ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The 13th-ranked Central Washington University Football Team (3-2, 3-0 LSC) will welcome the Midwestern State Mustangs (4-1, 3-0 LSC) in a battle of unbeatens on Saturday for CWU's Homecoming game at 6:00 p.m. from Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium with a special thanks to our gameday sponsor Anderson Hay & Grain.
 
D.R. Horton Home Builder will help the Wildcats give away a Yeti Cooler during the game for one lucky fan.  
 
GAME INFORMATION:
 
WATCH (FloCollege - $): HERE
LIVE STATS: HERE
TICKETS: HERE
 
QUOTING CWU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH SCOTT POWER:
 
"I obviously wasn't in this league last year, but it's hard for me to believe there's a more improved team in the conference than Midwestern State. I don't know exactly what their total number of transfers is on the defensive side, but on the offensive side they brought in 15 transfers including their quarterback, wideouts, o-line, a running back from Baylor, just an influx of talent off a I'm sure disappointing year for a pretty proud place. The one year I spent in the LSC in 2018 at Commerce Midwestern State was the defending conference champions. That's a really proud program with a very rich tradition that's been successful for a long time. Rich Renner was a defensive coordinator there under Bill Maskill and when Maskill retired Renner became the Head Coach, so he's very familiar with the league, he's probably been in the conference 25, 30 years I bet, he's been in the league a long time. He knows the league and knows what it takes to win in this league and has done a great job of building his roster for this year and turning things around.
 
They're playing very confident football on offense; they go extremely fast. I believe they are the number one offense in the country, if they're not then they have to be very close to it. I think they are the number one passing offense in D2, throwing for 415 yards a game. Their quarterback is playing extremely well and has all sorts of talent on the perimeter at receiver to throw to. They have a Big 12 running back that transferred in and have a big o-line that creates gaps for him to run through. Defensively, they've been opportunistic at times. I mean last Saturday they held Western Oregon to eight points in the second half, so they played very well in the second half on defense. They are a pretty aggressive defense, putting people down near the box and force you to make some plays down the field and make it tough for you to run. It will be a very big test for us Saturday night."
 
LAST WEEK:
 
The 'Cats got on the board first at Angelo State, putting together a 70-yard drive that ended with Ryder Bumgarner's one-yard touchdown run with 2:02 left in the first quarter.
 
The Wildcats' defense then came up with a big play to set up another score, as Cale Allen intercepted Angelo State quarterback Ayden Arp early in the second quarter before Justin Brennan connected with AJ Perez for a 29-yard touchdown to make it 13-0. Following the Wildcat defense forcing a turnover on downs the 'Cats needed just 37 seconds to tack on two scores. First, Brennan broke free for a 76-yard touchdown run before Kayo Wallace intercepted Arp on the second play of the Rams taking back over to set up Brennan to find Perez again for a 30-yard touchdown pass, pushing the lead to 27-0 with 4:49 remaining in the half. Angelo State got on the board with Ashton Dickens' 59-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left, sending the 'Cats into halftime with a 27-7 advantage.
 
The 'Cats punched on the first score of the second half with Brennan's eight-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 34-7 with 12:52 left in the game. Angelo State answered with a one-yard touchdown run by Arp, but the Wildcats responded with Brennan finding Wiley Donnerberg for a two-yard touchdown after LSC Special Teams Player of the Week Samaje Featherstone returned the ball 75 yards to give the 'Cats outstanding field position. The score gave CWU a 41-14 lead and the Wildcats held on for the road victory.

Brennan turned in another impressive performance, completing 17/23 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. He also added 88 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while Bumgarner led the 'Cats with 108 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 carries.
 
Through the air, Isaac Torres led the Wildcats with four receptions for 101 yards. Perez had a standout performance with two catches for 59 yards and two touchdowns, while Mason Juergens added seven receptions for 51 yards. Donnerberg added one catch for two yards and a touchdown.
 
Defensively, Joseph Jefferson II led the 'Cats with 10 tackles, including a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery, while David Jones added nine tackles, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery and forced a fumble. Brycen Indell and Isaiah Strong each finished with seven tackles, with Strong adding half a tackle for loss. Kam Watkins-Hunter recorded three tackles and two pass breakups, while Cale Allen added three tackles, a tackle for loss, a fumble recovery and an interception that he returned 11 yards. Kayo Wallace also recorded an interception, returning it four yards.
 
On special teams, Weber handled all three CWU punts for a total of 123 yards for an average of 41.0 yards with a long of 51 yards and one punt placed inside the 20. He also recorded seven kickoffs with all seven going for touchbacks and went 5-for-6 on PAT attempts. Featherstone provided a spark in the return game with three kickoff returns for 127 yards to earn LSC Special Teams Player of the Week. Juergens added a six-yard punt return.
 
SCOUTING THE RV MUSTANGS:
 
The Mustangs are off to their best start since the 2021 season, posting a 4-1 record including a perfect 3-0 Lone Star Conference record. They began their season with a home victory over Missouri Southern State by a 30-23 score. They then traveled to Michigan Tech for their first road game of the season where they suffered their only defeat so far this season by a 48-27 score. They then rattled off three-straight victories since then, first defeating Western New Mexico at home 84-17, then heading back on the road for a 41-31 victory at West Texas A&M before taking down Western Oregon at home last week by a 44-32 score.
 
Midwestern State is currently outscoring their opponents by a 45.2 to 30.2 margin per game. MSU has been one of the best passing teams this season, averaging 415.8 passing yards per contest while tallying 17 passing touchdowns. They're no slouch on the ground either, earning 167.6 rushing yards per game while accumulating 15 rushing touchdowns.
 
The 'Stangs are converting on third down attempts at a stellar 56.94 percent compared to the 31.82 percent they allow their opponents to move the chains on third down. They have also converted 3/9 fourth down attempts while their opponents have converted on 4/9 fourth down attempts. Midwestern State edges out their opponent in the time of possession battle, averaging 30:22 minutes per game with the ball compared to the 29:38 their opponents have the ball. MSU has been bit by the penalty bug, earning 97.2 penalty yards per game so far this season and have accumulated 48 total penalties.
 
Quarterback Kaden Brown has been one of the best slinging QBs this season, completing 132/188 passes for 1,884 total yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. He's added 117 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground. The Mustangs ground game has been dominated by Joseph Dodds who has 74 rushes for a total of 330 yards with four touchdowns. Fabian Baez leads the receiving corps for MSU with 26 catches for 313 yards and three touchdowns. Dominic Cox, Dalton Bailey, Tyler Brown, and Dexter Stigall IV all have logged over 200 receiving yards already this season with Cox having 275 yards and two touchdowns, Bailey earning 274 yards and a team-high four touchdowns, Brown added 222 yards and a TD, and Stigall IV adding 214 yards and another TD.
 
Nathanael Hall leads the defense for MSU with 21 tackles while adding two tackles for loss, a sack, a pass breakup, and two quarterback hurries. Ronald Manning leads the 'Stangs with 3.5 sacks for a loss of 19 yards while Oliver Jack is the team leader with five tackles for loss for a total of 27 yards. Brycen Lewis leads the team with three interceptions while Joe Hollis has earned four pass breakups to lead MSU. Jack is tied with Tyler Cooks with four quarterback hurries while Jack, Tre'Von Bates, and Hornel Cloubou have all forced a fumble with Brayden Durocher the only Mustang to have a fumble recovery. MSU has blocked three kicks this season with two coming from jack and the other from Durocher.
 
Jorge Mendoza has 12 punts this season for a total of 466 yards with five landing inside the opponents 20-yard line and two going for over 50 yards. The Mustangs are 1-3 on field goal attempts this season with Kohen Maroney 0-1 and Jackson Bohannon 1-2 with his only success coming from 33 yards out. Maroney has the primary kickoff duties, kicking off 26 times for a total of 1,628 yards. Conner Dunphy has two punt returns for a total of 46 yards while Louis Hickman has nine kick returns for a total of 268 yards.
 
UP NEXT:
 
The Wildcats will head back on the road to face another currently undefeated LSC team as the 'Cats travel to South Texas to face the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas (3-2, 3-0 LSC) on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5:00 p.m. from Pepsi Field at Javelina Stadium in Kingsville, Texas.