ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Football Team (3-1, 2-0 LSC) will look to keep building upon their season already with a big trip this weekend to Portales, N.M. and the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds (2-2, 0-2 LSC) for ENMU's homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 5:30 p.m. PST from Al Whitehead Field at Steve Loy Family Foundation Stadium.
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LAST WEEK
The Wildcats played their first game in front of a home crowd for the first time in over 11 months last Saturday and made sure Wildcat fans left happy earning a 36-0 victory over the Western New Mexico Mustangs.
Central Washington first struck when
Jalen Grable ran in a trick play touchdown of 30-yards with
Wyatt Redding successfully making the point after touchdown attempt, saw CWU up 7-0.
Kennedy McGill would close out the first quarter with a 28-yard connection to
Darius Morrison to put the 'Cats up 13-0. With 1:36 left before halftime,
Tyler Flanagan would add his name to the scores list with a one-yard touchdown run, paired with a Redding PAT sent the crimson and black to halftime up 20-0. McGill rushed in a four-yard touchdown with 11:40 left in the third quarter to put CWU up 26-0. Later in the quarter, McGill connected with
Darrien Gaines for a 24-yard touchdown and with
Quinton Pacheco making the PAT put CWU up 33-0 heading into the final quarter. The only score of the fourth quarter came when Pacheco connected on a 39-yard field goal attempt to secure the 'Cats 36-0 victory.
McGill finished the game completing 13/18 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 55 yards and one touchdown.
Cam Daniels led the 'Cats rushing attack with 94 yards while Flanagan wasn't far behind with 90 yards and one touchdown.
Beau Phillips and
Ki'Marree Washington each made their collegiate debut with Phillips rushing for 68 yards and Washington rushing for 14 yards, respectively.
Marcus Cook led the receiving corps with 59 yards on four receptions with Morrison and Gaines logging 44 and 39 yards, respectively with each snagging a touchdown reception.
On the defensive side of the ball the 'Cats were led by
Tanner Volk who finished with eight tackles and two pass breakups while the LSC Defensive Player of the Week
Chase Loidhamer finished the game with five tackles, three sacks, and 3.5 tackles for loss dropping WNMU back 27 yards. With Loidhamer's three sack, he now leads the LSC for the most sacks in a single game during the 2024 season.
Chase Coalson also logged a sack while
Jalen Owens finished with three pass breakups and
Isaac Clark had a quarterback hurry. Pacheco made the only field goal attempt of the game from 39 yards and made his only PAT attempt of the game. Redding finished 2/4 on PAT attempts.
ABOUT THE GREYHOUNDS
Eastern New Mexico is 2-2 on the season and 0-2 in LSC play. ENMU earned victories over New Mexico Highlands 63-37 on the road to open the season before backing that up with a 36-17 victory over LSC newcomer Sul Ross State at home in a nonconference game. The Greyhounds then suffered their first defeat in a tight 26-20 setback at Angelo State before falling at home to Midwestern State 36-15.
The Greyhounds are outscoring their opponents 33.5 to 29 points per game. ENMU has utilized the triple-option offense helping them outrush their opponents 396.5 yards per game to their opponents 204.5. The Greyhounds opponents have outpassed ENMU 192.5 yards per game to the 'Hounds 69.75.
"It's a team that's improved from a year ago," CWU Head Football Coach
Chris Fisk said. "And I thought they were really good a year ago, I thought they were one of the sleeper teams in the Lone Star a year ago. They have a unique scheme in the triple-option, it's like playing one of the military academies you see on TV."
ENMU has four rushers with over 200 yards on the season already, led by Ron Craten who has 384 yards and five touchdowns on 64 attempts. Ja'Calvin Newsom isn't far behind with 356 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 36 attempts. Mario Sanchez has racked up 280 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 49 attempts while Jarius Stewart has 206 yards and one touchdown on 28 attempts. Sanchez has completed 11/23 attempts for 273 yards, two interceptions, and two touchdowns. Jeremiah Moore leads the receiving corps for ENMU with 156 yards and one touchdown on three receptions.
Matthew Quartieri leads the 'Hounds with 38 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss with one being a sack. Quartieri has added an interception, pass breakup, and a quarterback hurry already so far this season. DJ Moore leads ENMU with three sacks adding four total tackles for loss while Khiron Green has the only other interception for the Greyhounds. Micah Lewis leads Eastern New Mexico with three pass breakups while Salofi Aumoeualego has three quarterback hurries to his name. Zerrian Meander, James Apsey, and Aumoeualego all have forced a fumble while Dylan Gordon and Dillon Hein have each recovered a fumble while Moore has added a blocked kick.
"It creates a unique set of challenges that you really have to run a defense that's maybe outside of your normal defense one time a year," Fisk said. "We didn't perform very well against it last year, so we spent a lot of time this offseason going around to different places to schools that also run that same style of offense and talking to their defenses. We spent a lot of time here in the offseason working on developing a better plan than what we had a year ago. I think one of the things that when we look at the game a year ago, we had back-to-back kickoff returns for a touchdown to open the game, so we would like to not start the game out that way again. We held them to their second or third lowest rushing total on the year last year, so we'll look to build on that as we look to keep that offense in check. I think we need to do what we've been able to do the last three weeks offensively which is controlling the time of possession and keeping their offense off the field and our defense on the bench."
Ryan Travis has punted seven times for a total of 255 yards with two of his punts landing in the opponents 20-yard line. Cooper Hamilton is 2/4 on field goal attempts so far this year with his longest conversion coming at 30-yards out. Hamilton has also kicked off 23 times for 1,437 yards with 11 landing in the opponents endzone for a touchback. Jeremiah Moore has two punt returns for a total of 19 yards while Jarius Stewart has eight kickoff returns for 177 yards while Rashad Carter has six kickoff returns for 88 yards.
UP NEXT
The Wildcat Football Team will head back to Ellensburg for a much-anticipated showdown against the defending Lone Star Conference champions the UT Permian Basin Falcons (3-2, 2-1 LSC) on Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 12 with a 6:00 p.m. kickoff.
