ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington Wildcats Football picked up another big win as they secured their third-straight win and fourth overall. The Wildcats racked up a season-high 62 points in a 62-10 thrashing of the Simon Fraser Clan inside Tomlinson Stadium Saturday night.
 
The Crimson and Black (4-4, 3-1 GNAC) dominated both sides of the ball racking up 573 yards of total offense on 70 plays, while the defense held SFU (1-7, 1-3 GNAC) to just 158 yards of total offense on 70 plays.
 
"It really felt like we played a complete game tonight. Four quarters of good football and we obviously ran the ball well tonight," CWU Head Coach Chris Fisk said. "Michael [Roots] had a great night. The defense played lights out holding SFU to 1-of-18 I believe on third downs. It was a complete game and our guys played really well."
 
Part of the Wildcats big home win and now 12th straight against SFU was the dominance of Michael Roots in the ground game. The junior eclipsed 2,000 career yards rushing in a night where he totaled 221 yards on 14 carries.
 
Roots also put up three rushing touchdowns in the win. With his three scores and 221 rushing yards, Roots now ranks sixth in career rushing yards with 2,163 and fifth in career rushing touchdowns with 21.
 
"Our run game is a combination of both [Michael] Roots and the offensive line. He makes people miss but I also thought the offensive line played pretty well tonight," Coach Fisk added. "SFU did some things that frustrated our guys early but they adjusted really well as the game progressed and in the second half, but overall just a great performance by them all tonight."
 
CWU's prolific night started with three first quarter scores, two of which were touchdowns. Roots scored the first with a 56-yard burst in first 44 seconds of the game starting. Patrick Hegarty made it a 10-0 game with under 5:00 to play in the first with a 27-yard field goal.
 
The Wildcats defense was all over the SFU offense forcing them to punt in the first two series before forcing a fumble and pulling down an interception in the following two drives, respectively.
 
Grady Graff forced the fumble for CWU that was recovered by Hunter Eckstrom. The Wildcats were forced to punt on the ensuing drive but the defense once again stepped up to get the ball back. Chaz McKenzie pulled down the pick at the CWU 40 that set up the third score of the first quarter for the Wildcats.
 
Christian Moore threw his first of four touchdowns on the night with a 21-yard high ball to Drake Owen. Owen wrestled off his defender to pull in the touchdown grab with 1:30 to play in the first quarter. The score gave CWU a 17-0 edge going into the second.
 
SFU's first of just two scores on the night came early in the second, thanks in part to a 22-yard boot from David Eisenkraft. The field goal ended a 11 play, 60-yard drive that started late in the first and ended with 12:13 to play in the first half.
 
The Wildcats once again scored three more times before halftime and it was a feeling of déjà vu as they put up two touchdowns and one field goal to lead by 31 at the break.
 
Roots added his second rushing score of the night with a punch in from three yards out that gave CWU a 24-3 advantage with 7:31 to go until halftime. 91 seconds later after forcing SFU to punt again, Moore made it a 31-3 lead with a 11-yard strike to Tony Archie.
 
Hegarty nailed his second and final field goal of the night right as the clock hit 00:00 in the first half to give the Crimson and Black a commanding 34-3 lead. He nailed a kick from 41 yards out, which is his longest of his career in a CWU uniform.
 
Going into the locker room, the Wildcats already had 269 yards of total offense on 44 plays and the defense had arguably its best half of play this season holding SFU to just 82 yards on 38 plays. CWU held SFU to 0-10 on third down conversions in the first half to help build a 31-point lead.
 
Coming out of the break, the Wildcats decided to make it a repeat game in terms of scoring. CWU put up 17 points in each quarter of the first half and nearly mimicked it in the second half scoring a pair of touchdowns in both quarters of the second half.
 
The first Crimson and Black touchdown of the third quarter took just 11 seconds and one play to get the offense going. Following a punt by SFU, Roots took a handoff for 82 yards as he blew by everyone to get to the end zone for the score. His speed opened up the game even more as CWU's lead grew to 41-3.
 
SFU was unable to respond on the next drove and punted yet again. The following CWU possession, Moore took over the reins for the offense and drove the team 91 yards in five quick plays to score touchdown No. 2 of the third.
 
Moore found a wide-open Mykel Campbell for his first career touchdown at home on a 22-yard pass. The freshman was not done for night either as he had one more score that came in the fourth. With 7:16 to play in the third, the Wildcats led 48-3.
 
SFU's lone touchdown of the night came with 3:59 to play in the third quarter. Solomon Hines capped a seven play, 62-yard drive that took 3:08 off the clock with a four-yard scramble. His rushing touchdown brought the score to 48-10 going into the fourth.
 
The Wildcats got the seven points back in the first four seconds of the fourth quarter with Moore and Campbell hooking up for another touchdown. Campbell grabbed a high floater from Moore in the far-left corner of the end zone. Played hard by his defender, Campbell made a high leaping one-handed catch that gave CWU a 55-10 advantage following the PAT.
 
The Wildcats last touchdown of the night came with little field to work with thanks in part to SFU having some penalties on a punt. SFU punted from its own 13 and Owen returned the ball to the visitor 24 from the SFU 49. An unsportsmanlike penalty by SFU moved the ball up to the 12.
 
With 12 yards of field to clear, the Crimson and Black needed just one play to score. Eric Wilkes got to the end zone on the 12-yard scamper to bring the final score to 62-10 with 7:15 to play. SFU never scored again and the Wildcats walked away with a dominating 52-point win.
 
Moore tallied 219 yards through the air on 15-32 passing and had four touchdowns. He also rushed for 28 yards on four rushes. Roots eclipsed 200 yards for the second time this year finishing with 221 and three touchdowns.
 
Campbell had the most receiving touchdowns for the Wildcats with two. He pulled in three catches for 52 yards. Tyson Rainwater led the way in receiving yards with 94 on six receptions. Owen and Roots both had two catches for 28 and 16 yards, respectively.
 
Graff led the defensive unit in tackles with nine. He also added 1.5 tackles for loss and forced a fumble. Billy Greer and Daeon Hudson each had eight tackles, while Greer led the team with in tackles for loss with 2.5. He and Graff both had 1.5 sacks on the night as well.
 
Hudson and Jeremiah Vasquez also tallied a pair of pass breakups as well to help lead the secondary. McKenzie had the lone interception of the game and a pass breakup. As a unit, the defense had five sacks for a loss of 36 yards and 9.0 tackles for loss.
 
"We put some pressure on their quarterbacks tonight which was great to see. We feel we have some very good defensive linemen and they also have a young offensive line at SFU," Coach Fisk noted. "They're playing some young guys and. Think those guys are going to pretty good in the future. They're going through some growing pains you go through when you play freshmen offensive linemen, but I was very pleased with our effort on defense."
 
The Wildcats will head to Glendora, Calif. next Saturday, Nov. 2 to wrap up the season series against Azusa Pacific. Kickoff again the Cougars is set for 6:30 p.m. PT.