CWU FOOTBALL GAME DAY
SHOWDOWN ON THE SOUND
#12/9 Central Washington University Wildcats (1-1, 1-0 GNAC)
vs. Eastern Washington University Eagles (0-1, 0-0 BSC)
Date: Saturday, September 11, 2010
Time: 6:05 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
Site: Qwest Field (FieldTurf; 67,000 capacity), Seattle, Washington
All-Time Series: Eastern Washington leads 33-30-4
Last Meeting: CWU 21, EWU 14 (Sept. 16, 2006 at Cheney, Washington)
Buy Tickets: Ticketmaster.com, at the gate
Game Notes: Download
Television: None
Radio: KXLE-AM 1240 (Ellensburg)
Live Stats: Click here
Live Audio: Click here
Video Stream: Click here
GAME OVERVIEW: EXPANDED
• Central Washington has an all-time record of 30-33-4 against Eastern Washington, which makes the Eagles the only team on the Wildcats' 2010 schedule against whom Central has a losing record. Excluding games played during Eastern's NCAA Division I era (which began in 1984), Central leads the series 29-28-4.
• The series between Central and Eastern dates back to 1921 and is the longest active football series in Wildcat history. The only other current four-year varsity program that the Wildcats played that same year was from Puget Sound -- an opponent that CWU has not faced since 1996.
• This week's game will mark the fourth time in 68 all-time series meetings that the game will not be played in Ellensburg or Cheney. The three previous meetings not played in the home town of either university were all played in Spokane in years when the Eagles called Joe Albi Stadium home—1965, 1966, and 1984. This week's game will therefore be the first meeting between the schools west of the Cascade Mountains.
• The Wildcats and Eagles have not played since a
21-14 Central victory in 2006. In that game, CWU, coached by John Zamberlin, saw All-American quarterback Mike Reilly score the game-winning touchdown on a three-yard run with 11:45 to go in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats snapped a seven-game (and 29-year) skid in the head-to-head series. Three Wildcats -- Reilly (162 passing yards), Johnny Lopez (121 rushing yards), and Johnny Spevak (105 receiving yards) -- had standout performances in the victory.
• Once fierce NAIA rivals, Central and Eastern have played just six times previously since the Eagles became affiliated with the NCAA. The first of those six meetings was the Eagles' first-ever game as a NCAA Division I-AA member on Sept. 8, 1984, but the two schools did not play again until Sept. 11, 1999. Central and Eastern also played in 2001,
2003,
2004, and
2006. The two schools have not played each other in Ellensburg since the 1978 season.
• The Wildcats have won two of their past three games against Big Sky Conference members dating back to the 2006 season. Following the seven-point win over Eastern that year, Central nearly took down perennial conference (and Division I-FCS national) power Montana in a
38-35, last-second loss in Missoula in 2008. Then, in last year's lone “play-up” game, the Wildcats defeated Idaho State and former coach Zamberlin,
33-22, in Pocatello.
• Playing under the lights has not been a problem for Central Washington in recent years, as the Wildcats have won their last 17 games played at night. The last nighttime loss also occurred on the same night that CWU last lost against a Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent --
Sept. 25, 2004 against Western Washington at Qwest Field in Seattle. Central played four night games last season, and won them all but none were decided by 10 or more points. The Wildcats also have four night contests on the schedule this season, winning the first of those by a
24-14 score amid 100-degree temperatures at Dixie State last Saturday.
• CWU plays the first of two games at Qwest Field this season when it takes on EWU this week. Five weeks from now (on Oct. 16), Central Washington and Western Oregon will take part in Battle in Seattle VIII. By the end of this season, the Wildcats will have played more games (nine) at the home of the Seattle Seahawks than any other college team since the stadium opened in 2002. Washington State (eight) and Western Washington (six) have each frequented the 67,000-seat facility quite often since it was christened eight years ago, while Baylor, Colorado, Eastern Washington, Grambling, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Portland State, San Diego State, Wake Forest, and Western Oregon have all played one game each at the stadium. WSU is not playing a game at Qwest in 2010 for the first time since the stadium opened, while Oregon and Wake Forest's lone appearances at the stadium were for the 2002 Seattle Bowl.
• The Wildcats play the second of five games on artificial surfaces this season when they take the field in Seattle on Saturday. In fact, all of Central's games away from Tomlinson Stadium this season are being played on turf, while Tomlinson Stadium will be the lone natural grass surface on which CWU will lace up its cleats in 2010.
• Saturday's match-up between Central and Eastern will pit the Wildcats' two most recent head coaches against each other for the first time in their respective head coaching careers. CWU head coach
Blaine Bennett took over the Wildcat program prior to the 2008 season, taking over duties from current EWU head coach Beau Baldwin, who was hired as Central's head coach in 2007. Baldwin took CWU to the NCAA Division II quarterfinals in 2007 and finished with a 10-3 record (including a 6-2 mark and third-place finish in the now-defunct North Central Conference). Bennett, meanwhile, has compiled a 23-4 record in his third season in Ellensburg, with trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs in consecutive years.
• Four members of the Eastern Washington coaching staff are former Central Washington coaches, and of those four, three played college football for the Wildcats. EWU head coach Beau Baldwin was a quarterback at Central and still holds the school's single-game passing record of 467 yards, while the Eagles' quarterbacks coach, Zak Hill, was a standout starting signal-caller for the Wildcats from 1999-2003. Eastern defensive coordinator and associate head coach John Graham was a defensive back at Central in the early 1990s and was a longtime defensive coordinator at his alma mater before joining Baldwin's staff in Cheney in 2008. Also among the Eagles' assistants who had coaching stints in Ellensburg are defensive line coach Ryan Sawyer -- a four-year starter and four-year assistant coach at CWU -- and defensive backs coach Torey Hunter, who played at Washington State and was a one-year Wildcat assistant under Baldwin in 2007.
• Central Washington has a 1-2 all-time record when playing on the Sept. 11 date. The Wildcats won their first game on the now-infamous 9/11 date with a 47-20 defeat of Simon Fraser in 1982 before losing to Eastern Washington (44-14) in the 1999 season opener and at North Dakota (
34-0) in 2004.
CENTRAL NOTES
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SILVA-PURCELL NAMED TOP DEFENDER IN GNAC: Senior linebacker
Jared Silva-Purcell (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Louis HS) became the first CWU student-athlete to earn in-season recognition in 2010-11 as he was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 4. Silva-Purcell, a transfer from the University of Nevada, Reno, had six tackles and an interception return for a touchdown in the Wildcats' 24-14 win over Dixie State. For the year, Silva-Purcell ranks second on the team with 13 total tackles.
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NATIONAL RANKING SUCCESS: This week's game will mark the 49th 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 39-9 all-time mark (81.3 percent) when earning a top-25 ranking, including a 1-0 record when ranked 12th nationally in the AFCA polls. Of Central's games played when ranked in the Division II poll, 27 of them have been played away from Tomlinson Stadium, with a 23-4 mark in such contests.
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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, Wash./Montesano HS), RB
Bryson Kelly (Mukilteo, Wash./Kamiak HS), and WR
Jamal Weems (Seattle, Wash./Cleveland HS), as well as junior DE
Tyrell Nielsen (Woodland, Wash./Woodland HS). All four were voted as team leaders for the first time in their respective careers.
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KELLY BREAKS THE CENTURY MARK: Senior RB
Bryson Kelly broke the 100-yard rushing plateau for the first time in his two seasons at Central Washington when he ran for 110 yards on 30 carries in last week's win at Dixie State. Kelly, whose previous career-high had been a 93-yard effort against Humboldt State in 2009 -- and was one of two 90-yard performances during his junior season -- now has 710 career rushing yards.
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FIRST CAREER SCORES FOR THREE WILDCATS: Three Central players scored their first Wildcat touchdowns in the second quarter against Dixie State, as Silva-Purcell, redshirt freshman RB
Ishmael Stinson (Tacoma, Wash./Charles Wright Academy), and junior TE
Demetrius Guice (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic HS) all found pay dirt in the win over the Red Storm. Silva-Purcell had a 15-yard interception return for his touchdown, while Stinson scored on a six-yard carry and Guice on a 10-yard pass reception as CWU turned a 7-3 deficit into a 24-7 halftime lead.
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HELWEGE OVER 500: Junior WR
Justin Helwege (Sammamish, Wash./Eastlake HS) missed the GNAC opener against Dixie State due to injury, but had five receptions for 47 yards in the season opener against Minnesota Duluth on Aug. 28. In the process, he became the 54th player in school history to surpass the 500-yard receiving plateau in his Wildcat career. Helwege was the intended receiver on 10 of Central's 48 pass attempts versus the Bulldogs. Next on the receiving yards list is senior WR Jamal Weems, whose 433 career yards are 59th all-time.
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TWO-TIGHT SET PAYING DIVIDENDS: Central Washington has started with a two-tight end set in each of its first two games of the 2010 season, and that formation has paid dividends for the Wildcat offense thus far. Through two games, the tight end duo of Guice and
Griffin Squires (Chehalis, Wash./W.F. West HS) has combined for nine catches for 107 yards and one touchdown. Guice is the team's second-leading receiver for receptions (six). Tight ends made just 14 receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns over the Wildcats' 13-game season in 2009.
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PICKED APART: The Wildcat defense finally chalked up its first interceptions of the 2010 season when they came away with two INTs against Dixie State. In addition to Silva-Purcell's scoring pick in the second quarter, redshirt freshman S
Stan Langlow (University Place, Wash./Curtis HS) secured the first takeaway of his young career with a fourth -quarter interception on Dixie State's final possession that helped seal the Wildcat victory. CWU also had a fumble recovery on a muffed punt late in the first quarter, with sophomore CB
Tre Watson (Seattle, Wash./John F. Kennedy HS) recovering the miscue to set up the Wildcats' first touchdown of the game early in the second quarter.
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BIG RETURN DAY FOR GAISIE: Junior CB
Dominique Gaisie (West Covina, Calif./Bishop Amat HS) had a big day returning kicks and punts for the Wildcats against Dixie State, as the former Utah State redshirt and Mount San Antonio College standout amassed 96 total return yards on two kick returns (46 yards) and four punt runbacks (50 yards). His long kickoff return of 37 yards was the longest by a Wildcat on the young season. On defense, Gaisie was credited with five tackles from his cornerback position.
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2010 Roster
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2010 Schedule
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2010 Statistics
