OGDEN, Utah – The FCS number 10 ranked Weber State Wildcats (1-0) won the "Battle of the Wildcats" over the Central Washington football team (0-1) in Utah Thursday night with a third quarter outburst by a 35-10 final. 
 
QUOTABLE 
 
"I was really proud of the effort the kids had," CWU head football coach Chris Fisk said. "I was disappointed in the penalties and the lack of discipline we had, especially in the third quarter, but we took a lot away from this game that we can't wait to test what we learned next week against Montana Tech. I'm proud of the effort the kids had the whole night and the way they represented Central Washington University." 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Central Washington saw the athleticism of redshirt freshman quarterback Kennedy McGill right off the bat as he rushed for 14 yards to get the Wildcats their first first down of the season. Unfortunately, the Wildcats couldn't find anything in the air and found themselves at fourth and 14, and a fumble by punter Dan Stewart saw Weber State take over on downs at CWU's own 13. Three plays later WSU found the endzone as Jayleen Record made the one-handed grab for six points, and the point after kick was good by Kyle Thompson putting WSU up 7-0 with 12:04 left in the first quarter.
 
CWU took over at their own 40 and McGill immediately hit the ground running rushing for 13 yards to the Weber State 47, which was followed by Tyler Flanagan having his own seven-yard rush to the WSU 40. JJ Lemming hit Marcus Cook for a big 25 yard gain all the way to the Weber State 15-yard line. Flanagan took it from there finding the endzone on the ensuing play, senior transfer kicker Josh Jones nailed the kick to knot the game up at seven apiece.
 
A penalty on the kickoff forced CWU to re-kick which saw Abraham Williams return the ball 100 yards to put Weber State up 13-7. Thompson converted the PAT making it 14-7 WSU. 
 
On the first play of CWU's drive Zach Matlock found Darius Morrison for a huge 51-yard play putting CWU at Weber State's 24-yard line. CWU managed to get to the WSU 18-yard line, but an incomplete pass on fourth and four saw Weber State take back over on downs.
 
The CWU defense was on lockdown mode to start the second quarter as WSU couldn't escape their own 40-yard line on their opening drive of the quarter. Weber State would have two big sacks for 21 yards on CWU's next two possessions not allowing CWU to find a solid offensive rhythm. 
 
A big fourth and one stop by Brett Acciums and Johnny Navarro at CWU's own 41-yard line with 3:44 left in the half set CWU up to make some noise going into halftime, and they capitalized. An illegal block on the Wildcats saw a potential game tying touchdown erased, which saw McGill hit the ground running again, rushing for a quick 13 yards to the WSU 26-yard line. A five-yard rush by McGill and a one-yard pass from Lemming to Flanagan set the Wildcats up at the WSU 23-yard line with fourth and seven and saw Jones complete the 40-yard field goal making it a 14-10 game heading into halftime. 
 
The third quarter was the game changer as CWU couldn't find any answer to the stout Weber State defense as WSU would score 21 unanswered points putting any chance of a CWU comeback out of reach. 
 
CWU finished the game with 15 first downs compared to WSU's 14 and finished with more receiving yards with 175 compared to WSU's 116. The Wildcats from Utah did finish with 190 rushing yards compared to CWU's 101. CWU won the time of possession battle, having the ball for 36:22 compared to WSU's 23:38 minutes with the ball. 
 
Lemming led the air attack for CWU, finishing with 90 yards on the day completing 11 passes. McGill led CWU on the ground with 55 yards while Flanagan had 46 yards and one touchdown, and Tre'jon Henderson had a solid outing with 33 yards. Morrison led the way receiving-wise with 59 yards while Marcus Cook had 40 yards and Flanagan had 33 yards, respectively. 
 
Sophomore defensive captain Brett McCalla garnered CWU's first sack of the season, with a loss of seven yards on the play. Jaylen Clay led CWU with seven total tackles while Accimus accumulated six. New CWU number 44 Tanner Volk had five tackles while Chase Coalson and McCalla each had four apiece. Dominic Wieburg and newcomer Dajshon Deams each had a tackle for loss for three and one yard, respectively. Matulino Masunu forced one fumble while Jeremy Banks and Accimus each broke up a pass. 
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will have their home opener at Tomlinson Stadium next Saturday when they host the 16th-ranked team in the NAIA, the Montana Tech Orediggers (0-1) at 6:00 p.m.