ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington football team (0-2) will welcome the defending Lone Star Conference champions, the Angelo State Rams (1-1) for a Saturday night showdown in 'The Burg this Saturday at 6:00 p.m. from Tomlinson Stadium.
 
LINKS
 
Lone Star Network: HERE
Live Stats: HERE
Tickets: HERE
 
LAST WEEK
 
The Wildcats fell to the 16^th-ranked NAIA program, the Montana Tech Orediggers (1-1) to open the home schedule of the 2023 season by a 37-29 score. The Wildcats and Orediggers went back-and-forth in the first half with MT leading 16-14, before the 'Diggers potent fast-paced offense outscored CWU 21-15 to take the 37-29 victory.
 
Despite the loss, the Wildcats rushing game was exceptional, rushing for 318 yards, led by Tyler Flanagan and Tre'jon Henderson. Flanagan led CWU with 149 rushing yards and one touchdown, while Henderson rushed for 137 and two touchdowns. JJ Lemming guided the 'Cats in the air completing 14 of 32 pass attempts for 198 yards. Lemming's favorite target during the night was Darius Morrison who had six receptions for 51 yards. Yakima product, Marcus Cook led CWU with three receptions for 57 yards, while Zach Matlock added on 50 yards with his three receptions.
 
The Wildcat defense kept busy, especially Brett McCalla and Tanner Volk who each had 11 tackles on the night. McCalla had a 0.5 tackle for loss and one pass breakup while Volk had the first interception for the Wildcats of the season and two pass breakups. Brett Accimus added on eight more tackles and a 0.5 tackle for loss, while Patrick Rogers had four tackles with one pass breakup and one blocked kick.
 
"It doesn't matter what level of opponent you're playing, you've got to come out and play, and you've got to be good every single week," CWU Head Football Coach Chris Fisk said. "A lot of credit to Montana Tech, they had a heck of a gameplan. We had some key injuries that thrust some backup players into starting roles and especially defensively we didn't do the things we needed to do, especially with our assignments which caused three or four of the touchdowns we gave up. What you realize in college football is every win is earned and every loss is earned, and we needed to be better, especially defensively."
 
ABOUT THE RAMS
 
Angelo State comes into this season as the defending Lone Star Conference champions. The Rams defeated a gritty West Alabama Tigers team on the road 38-14 before falling last week to the second-ranked national runners up last season Colorado School of Mines Orediggers 31-21.
 
The Rams have accumulated 836 total yards in the two games they've played this season, compared to their opponents 579. ASU has been exceptional in the air having thrown 601 yards for an average of 300.5 yards per game. The ground game is no slouch, having rushed for 235 yards or 117.5 yards per game.
 
Lake Erie College transfer Gerald Gardner has been leading the Rams air barrage having completed 56 percent of his passes and thrown 570 yards and five touchdowns, with his longest pass coming at 71 yards. Gardner has only thrown three interceptions. Gardner has found Brayden Wilcox the most times with 10 completions for 65 yards, however Kyle Bradford leads the Rams with nine receptions for 192 yards and two receiving touchdowns. Zorhan Rideaux also has racked up two touchdown catches  and 119 receiving yards on the young season.
 
The Rams rushing attack has been led by Kason Philips who's had 20 carries for 91 yards. Philips has been sharing rushing duties with Wilcox who's had 14 carries for 87 yards and one touchdown. Wilcox also has the longest rush of the season for the Rams at 77-yards.
 
The Rams defense has been led by Eric Rascoe and K'hari Watson who have accumulated 12 and 10 tackles each with both having eight solo tackles. Josh Booker-Brown has done the best job getting through the offensive line, causing four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. Andrew Pitts has seven tackles and leads the Rams with five pass breakups. Three different Rams have recorded an interception, while three more Rams have forced a fumble.
 
Bradley Larson has been the starting kicker for ASU, converting one of two field goal attempts, both from 30-39 yards away. Larson has converted one field goal for 30-yards. Cade Fuller has been the starting punter, already having 13 punts for 539 yards with two landing within the opponents 20-yard line.
 
"Defensively, they're similar in what we saw out of Weber and what we saw out of Montana Tech in terms of presenting a lot of issues," Fisk said. "They bring a lot of pressure packages, they have great personnel at the line of scrimmage, they have very talented secondary players. Again, for the third week in a row, they run a unique scheme that's tough to get taught in a week and to get your kids squared up on it, especially when it comes to pass protection. So, we'll have our work cut out for us. Offensively, they have some new faces on that side of the ball. They graduated their quarterback who was the best in the Lone Star last year, so they have some new quarterbacks. They have a Wildcat package that presents some issues for us. They have tremendous talent up front in the offensive line, just like their defense, they just seem to reload every year with guys that they've developed. We have to win at the line of scrimmage first, and then things just fall into place from there."