Football | 9/8/2015 4:57:00 PM
ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Sept. 8) – It is a quick turnaround for the Central Washington University football team as they play their second road game in five days when they travel to St. George Utah to play a non-conference contest against Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe, Dixie State University, on Thursday Sept. 10 at 5 p.m. PST.
Both teams are coming off of losses to schools from the Centennial State. Central Washington lost to second-ranked Colorado State University Pueblo 41-14, while Dixie State fell to Colorado Mesa 43-3 at home.
The Wildcats holds an impressive 13-1 record against the Red Storm and hopes the 15
th matchup will produce the teams first win of 2015. Central Washington and Dixie State's first matchup came in 2008 with the Wildcats prevailing 44-38. The Wildcats only loss to the Red Storm came in 2012 in St. George. In the last three games CWU has outscored DSU 141-33 including a 44-0 win on the road in 2013.
The Wildcat defense will get a much-needed boost defensively as all-GNAC linebacker
Kevin Haynes, and defensive lineman
Matt Miller rejoin CWU when they travel to Dixie State. Haynes and Miller missed the first game with a shoulder and leg injury, respectively, and both are scheduled to start on Sept. 10. Haynes was the Wildcats leader in tackles a year ago with 99, and interceptions with five, while Miller played in all 11 games a year ago and was a clog for opposing run games.
Offensively the Wildcats will look to get back on track after gaining 290 yards of total offense against CSU-Pueblo. Under coach Shoemaker the Wildcats are averaging 486 yards of offense per game, including 219 rushing yards in the teams last contest, a 49-17 win by the Wildcats on the road. Running back
Jordan Todd has set 10 single-game highs against Dixie State, including 192 rushing yards in 2012 and threw his only touchdown pass of his career against the Red Storm last season.
Dixie State will more than likely feature two quarterbacks against the Wildcats with sophomore Trevor Rea and Blake Barney both seeing a good amount of action. Rea will do the majority of the passing while Barney will be more of a running threat, gaining 95 yards on 10 carries in the Red Storm's last contest.
The game will be streamed live at Wildcatsports.com and fans can listen to the live broadcast on the Wildcat Sports Radio Network, locally at 88.1 FM or download the "88.1 The Burg" app via the App Store or Google Play.
