ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington football team (4-2, 4-0 LSC) will make their first trip to the Lone Star State this season when they travel to Wichita Falls, Texas to take on the Midwestern State Mustangs (2-3, 1-2 LSC) this Saturday, October 14^th at 6:00 p.m. from Memorial Stadium.
 
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LAST WEEK
 
The Wildcats had their first game back home after spending the previous two weeks on the road, taking on the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds (3-3, 2-3 LSC) last Saturday. The Wildcats defeated ENMU 38-35 in a wild fast-paced game.
 
The back-to-back Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week Tyler Flanagan once again led the Wildcat attack, rushing 22 times for 113 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He also got in on the receiving action making two catches for 31-yards. Tre'Jon Henderson and Kennedy McGill also got in on the rushing action with 40 and 21-yards with Henderson punching in a touchdown. Quarterback JJ Lemming rushed for two yards for a first down on fourth and one on the final play of the game to seal the win for CWU.
 
Lemming had arguably his best game of the season completing 14 of his 22 passing attempts for 207 yards and one touchdown. Lemming had a game-high 44-yard pass. Marcus Cook used the most of his three receptions for 59-yards and the lone passing touchdown catch. DeMonte Horton had the most receptions at four and racked in 41-yards. Darrien Gaines finished the game with two receptions for 43-yards.
 
The Wildcat defensive captains Brett McCalla and Tanner Volk led the Wildcats in tackles with 15 and 12 with Volk also recording a 0.5 tackle for loss. Dominic Wieburg finished the game with nine tackles and combined with Volk for the other half of the 0.5 tackle for loss. Chase Loidhamer and Brett accimus finished with eight and six tackles while Patrick Rogers and Johnny Navarro each recorded five tackles with Navarro recovering a ENMU fumble.

Dan Stewart finished the game with only one punt for 22-yards. Flanagan opened the game with his only kickoff return to the house for an 87-yard touchdown. Jackson McCann had three kickoff returns for 89-yards, and Isaac Clark had one kickoff return for 11-yards. Quinton Pacheco finished made the only field goal of the game at 24-yards to end the first half and converted all three of his point after touchdown attempts. Josh Jones also made both of his point after touchdown attempts.
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
 
A perennial top of the Lone Star Conference team, the Mustangs have found themselves at 2-3 to start the season with a 1-2 record in LSC play. The Mustangs split their nonconference schedule falling to perennial NCAA Tournament participant the Colorado State-Pueblo Thunderwolves 37-8 to open the season before bouncing back to defeat the Mississippi College Choctaws 30-17. The 'Stangs opened LSC play with a 23-0 defeat at West Texas A&M before defeating ENMU 34-31 in Wichita Falls. The Mustangs had a bye week before their game last weekend at home against Texas Permian Basin in which UTPB took the 21-13 decision.
 
"They play with a lot of pride at home, if you look at Midwestern State and their tradition and history, they're traditionally a very strong program," CWU Head Football Coach Chris Fisk said. "They're struggling a little bit offensively right now, but when you look at what they have offensively, they have a lot of talent and are maybe going through a little bit of what we went through early in the season of just trying to put it all together. Once you get it together, hopefully you can build consistency and maintain it, but hopefully they don't find that consistency against us this week."
 
The Mustangs have found success in the rushing game, accumulating 1,031 rushing yards on 207 attempts this  season for an average of 206.2 rushing yards per game. The Mustangs aren't afraid to pass though attempting 102 passes and completing 46 of them for 392 yards. MSU is averaging 78.4 passing yards per game and have thrown five touchdowns compared to three touchdowns. Opponents are outgaining MSU 1,832-yards to 1,423-yards so far this year.
 
MSU has two players averaging around 90 yards per game, led by Jalen March who's rushed 86 times for 468-yards and three touchdowns to average 93.6 rushing yards per game. Devin Cross has rushed 76 times for 446 yards and two touchdowns and also holds the longest rush of the season for MSU at 65-yards and is averaging 89.2 rushing yards per game.
 
James Cooper Jr. and Zachary Keen have split time at quarterback so far this season with each playing in at least four games. Cooper Jr. has played in all five games and has completed 30 of his 66 passes for 223-yards and one touchdown, but has thrown all five interceptions. Keen has completed 16 of his 36 passes for 169-yards and two touchdowns. Tiquan Gilmore has been the favorite target for the MSU quarterbacks snatching eight receptions for 80-yards and one touchdown. Jalen March is second on the team in receptions with seven for 44-yards and one touchdown with Devin Cross third with six receptions for 77-yards and one touchdown.
 
Quinterrius Hargrave has been a force on the defensive side of the ball for MSU having 31 tackles so far this year, two quarterback hurries, and a 0.5 tackle for loss. Javian Gipson-Holmes is next in tackles with 27 while also forcing two fumbles and one tackle for loss. Maurice Perkins also have one tackle for loss out of his 26 total tackles and has added on two quarterback hurries. Kaleb Manning and Peyton Shaw each have 24 tackles with Manning leading the 'Stangs with 4.5 tackles for loss while Shaw has one pass breakup so far this season. The 'Stangs defense has six sacks led by Michael Gary with three while Jaylen Shaw has both interceptions for the MSU defense. The MSU defense has done a good job of recovering fumbles, recovering six of the seven they've forced.
 
Diego Gonzalez has 28 punts so far this season for 1,076 yards for an average of 38.43 yards per punt. Seven of his punts have landed in the opposing 20-yard line with only one landing as a touchback. Ritse Vaes has been the primary kicker for MSU converting five of his nine field goal attempts, making one from 54-yards. Vaes has also kicked 19 kickoffs this season for 1,126 yards for an average of 59.3 per kick with eight landing as a touchback.
 
"Defensively, they have a great front seven that do a great job in their defensive game plan," Fisk said. "They don't give up a lot of points, and when they've been down in games their defense has gotten very aggressive the longer the games have gone on just trying to get the football back which has paid off for them late in football games. They did a great job last week holding Permian Basin, which is a dynamic offense, in check for the most part. We'll have our work cut out for us between travel and what they present, they have a lot of great athletes on that team, they always have. Their staff works extremely hard in recruiting, and I have a lot of respect for Coach Maskill and what he does."