ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington Wildcat football team (7-3) will head to Gunnison, Colorado for the first round of the NCAA Division II Football Playoffs, taking on the nationally 10^th ranked, and 2^nd seed in super region four, the Western Colorado Mountaineers at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on Saturday.
 
LINKS
 
RMAC Network (PPV): HERE
Live Stats: HERE
Tickets: HERE
 
LAST TIME OUT
 
CWU fell to the Texas Permian Basin Falcons by a 42-14 score in the Lone Star Conference Championship in Midland, Texas. The Wildcats fell behind 14-0 after the first quarter before a two-yard rush by Tyler Flanagan and a six-yard reception by Darius Morrison tied the game at 14 to enter halftime. The Falcons would overpower CWU and run away with the 42-14 victory and the LSC title.
 
Kennedy McGill finished the game completing nine of his 16 pass attempts for 148 yards and one touchdown. McGill also led the rushing attack with 64 yards while Flanagan added on 60 yards and one rushing touchdown. Zach Matlock had the most receiving yards with 62 while Morrison was just behind with 61 but had the only receiving touchdown for the 'Cats.
 
Tanner Volk and Brett McCalla each had 10 tackles to lead the crimson and black on defense. McCalla added in 1.5 tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry while Volk increased his NCAA-leading interception number with two more in the game to 11 on the season and added in a tackle for loss. Isaac Clark was next in tackles for CWU with six, adding in a 0.5 tackle for loss while Josh Flowers and Brett Accimus each had five tackles with Accimus recording a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry.
 
Dan Stewart had six punts for 245 yards for an average of 40.8 yards per punt with one punt landing within the Falcon s20-yard line. Darrien Gaines returned one punt for 14 yards while Jackson McCann returned four kickoffs for 68 yards and Flanagan returned one kickoff for 16 yards. Josh Jones had three kickoffs for 182 yards for an average of 60.7 yards per kick. Jones also made both point after touchdown attempts in the game.
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
 
The Mountaineers are used to winning, having only lost once in the season. They defeated fellow LSC foes West Texas A&M 28-6 and the Falcons 35-27 to open the season. They then rattled off six straight wins against RMAC opponents, defeating 22^nd-ranked Colorado State-Pueblo 30-14, Chadron State 35-17, Colorado Mesa 43-7, South Dakota Mines 43-20, Black Hills State 35-20, and New Mexico Highlands 62-0. WCU fell to number one Colorado School of Mines on the road by a 42-7 score before rattling off two more wins to end the season, first a 57-3 victory over Fort Lewis, then a 45-24 victory over Adams State to conclude the regular season.
 
"This defense is an extremely good defense," CWU Head Football Coach Chris Fisk said. "There's a lot of talent on the field for them, but they also utilize a chaos principle in terms of what they do defensively. Their blitz percentage is extremely high, they use a three-man front which kind of reminds me of some of the great (Pittsburgh) Steelers defenses in that 3-4 defense, where they're just creating havoc all over."
 
Western Colorado is outscoring their opponents 38.18 to 16.36 so far this season. They've accumulated 2,034 rushing yards compared to their opponents 1,208 and have out-passed their opponents 2,473 to 1,777. The Mountaineers have won the time of possession battle, maintaining control of the ball for an average of 31:40 compared to their opponents 28:03. They've been successful on their third and fourth down conversions, converting 44.51 percent of their third downs and 43.75 percent of their fourth downs.
 
Drew Nash has been a force at quarterback for the Mountaineers, completing 186 of his 324 passes for 2,227 yards and 18 touchdowns, having only thrown six interceptions this year. Deyvon Butler has been a power rushing the ball for Western Colorado, accumulating 1,001 yards and 17 touchdowns on 173 attempts. Braeden Hogan has also been productive on the ground, racking up 531 yards and nine touchdowns on 108 attempts. Drew Montez has been the go-to receiver for WCU with 45 receptions for 576 yards and six touchdowns. Cole Riters and Butler have each gotten 20 or more receptions with Riters with 23 receptions for 311 yards and two touchdowns, and Butler with 20 receptions for 144 yards.
 
Kendall Lightfoot has been a menace on the defense for WCU, leading the Mountaineers in tackles with 78, also adding 12 tackles for loss, 5.5 of which came as sacks, two interceptions, four pass breakups, three quarterback hurries, two fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble. Ethan Sanchez-Maxwell and Wyatt Buhr are next in tackles for the Mountaineers. Sanchez-Maxwell has 49 tackles, one interception, four pass breakups, and one quarterback hurry to his name this season will Buhr has 44 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, one interception, one pass breakup, and two quarterback hurries on the season.
 
Ricky Freymond leads the Mountaineers with 13 tackles for loss, 9.5 of which came as sacks and leads in forced fumbles with four. Andrew Arterburn leads WCU with three interceptions to go with his five pass breakups and 39 tackles. Bryce Lucas has also recorded double digits in pass breakups with 12 on the season. Freymond and Will Geiman have each recorded a safety on the season, while Malcom Wesley has blocked three kicks and Stevie Byron has blocked one.
 
Zac Grable has made 45 punts for 1,800 yards for an average of 40 yards per punt with 19 landing inside the opponents 20-yard line and five going for over 50 yards with the longest coming at 61 yards. Adam Tasei has made 11 of his 18 field goals on the season with his longest coming from 38 yards. Tasei has also been in charge of kickoff duties for WCU with 71 kickoffs for 4,172 yards and an average of 58.8 yards per kick. 21 of Tasei's kicks have ended up in the endzone for a touchback.  
 
"Our workload that we're going to have to do in terms of what we're going to have to do with our offensive line, tight ends, and running backs getting everything blocked is pretty considerable," Fisk said. "And they're doing it with a lot of talent up front. They have one of the best defensive ends in the country in Ricky Freymond. He's as good as there is at 6-6, 265, which normally at this level plays on the interior d-line, he plays on the edge of it. He's just a talented pass rusher and a great run stopper and just overall a good football player."