ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Oct. 17) – The No. 21 Central Washington University football team plays host to Simon Fraser this Saturday.
GAME INFORMATION
Saturday at 6:00 p.m.
vs Simon Fraser
Tomlinson Stadium
Ellensburg, Wash.
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QUOTABLE
"We are in a critical part of the season, we've seen every one in the GNAC at least once and now we are in the back end of the season series," CWU Head Coach
Ian Shoemaker said. "Simon Fraser played Azusa close last weekend, and Humboldt State the week before, and they have the reigning GNAC Offensive Player of the Week, we expect them to come to Ellensburg ready to play. Every week we want to continue to strengthen our game and what we are capable of, our goal is to go 1-0 every Saturday."
SCOUTING SIMON FRASER
Simon Fraser enter the week with just a 1-6 record, including an 0-5 in GNAC play.
The Clan dropped their most recent outing in a 28-17 battle with Azusa Pacific. The Cougars went up 21-0, scoring seven points in the second quarter and 14 in the third. After being shutout for the first three quarters, Simon Fraser scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.
The Clan began mounting a comeback, scoring 10 points to put their deficit at 11. Trailing 21-10, SFU took over with 3:23 left to play. The first play of the drive was intercepted and returned to the one. The Cougars punched it in on the next play, putting the game out of reach at 28-10. A Clan touchdown pass after a defensive fumble recovery cut the deficit to 28-17, but the Cougars recovered the onside kick and salted the game away.
Miles Richardson and Justin Seiber have split time at quarterback for Simon Fraser this year. Seiber holds a slight advantage in efficiency at 117.08 to Richardson's 113.95. Richardson has thrown eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. Seiber has also levelled out his TD-INT ratio, throwing seven each.
Simon Fraser's rushing game is led by Jason Nelson who has complied 157 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Richardson is behind Nelson with 157 yards and one touchdown.
Robert Meadors has been the favorite target for SFU's quarterbacks in 2018. He has hauled in 30 receptions for 299 yards and one touchdown. Rysen John, however, has found the end zone five times on just 24 catches. Devin O'Hea and Kester Iwunze are both over 20 catches on the season.
Defensively, Griffin Barrett leads SFU in tackles with 42. He has one sack, two and a half tackles for loss, and one pass break-up.
Isaac Evans leads the SFU defense in sacks with three and a half. The Clan have recorded 14 sacks on the season, but allowed 25.
Shea Carstens and Matteo Montagliani have both picked off a pair of passes in the secondary, half of the unit's eight on the season.
Simon Fraser is allowing 40.7 points per game, while scoring at a clip of just 21.7. The Clan offense has averaged 273 passing yards, while holding opponents to just 226.86.
LAST TIME OUT
Reilly Hennessey threw for 172 yards and three touchdowns.
Michael Roots tallied 90 yards on the ground and one touchdown, while
Cedric Cooper ran for 81 yards and one TD.
After scoring 21 points in the first quarter, Central added 17 points to their lead in quarter two. Manners knocked a 21-yard field through the uprights, before Cooper raced into the end zone from 24 yards out. The Wildcats then found the end zone with just seven seconds left in the half, as Hennessey found
Tony Archie. Central went into the half with a 38-7 advantage.
The Wildcats added a touchdown from Roots in the third and a 20-yard field goal from Manners in the fourth.
The Wolves' lone touchdown came in the fourth on a blocked punt recovered in the end zone.
Uli Ma'ae led the Wildcats with eight tackles, including two for a loss of yards.
Donte Hamilton earned GNAC Defensive Player of the Week with seven solo tackles and two sacks.
BLOCK PARTY
Chase DeMoor has been a blocked kick specialist for the Wildcat' special teams unit this season. The defensive end has an NCAA (all divisions) high of five blocked kicks. His last block came in the Wildcats 48-10 victory over Western Oregon. The Wildcats have blocked a GNAC leading seven kicks on the season, placing them second in the all of NCAA DII.
ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, DEAR FRIENDS, ONCE MORE
The Wildcats' offense has found gaps in their oppositions' front, allowing the Wildcats to run for an average of 230.71 yards per game.
Michael Roots averages 88.14 yards per game, while
Cedric Cooper hauls in 70.29.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Wildcats are ranked in the top 20 in multiple categories in NCAA DII. They are ranked second in fourth down conversion percentage (.909), 16
th in third down conversion percentage (.468), second in blocked kicks (7), 14
th in completion percentage (.638), 19
th in defensive touchdowns (2), ninth in offensive first downs (173), 18
th in red zone offense efficiency (.895), 13
th in scoring offense (42), and 11
th in total offense (485.7). There are 167 programs ranked.
