ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The ninth-ranked Central Washington University Football Team (7-2, 7-0 LSC) will wrap up their home schedule for the regular season, welcoming the Western New Mexico Mustangs (3-6, 2-5 LSC) for Senior Day this Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. from Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium in Ellensburg.
In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, we invite fans to join CWU Athletics in recognizing and honoring the indigenous communities' cultures, and traditions of our region in a special pregame ceremony.
Legends Casino will also be helping CWU Athletics giveaway a free TV to one lucky fan during the game.
There will also be a special pregame recognition for our 22 seniors as they prepare to play in their final regular season home game in Tomlinson Stadium:
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QUOTING CWU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH SCOTT POWER:
"We'll be facing another top-10 offense nationally this weekend. They've been able to score points, they're committed to running the ball, they're a team that like to challenge kind of similar to how we like to play. Not very often do we find ourselves out-physicaled, so that will be a big aspect of this game. Defensively, they offer a lot of variety in the defenses that they play. There's a lot of looks to prepare for. With how many multiple defense they can throw at you there's something you have to work through to make sure you don't get yourself behind the chains or the sticks because all of a sudden you're in second and 15 and the whole series is disrupted. There's some things there that they present to you on defense to work through and then offensively their running backs have had a good year. Their quarterback is averaging close to eight yards a carry and their leading rusher, who's from Washington, is averaging eight yards a carry. So, we'll have to be ready to go.
This senior class's receptiveness to change, I'm sure it helped, I know it helped me to have some comfort when I first got here that I wasn't a complete outsider, that I had some familiarity with this place and with the staff that was here prior. That being said I don't know how much is the same in terms of how we operate whether that's schedules, practice, travel, we do things that we think are best, best for the players, best for the team. Anytime there's change, there's uncertainty. From basically day one, this senior group has been bought in and open to change, they've been receptive to it. It's not like this was an 0-11 team when we arrived, but they've been receptive to all the changes and I'm appreciative of that. They work hard, they've been great teammates, and I'm going to miss them. I sure hope we have another home game, none of us really know how this thing's going to play out this next couple of weeks. The only way we can give ourselves that opportunity is we're going to have to play well this Saturday, this is the one that we know is guaranteed, the last time that we know for sure we'll take the field at Tomlinson. So, I want to send them out the right way."
LAST WEEK:
Eastern New Mexico opened the scoring with a four-yard touchdown pass, but
Isaiah Paul blocked the extra-point attempt to keep the deficit at 6-0. The Wildcats answered with a 2-yard touchdown run by
Ryder Bumgarner to take a 7-6 lead late in the first quarter. CWU extended its advantage in the second quarter when
Justin Brennan connected with
AJ Perez for a 25-yard touchdown, followed by Bumgarner's second rushing score of the afternoon on a five-yard run. The Wildcats carried a 21-6 lead into halftime. CWU continued to build its advantage after the break, with Brennan finding
Mason Juergens for touchdown receptions of 18 and 20 yards in the third quarter with the Greyhounds tacking on a 15-yard touchdown rush in between.
Justice Taylor added a one-yard rushing touchdown late in the quarter to push the lead to 42-13.
Antoine Lee broke loose for a 58-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach at 49-13. Eastern New Mexico added a late 37-yard touchdown pass, but the Wildcats closed out the 49-20 victory with another strong all-around performance.
Brennan led the Wildcats through the air, completing 12 of 13 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. On the ground, Bumgarner paced the Wildcats with 132 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. Lee added 117 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, including the 58-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
Ki'Marree Washington contributed 29 yards on 11 carries, while Taylor added 23 yards and a touchdown on nine attempts. Perez led the receiving corps with four catches for 148 yards and a touchdown while Juergens added three receptions for 64 yards and two touchdowns, including both of his scoring catches in the third quarter.
Isaac Torres contributed one catch for 28 yards, while Bumgarner added a 20-yard reception.
Defensively,
Cale Allen led CWU with 10 tackles, including one tackle for loss.
Connor Goff added nine tackles, while
Brycen Indell recorded seven tackles, a tackle for loss, and a five-yard sack.
Isaiah Paul finished with six tackles, a forced fumble, and a blocked extra point that prevented Eastern New Mexico from adding a point on its opening touchdown.
Isaiah Strong contributed five tackles, and
Omar Lazcano recorded four tackles and an interception.
Kam Watkins-Hunter also intercepted a pass, returning it 29 yards, while Lazcano returned his interception seven yards.
Cooper MacPherson added three tackles and a five-yard sack, and
Brian Kuhn recorded three tackles and a six-yard sack.
Keenan Landry added a tackle for loss, while
Hudson Hardy contributed a pass breakup.
On special teams,
David Weber converted all seven of his extra-point attempts and handled seven kickoffs for 454 yards, averaging 64.9 yards per kick with six touchbacks.
Dylan Stevens added one kickoff for 65 yards and a touchback. Weber's lone field-goal attempt, a 43-yard try in the second quarter, was unsuccessful.
Mason Juergens provided a major boost in the return game, bringing back two punts for 67 yards, including a long return of 49 yards that set up a third-quarter touchdown. Featherstone returned one kickoff for 16 yards, while Woodward added an eight-yard return.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS:
Western New Mexico is 3-6 on the season including a 2-5 LSC record. The 'Stangs began their season with a bang, taking down Adams State on the road by a 62-45 score. They fell in their home opener to rival New Mexico Highlands by a 55-32 score in the La Batalla Bowl. They followed that with three setbacks to begin LSC play, falling first at UTPB by a 69-14 score before losing at Midwestern State 84-17 and in their LSC home-opener against Texas A&M-Kingsville by a 52-14 score. They got back in the win column with a pair of victories, taking down Eastern New Mexico at home by a 61-55 score in the Green Chile Bowl before earning the Golden Tumbleweed in a 48-41 road victory at Sul Ross State. They've since lost back-to-back games, falling first at West Texas A&M 69-14 before falling to Western Oregon at home by a 56-28 score last weekend.
The Mustangs are averaging 32.22 points per contest but are giving up a whopping 58.44 points to their opponents. WNMU has gained 263.4 yards on the ground per game this season while their opponents have earned 354.7 rushing yards. Opponents have outgained the 'Stangs in the air by a 270.44 to 169.22 margin per game. Overall, the Mustangs are getting outgained each game by their opponents by a 625.1 to 432.7 total yard margin.
WNMU has converted on 34.4 percent of their third down attempts while converting on eight of their 20 fourth down attempts. Their opponents have been able to convert on third down at a 48.15 percent clip while being successful on 12 of 21 fourth down attempts. The Mustangs have averaged more time with the rock than their opponents, earning 31:41 minutes per game compared to their opponents 28:04 minutes per game with the ball. The 'Stangs have only accumulated 57 penalties this season for a total of 493 yards to average 54.78 penalty yards per game.
Jase Ashley has completed 84 of his 169 passes, throwing for 1,235 yards, 11 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, he's also added 562 rushing yards and five more touchdowns. Devon Nofoa-Masoe leads the rushing attack with 926 yards and a team-high nine touchdowns while Joshua Gaines has added 508 rushing yards and seven more touchdowns. Demarion Postell leads the receivers group with 317 yards and six touchdowns on 17 catches. Zakkarii Black has added 271 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 12 catches with Isaiah Abeyta and Joshua Gaines adding 200 and 167 receiving yards respectfully on 14 and 15 catches with Gaines adding a touchdown.
Clayton Zentner leads the Mustang defense with 99 tackles already on the season while adding a team-high seven tackles for loss for 26 yards. He's added an interception, a team-high seven pass breakups, tied for the team high with two quarterback hurries, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. Anthony Coleman has added 67 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss including a team-high 3.5 sacks for a loss of 14 yards, while adding two interceptions, a pass breakup, and a fumble recovery. Sheldon Williams has racked up a team-high three interceptions. The Mustangs as a whole have forced four fumbles and recovered five.
Conor Martinez has punted 31 times for a total of 1,356 yards with five landing in the opponents 20-yard line and eight sailing for over 50 yards. Nathan Flores has made two of his four field goal attempts, with his longest coming from 28 yards out while Karsten Dombrovski has been successful on two of his five attempts with his longest coming from 44 yards out. Dombrovski has also been the main kicker for kickoff duties, kicking 2,795 yards on 48 kicks. Jordan Partridge and Abeyta each have on punt return for 11-yards each. Black has 13 kick returns for 275 yards and a touchdown while Williams has added 11 kick returns and 222 yards.
UP NEXT:
The 'Cats will head on the road to conclude the regular season as they head to Canyon, Texas to face the West Texas A&M Buffaloes (4-5, 4-3 LSC) on Saturday, Nov. 14 at noon PST from Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium.
