Panchenko (Napavine/Toledo HS), who had starred as a kickoff specialist with an average of 69.3 yards per kickoff with five touchbacks in 15 kickoffs this season but did not travel to Simon Fraser last week. After making just 2-of-5 field goal attempts through two games, combined with the resurgence of sophomore Sean Davis, left Panchenko handling just extra-point conversion opportunities since week three ... Players expected to be lost for the season due to injuries include DE
Tyrell Nielsen and DB
Abraham Muheize (El Cajon, Calif./El Cajon Valley HS).
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A TALE OF TWO DEFENSIVE SEASONS: The strength of Central's 2009 squad that went 11-0 in the regular season (12-1 overall) and earned a number one national ranking in the NCAA Division II was its defense. The Wildcats allowed just 155 points in 13 games and led Division II in scoring defense. So far in 2010, however, Central has had its struggles, surrendering 135 points in just five games. CWU has already allowed 30 or more points in a game three times this season, although that is a trend that has actually been consistent during playoff seasons in recent history, as the Wildcats allowed 30 or more four times each in 2007 and 2008.
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2010 Roster
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2010 Schedule
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2010 Statistics
