ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington Wildcats (6-2, 6-0 LSC) defeated the West Texas A&M Buffaloes (3-5, 2-4 LSC) 30-14 Saturday night in front of a packed house in Tomlinson Stadium for a Senior Day, Military Appreciation, and Homecoming victory. 
 
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"I'm really proud of the guys," CWU Head Football Coach Chris Fisk said. "I'm proud of the fans and alumni for creating such an electric atmosphere here at Tomlinson Stadium. The energy in the stadium was great, I'm very excited to get a homecoming victory."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Buffaloes started the game with the ball finding some success on the ground to make it to the Wildcat 16-yard line for a fourth and five. The Buffs attempted a 35-yard field goal that went wide left keeping the game scoreless. Following the missed field goal, both teams would trade scoreless possessions giving the 'Cats the ball back at their own 20-yard line. 
 
Kennedy McGill got things started for the CWU drive with an eight-yard rush. Tre'jon Henderson would pick up six-yards that got called back due to a penalty, but he would make up for it with a nine-yard rush. An offside penalty on WT moved the Wildcats from a third and eight to a third and three paving way for a huge Tyler Flanagan 45-yard rush to move the crimson and black to the West Texas A&M 12-yard line. A penalty on CWU would move the 'Cats back five making it a first and 15 for CWU. The Buffaloes picked up a tackle for loss dropping Henderson in the backfield before an incomplete pass to Darius Morrison in the endzone set Josh Jones up for the 38-yard field goal that was good, putting the Wildcats on the board first, 3-0 with 3:03 left in the first quarter. 
 
The Buffs would get the ball back and immediately get dropped for a four-yard loss on the rush by Brett Accimus and Dajshon Deams. Patrick Rogers would end the first quarter dropping the WTAMU rusher for a three-yard loss, keeping the 'Cats in the lead to end the first quarter. 
 
Despite a Brett McCalla run for loss of three yards the Buffs were able to drive down the field and get a touchdown on at three-yard pass, converting the point after touchdown to take the 7-3 lead with 10:16 left in the first half. Both teams would trade a possession following the Buffs touchdown. 
 
McGill got things started for the Wildcats drive finding DeMonte Horton for a quick nine-yard pass setting the 'Cats up at their own 41-yard line. McGill and Horton kept it going for another connection, this time for eight-yards to give the 'Cats a first down at the CWU 49-yard line. Flanagan would run over the Buffs for 11-yards to give the 'Cats another first down at the West Texas A&M 24-yard line. A delay of game penalty on the Wildcats set McGill up for a 26-yard rushing touchdown, with Jones converting the point after touchdown to see the crimson and black go back on top 10-7 with 1:06 left in the first half. 
 
The Buffs started their drive moving down the field to the CWU 43-yard line where Isaac Clark and Daniel Matagi received a fourth down and one sack for a loss of six-yards seeing the Wildcats take back over on downs at their own 49-yard line with 20 seconds left in the first half. 
 
McGill immediately connected with Morrison for a huge 43-yard pass to the Buffs eight-yard line. The 'Cats would get one more yard but couldn't punch in the touchdown setting up Jones for a 21-yard field goal putting CWU up 13-7 to enter halftime. 
 
Both teams would have a scoreless possession entering halftime, giving the ball back to CWU at the West Texas A&M 49-yard line to start their second possession of the second half. The Wildcats would power their way with McGill rushing for a quick five-yard gain, followed by Flanagan rushing for 28 more yards to the Buffs 22-yard line. Cameron Daniels got in on the action with a quick two-yard rush setting the 'Cats up at second and eight from the West Texas A&M 12-yard line, but the Wildcats were unfortunately unable to nab a touchdown resulting in a 31-yard field goal from Jones to increase the 'Cats lead to 16-7. 
 
The Buffs only mustered the ball to their own 29-yard line before the Wildcats forced them to punt with 1:26 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats ended the third quarter with McGill rushing twice for a total of seven yards to the CWU 32-yard line. 
 
Entering the fourth, McGill immediately gained four more yards on the ground to the CWU 40-yard line. Flanagan added three more yards followed by McGill with nine more yards to put the 'Cats at a first and 10 from the Buffs 48-yard line. McGill flexed his arm power with a big 30-yard pass to Horton setting the 'Cats up at the WT 18-yard line. The ground game would take it from there as Flanagan would set McGill up to punch in the two-yard rushing touchdown, followed by a point after touchdown conversion by Jones making it a 23-7 CWU lead with 8:58 left in the third quarter. 
 
The very next play saw Jaylen Clay intercept the Buffs quarterback to put the 'Cats at the WT 42-yard line. 
 
Flanagan notched two yards on the first play of the Wildcats drive, followed by a McGill pass to Darrien Gaines for eight yards to give the 'Cats a first down at the West Texas A&M 32-yard line. McGill immediately used his speed to gain 10 more yards, just before an unsportsmanlike conduct on the crimson and black pushed them back to the Buffs 37-yard line. CWU wouldn't let that deter them as McGill immediately found Logan Brady for the big 15-yard gain. Flanagan and Daniels would combine for seven more yards, but the 'Cats found themselves at a fourth down and nine to go. Flanagan did what he does best, rush for a 21 yard touchdown on fourth down followed by a Jones point after touchdown conversion putting the 'Cats up 30-7 with 4:29 left in the game. 
 
The Buffs would march down the field to get one more score in making it a 30-14 game in favor of the Wildcats with 1:13 left. Daniels would gain eight-yards on two plays to end the game and give the 'Cats their sixth-straight win. 
 
In McGill's first career start, he finished the night completing nine of his 16 passes for 132 yards including a game-long 43-yard pass. The Wildcats ground attack had themselves a feast, rushing for 335 total yards among four rushers. Flanagan and McGill led the attack with 186 and 137 rushing yards, respectively with Flanagan rushing in one touchdown and McGill rushing in two touchdowns. Daniels and Henderson added seven and five yards, respectively. 
 
Horton led the Wildcats receiving corps with 54-yards while Morrison hauled in the 43-yard reception for his one reception of the night. Brady had 15-yards while Kaiden Hammond had 12 and Gaines had eight. 
 
Volk once again led the Wildcat defense with 10 tackles including a 0.5 tackle for loss. Clark had a disruptive night for the WTAMU offense recording seven tackles, a 0.5 sack and one pass breakup. Accimus and McCalla each recorded four tackles with Accimus adding a 0.5 tackle for loss and McCalla adding one tackle for loss. Rogers, Deams, and Josiah Cochran all added three tackles with Rogers adding one tackle for loss and Deams and Cochran each having a 0.5 tackle for loss and Deams adding in a quarterback hurry. Daniel Matagi had a 0.5 tackle for loss while Jaylen Clay had the only interception of the game. Clay and Dominic Wieburg also recorded pass breakups.
 
Reigning LSC Special Teams Player of the Week Dan Stewart only had two punts on the day for 88 yards for an average of 44 yards with one landing in the Buffs 20-yard line and the other recorded as a touchback. Jones finished the day converting all three of his field goals with his longest coming from 38-yards also converting all three of his point after touchdown attempts. He also had six kickoffs for 369 yards for an average of 61.5 yards per kick. 
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will wrap up their season on the season on the road. The road tests start next weekend when they travel to the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas (5-2, 3-2 LSC) next Saturday, October 28^th for a 5:00 p.m. kickoff from Javelina Stadium.