CWU FOOTBALL GAME DAY
#21/11 Central Washington University Wildcats (2-2, 2-0 GNAC)
at Simon Fraser University Clan (0-3, 0-2 GNAC)
Date: Saturday, September 25, 2010
Time: 3 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time
Site: Terry Fox Field (FieldTurf; 2,500 capacity), Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
All-Time Series: Central Washington leads 20-8
Last Meeting: CWU 42, SFU 0 (Nov. 10, 2001 at Ellensburg, Wash.)
Buy Tickets: At the gate
Game Notes: Download
Television: None
Radio: KXLE-AM 1240 (Ellensburg)
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Video Stream: Click here
GAME OVERVIEW: EXPANDED
• Central Washington will face Simon Fraser in football for the first time since the 2001 season. The Wildcats and Clan had played each other once every season from 1982-2001, as they were affiliated with the same conference (either the Evergreen Conference or the Columbia Football Association) for 18 of those 20 years. Following the 2001 campaign, SFU returned to playing Canadian-rules and began an eight-year affiliation with the Canada West Conference in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
• The series between Central and Simon Fraser dates back to 1967—just two years after SFU opened its doors as a university. The Wildcats and Clan played in 1967 and in 1973 before beginning an annual series in earnest in 1975 with one meeting in 26 of the next 27 years. All-time, Central Washington has won 20 of 28 football meetings with its neighbors from the north, including an 8-6 record in British Columbia.
• This week's game is the first of two meetings between Central Washington and Simon Fraser in football this season. As a part of the five-team, eight-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule, the Wildcats and Clan will play this weekend in Burnaby and then complete the home-and-home series on Nov. 6 at Tomlinson Stadium in Ellensburg.
• The Wildcats climbed three spots in both of this week's Division II national polls, released earlier this week. Central, which nearly had a streak of 37 consecutive top-25 rankings in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division Ii poll snapped last week when the Wildcats fell to 25th, climbed to 22nd in the AFCA poll this week. Meanwhile, in the D2football.com ranking, CWU jumped from 14th to 11th in this week's poll.
• Central opens its second (and final) two-game road trip of the season this week by visiting Simon Fraser. Following their trip to Burnaby this week, the Wildcats will head south to Humboldt State in a pivotal GNAC battle next Saturday night (Oct. 2) at the Redwood Bowl in Arcata, CA. CWU also had consecutive games on weeks two and three at Dixie State and in Seattle versus Eastern Washington. Following the HSU game, four of Central's final five games will be played at home, and all five will be played in the state of Washington.
• Dating back to the end of the 2008 season, Central has won its last seven 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 nine 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 against NCAA Division II members, which traces back more than three years to a 35-28 loss at North Dakota on Sept. 15, 2007.
• This weekend's trip to Simon Fraser will be the 25th game played in Canada in Central Washington's illustrious football history. Of the previous 24 games—in which the Wildcats have a 16-8 record—14 have been against Simon Fraser with 10 others versus the University of British Columbia. Central's first trip to Canada came during the 1935 season when the Wildcats defeated UBC, 49-0, and they went 8-2 against the Thunderbirds in Vancouver between 1935 and 1958. The first football visit to Burnaby and Simon Fraser University was in 1973, and CWU has posted an 8-6 all-time record versus the Clan at their home field. The last time the Wildcats visited Simon Fraser was 10 years ago, when they defeated the Clan 38-24 at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby.
• The Wildcats are looking to extend their win streak against current or former members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference to 34 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, and six versus Dixie State.
• Saturday's game will mark the first time that CWU has played a football game at Terry Fox Field on the Simon Fraser campus. The last time the Wildcats faced the Clan on the gridiron, SFU played its home games at Swangard Stadium in downtown Burnaby, but the school relocated all of its football home games to Fox Field on campus starting last season. The field, which is an open-air facility as far as bleachers and a press box are concerned, is a multi-use facility as Simon Fraser also plays its home soccer games on the turf. In fact, Central's women's soccer team will visit the same field for its Great Northwest Athletic Conference match-up with the Clan on Saturday, Oct. 23.
• CWU head coach
Blaine Bennett will face Simon Fraser for the seventh time in his nine-year career as a head coach this Saturday. Bennett coached at Western Oregon for six seasons between 1995 and 2000, and guided Wolves teams to a 4-2 record against Simon Fraser during his tenure.
• Central has a 4-4 all-time record on Sept. 25, including two blowout victories among their previous contests on the same date. The Wildcats' last game on Sept. 25 came six years ago at the second Battle in Seattle against Western Washington, where they lost 28-21 to the Vikings. In the three Sept. 25 games prior to that defeat, they blasted Pacific (OR), 51-0, in 1982 and Carroll (MT), 52-7, in 1999. They also defeated Southern Oregon, 27-9, on Sept. 25, 1993 as part of that run.
CENTRAL NOTES
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WILDCATS SIT AMONG MIDDLE OF THE PACK AMONG GNAC, DIVISION II LEADERS: After perennially ranking atop the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and among the NCAA Division II statistical leaders in most team categories, Central Washington finds itself in the middle of the GNAC pack in most statistical categories through four games of the 2010 season. The Wildcats are currently leading the GNAC in total defense (282.50 yards per game) and rushing defense (79.00 yards per game), and are also first in quarterback sacks with 2.00 per game. However, in categories like scoring defense where CWU led all of Division II a year ago, the Wildcats are currently third among GNAC teams and are 84th nationally—hampered by 35-point games by Minnesota Duluth and Eastern Washington. As far as individual statistics are concerned, senior punter
Kyle Petersen (Alta Loma, CA/South Hills HS) is the top-ranked Central player in the D-II statistical ranks, listing 14th in punting average with 42.18 yards per punt. Junior
Dominique Gaisie (West Covina, CA/Bishop Amat HS), the team's return specialist, is listed among the nation's top 100 in both kick returns (34th) and punt returns (61st).
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DAVIS EARNS FIRST SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD: Sophomore
Sean Davis (Federal Way, WA/Todd Beamer HS) made two field goal attempts in as many tries—from distances of 43 and 46 yards—against Dixie State and was rewarded as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Week earlier this week. Davis, who spent two seasons backing up Garrett Rolsma (he was awarded a redshirt season in 2008 and appeared in just one play in 2009), drilled a 50-yard field goal attempt in his 2010 debut against Eastern Washington on Sept. 11 before following up with his two made three-pointers against Dixie State. Davis will continue to handle field goals exclusively while perhaps also appearing on occasion as the Wildcats' punting duties.
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MORE ON DAVIS: Davis' early-season perfection kicking field goals may not be unprecedented as far as the Central Washington record book is concerned, but perhaps the distance with which he has been efficient is a new standard for Wildcat kickers. On at least eight other occasions in CWU football history has a placekicker made his first three field goal attempts of a season, but none have been of the distance that Davis' kicks have been. Among his three made three-pointers, Davis has nailed kicks from 43, 46, and 50 yards—an average of 46.3 yards per made field goal—while only two other made field goals of those who started a season three-for-three was even from 40 or more yards (Chris Elliott's 45-yarder in 1982 and Steve Hickey's 42-yard field goal in 2001). In fact, Davis' predecessor, Rolsma, started a season perfect on his first three field goals just once out of four seasons (1996).
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NATIONAL RANKING SUCCESS: This week's game will mark the 51st 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 40-10 all-time mark (80 percent) when earning a top-25 ranking. This week's game will mark the third time CWU is playing when ranked 22th nationally in the AFCA polls. In their previous two appearances at #22 in the polls, Central has won twice, outscoring its opponents—Carroll (MT) in 2002 and Fort Lewis in 2003—by a 50-14 count. The Wildcats have subsequently climbed no more than two spots in the national rankings after their previous times at #22.
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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, WA/Montesano HS), RB
Bryson Kelly (Mukilteo, WA/Kamiak HS), and WR
Jamal Weems (Seattle, WA/Cleveland HS), as well as junior DE
Tyrell Nielsen (Woodland, WA/Woodland HS). All four were voted as team leaders for the first time in their respective careers.
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EARLY LEAD TRANSLATES INTO LOTS OF NEW FACES ON FIELD FOR 'CATS: A 30-0 Central lead just 20 minutes into last weekend's contest translated into rest for many of the Wildcat regulars and significant playing time for plenty of CWU reserves against Dixie State. Ten different players made their first appearance of the season for the Wildcats in the game, eight of which were making their first career appearance in the Crimson and Black. All told, 55 players took the field in the game and 26 of those were credited with at least one tackle.
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RAVE REVIEWS FOR NEW-LOOK OFFENSIVE LINE: The first career starts for redshirt freshmen
Donnie Johnson (Olympia, WA/Capital HS) and
Neil Fuhrmann (Sumner, WA/Cascade Christian HS) proved to be successful for Central Washington in last week's 43-21 win over Dixie State. Johnson and Fuhrmann, who both began their CWU careers as defensive linemen before being converted to the offensive line in recent weeks due to smaller numbers and injuries, started at the two guard positions against the Red Storm last Saturday. Johnson, who had appeared in two games on defense earlier this season and had been listed as a back-up at defensive tackle prior to last week's switch to offense, was named the Wildcats' “Offensive Cat” for his efforts ... Johnson and Fuhrmann weren't the only “new faces” on the offensive line for the Wildcats, as reserves
Bryan Butler (Cheney, WA/Cheney HS) and
Mac Morrison (Renton, WA/Hazen HS) also saw the first game action of their CWU careers against Dixie State.
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2-0 LEAD IS A RARITY: When the Wildcats opened their scoring with a safety against Dixie State last week, it marked the first time in nearly 17 years that the first points of the game were a safety by CWU. In fact, the last time the game started with two points by the Wildcat defense was when Whitworth quarterback Danny Figueira slipped in the end zone during a game on Oct. 23, 1993, in Spokane that Central won 54-21. In this past Saturday's game against Dixie State, Central scored its safety after a bad snap sailed out of the back of the Red Storm end zone on the second play from scrimmage.
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A LAUNDRY LIST OF PENALTIES: In spite, or perhaps as a direct result of, the lopsided score against Dixie State this past week, Central Washington had the dubious distinction of being flagged 16 times for 169 penalty yards. That yardage total was the highest by a CWU squad in 16 years—since a school-record 21 penalties and 233 penalty yards in a 69-37 win at the University of Puget Sound on Oct. 29, 2004. Coincidentally, longtime NFL quarterback Jon Kitna threw for a career-high 456 yards and a school-record seven touchdowns in that penalty-marred contest that featured a combined 34 penalties for 374 yards between the two schools. As far as penalties under head coach Blaine Bennett are concerned, twice (in six seasons at Western Oregon) did Bennett's WOU teams surpass Central's 169 yards last Saturday—227 vs. Azusa Pacific in 2000 and 193 vs. CWU in 1997.
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THREE GAMES, THREE DIFFERENT RECEIVING YARDS LEADERS: In years past, it was almost a given as to who would likely lead the Central Washington offense in pass receiving yards in a game. However, with the graduation of Johnny Spevak, the number two receiver in NCAA Division II history, the Wildcats have turned their attention to a host of receivers, and three different pass-catchers have led CWU in receiving yards in as many games to start the 2010 campaign. Senior WR
Chris Smith (San Diego, CA/Helix HS) led the Wildcats with 86 receiving yards against Minnesota Duluth, and he remains the team leader with 16 receptions. Junior TE
Demetrius Guice (Portland, OR/Central Catholic HS), the team leader in touchdown catches with two, topped the Wildcat receivers against Dixie State with 40 yards on three grabs. And senior WR
Kollin Hancock (Columbus, OH/Gahanna Lincoln HS), who has taken over Smith's team lead in receiving yards for the season with 168, had a CWU season-high 88 receiving yards on six catches against Eastern Washington last week.
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TANASSE IS “WILDCAT OF THE WEEK” FOR SECOND TIME: Junior DE
Taylor Tanasse (Yakima, WA/West Valley HS) didn't have sparkling statistical numbers in last week's game, but for the second time in three weeks this season, he has been named the “Wildcat of the Week” by the CWU coaching staff. Tanasse, who has now started eight games in his three-year career at CWU, also won the award for the week of the Minnesota Duluth game.
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2010 Roster
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2010 Schedule
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2010 Statistics
