ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Football Team will be back in action this weekend as they welcome West Texas A&M for the 'Cats Lone Star Conference opener and the Hometown Heroes Game, presented by KVH.
 
GAME INFORMATION:
 
Saturday, September 20
#17 Central Washington vs. West Texas A&M
6:00 p.m.
Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium
Ellensburg, Wash.
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QUOTING CWU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH CHRIS FISK:
 
"I think the biggest thing is that when you turn on the film of West Texas, they immediately jump off the film as a much improved team from a year ago so I don't think that it'll take much to get our guys fired up and ready to go for this week. We've had an incredible set of practices through the bye week and we've had some sessions where we've gotten to go live and work on our tackling and make sure that we keep that skillset sharp. I really like where we're pointed and the practices have been energetic and the guys have been getting after it and they seem hungry to get after it this weekend.
 
When you look at these guys, you can see that they're only a few plays away from being 2-1 or even 3-0. They played Western Colorado very tough, and we know all about Western Colorado and what kind of program they are. We also know a lot about Colorado Mines, so we know this will be a quality football team that's coming in here. I think it kind of starts and ends with their offense as they run an up-tempo offense with a very dynamic quarterback who can throw the ball well. They have very good skill players on offense and they have an offensive line that does a tremendous job of protecting that quarterback. He's a very special quarterback, so we're going to have to make sure that we keep him off the field and take care of the ball offensively and winning the time of possession while we usually don't put a lot of stock into that in terms of a metric to win, it's going to be important this week that we win the time of possession and keep him off the field. We also want to make him work for touchdowns and don't want to give him anything cheap. It's going to be very important to keep that offense in check and it's going to be very important to maintain the football and then very important that we take advantage of the third phases of special teams to set ourselves up with short fields and doing a great job in those areas that we don't let those things hurt us like we did in the Montana game."
 
LAST GAME:
 
Montana wasted no time getting on the board as Eli Gillman broke free for a 54-yard touchdown run, followed by a Ty Morrison PAT to make it 7-0. Later in the first CWU capitalized on a pair of Montana penalties to set up David Weber for a 44-yard field goal, cutting the deficit to 7-3. The Grizzlies answered with another score as Stevie Rocker Jr. powered in from five yards out, giving Montana a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Early in the second, Kennedy McGill connected with Jalen Grable on a 36-yard pass to set up CWU's first touchdown, a 15-yard strike to Camden Loidhamer, trimming the Montana lead to 14-10.
 
Momentum swung when Javonte Walker intercepted a Montana pass in the end zone. The Wildcats capitalized quickly with Beau Phillips breaking off a 31-yard touchdown run to give CWU a 17-14 advantage. However, the lead was short-lived as Keali'I Ah Yat found Drew Deck for a 50-yard touchdown, putting Montana back in front 21-17 at halftime.
 
The second half belonged to the Grizzlies. CWU appeared to have a chance after Jalen Webber picked off a Montana pass on their opening drive of the third quarter, but the Grizzlies took the ball back with an interception in the end zone. The Grizzlies made the most of the turnover as Ah Yat immediately hit Michael Wortham for a 76-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 28-17. Montana's defense locked in, forcing CWU to punt, and Gillman capped the next drive with an 11-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 35-17 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Early in the final frame, CWU tried to build momentum after recovering a fumble on a punt return, but the Grizz defense stood tall once again. Gillman then sealed the game with a 61-yard burst that set up his third touchdown of the night, a one-yard score, to make it 42-17. From there, Montana controlled the clock and closed out the game.
 
McGill finished the game completing 7/16 passes for 76 yards, two interceptions and one touchdown while rushing 13 times for 39 yards. Phillips and Justice Taylor led the 'Cats in rushing for 69 and 66 yards, respectfully with Phillips logging  a TD. Grable led the 'Cats with 43 receiving yards on three receptions while Camden Loidhamer added two receptions for 14 yards and a TD.
 
Chase Coalson and Brett McCalla led the tackling on defense with seven and six tackles. Walker and Webber logged five and three tackles, respectfully with both earning an interception. Chase Loidhamer and Matulino Masunu combined for CWU's only sack on the night.
 
Wyatt Redding had six punts for 255 yards and four kickoffs for a total of 246 yards. Weber was successful on his only field goal attempt of the night from 44 yards nad was a perfect 2/2 on PAT attempts. Mika Roberson had the only CWU punt return of the night, returning it for six yards while Phillips had three kickoff returns for a total of 61 yards.
 
ABOUT THE BUFFALOES:


West Texas A&M is 1-2 on the season finding success in their first conference matchup but falling in a pair of tough nonconference matchups. The Buffaloes opened the 2025 season with a 45-28 setback at 10th-ranked Western Colorado and were defeated once again in a tight contest at home against Colorado School of Mines with a safety by the Orediggers in the fourth quarter proving to be the difference. WT started Lone Star Conference play out strong with a resounding 58-27 road victory over Western New Mexico last weekend.
 
WT is currently outscoring their opponents 39 points per game compared to the 35 points per game they're giving up. The Buffs have built up a tremendous passing game that is averaging 350 yards per game compared to their opponents 259.67 passing yards. Opponents have been able to outgain West Texas A&M on the ground as the Buffs average 152.3 yards rushing compared to the 176.3 yards rushing their opponents earn.
 
RJ Martinez has been the guiding force of the Buffaloes offense so far this season. He's currently averaging 308 passing yards per game for 924 passing yards total on the season, including 7 touchdowns and 1 interception thrown, and a passing percentage of 66.07 this season. He's also the leading rusher gaining a total of 173 rush yards for an average of 57.67 rushing yards per game, adding on four touchdowns. Jayden Hibbler is the lone other rusher of over 100 yards this season with 139 total rush yards and one touchdown on 21 attempts. Trevin Edwards and Drew Zamar have been the favorite targets of Martinez this season. Edwards has 14 catches for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns while Zamar has 15 catches for 199 yards and 1 touchdown. C'ing Blanton and Jamir Roberts are both over 100 receiving yards on the year at 151 and 126 receiving yards, respectfully. Blanton has racked up two touchdowns with Roberts pulling in one with both making nine catches.
 
Miles Hill is the leading tackler of the Buffs defense accumulating 23 tackles so far this season to go with one pass breakup. Antonio Morillo has racked up four tackles for loss to lead the team and is tied with Ashton Reynolds with the most sacks as each have dropped a quarterback twice. Jamel Acosta-Lewis and Dy'cques Shaw have three pass breakups with Morillo forcing two fumbles to lead WT in those respective categories. Reynolds, Javin Cash, Andre Johnson, Sosa Sokimi, and Adam Whitfield all have a quarterback hurry.
 
James Ingham has made five punts so far this season for a total of 234 yards for an average of 46.8 yards per punt. 2 of his punts have landed within the opponents 20-yard line with 2 sailing for over 50 yards. Levi Crowder is currently 2/3 on field goal attempts this year with his longest coming in at 32 yards. Preston Gregg has made 21 kickoffs this season for a total of 1,279 yards for an average of 60.9 yards per kick. C'ing Blanton has been the main kickoff returner, returning 5 times for a total of 140 yards for an average of 28 yards per return. His longest return this season has been 68 yards.
 
UP NEXT:
 
The Wildcats will head back on the road for their first LSC road test in Silver City, New Mexico as they face the Western New Mexico Mustangs (1-2, 0-1 LSC) on Saturday, September 27 at 5:00 p.m. PST. from Ben Altamirano Field.