ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Football Team (0-2) will look to make a splash in their Lone Star Conference-opening game when they host Pacific Northwest rival, the 10th-ranked Western Oregon Wolves on Saturday, September 19 at 6:00 p.m. from Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium.
Saturday's gameday sponsor Kittitas Valley Healthcare (KVH) will be helping CWU Athletics give away a Wildcat fan pack as well as CWU posters. A reminder that ticketing for CWU home events is cashless. Concessions will still accept cash and encourages the use of Grubhub for ordering concessions at home football events. Parking will begin at 3:00 p.m. and will cost $10.
GAME INFORMATION:
WATCH (FloCollege - $):
HERE
LIVE STATS:
HERE
TICKETS:
HERE
QUOTING CWU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH SCOTT POWER:
"I think they have a lot of experience. It didn't take me long when I got back to hear out of their camp that they think they should be the conference champions a season ago. They were six seconds away from getting that done and they're probably right to be honest. They have preseason conference player of the year on offense who's played a lot of good football for them. They have three backs that have all played significantly last year and into this season. They have an experienced receiving corps and four returning starters along their offensive line. They have tight ends that have played. Their defense is much of the same, they have a lot of returning experience and game reps under their belt at all levels of their defense, their front, their linebackers, and their back end.
A lot of the time, you win with juniors and seniors and this team has a lot. This is as good of a Western Oregon team as, obviously I was gone for some time, but this is as good of a Western Oregon team as I've seen and I'm sure they're going to have a great year.
LAST WEEK:
The 'Cats found themselves in an early hole against the nation's top-ranked team as Ferris State scored on its first possession of the game with a 1-yard touchdown run by quarteback Wyatt Bower to give FSU the 7-0 lead with 11:52 left in the first quarter. Ferris State struck again later in the quarter, putting together a 93-yard drive that ended with Zak Ahern's 17-yard touchdown run to push the Bulldogs' lead to 14-0, which held through the end of the first.
The Wildcats answered early in the second quarter, putting together an 11-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by
Justin Brennan finding
Isaac Torres for a 9-yard touchdown pass. With
David Weber's PAT, the 'Cats cut the Ferris State lead in half at 14-7 with 13:41 remaining in the quarter. The Bulldogs answered on their next possession, marching 75 yards before Bower scored his second rushing touchdown of the afternoon, this time from 3 yards out, to make it 21-7 with 9:37 left in the half.
The 'Cats refused to let the deficit grow heading into halftime, going 80 yards on 13 plays before Brennan connected with
Stephen Woodward for a 2-yard touchdown with just 8 seconds remaining in the half. Weber added the PAT to send the teams to the locker room with Ferris State holding a 21-14 advantage.
The third quarter turned into a defensive battle and a battle against the rain, but the Wildcats came up with a pair of early takeaways to give themselves a chance to tie the game. First,
Cale Allen recovered a fumble around midfield, then
Hudson Hardy recovered another one for the 'Cats at the CWU 35-yard line. However, the 'Cats couldn't take advantage of the turnovers ending the third with Ferris leading 21-14.
Ferris State broke through early in the fourth quarter when Bower broke free for a 43-yard touchdown run, extending the Bulldogs' lead to 28-14 with 12:32 remaining. The 'Cats put together one final extended drive, moving 62 yards on 13 plays and taking more than six minutes off the clock, but Ferris State's defense held on fourth down to end the threat and secure the 28-14 victory.
Brennan turned in another strong performance through the air, completing 23 of 29 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. He also added 34 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Antoine Lee led the 'Cats on the ground with 82 yards on 12 carries, while
Ryder Bumgarner added 28 yards on 12 attempts.
Through the air,
Mason Juergens continued his impressive start to the season, hauling in 13 passes for 134 yards, including a long reception of 47 yards. Torres added three catches for 47 yards and a touchdown, while Woodward finished with one reception for two yards and the second CWU touchdown.
Defensively,
Isaiah Strong and
Joseph Jefferson II led the 'Cats with eight tackles apiece. Jefferson II added two tackles for loss totaling seven yards, while
Omar Lazcano recorded six tackles and forced a fumble while also recovering one.
Brady Phillips added six tackles,
Kam Watkins-Hunter and
Connor Goff each finished with five, and
Hudson Hardy contributed five tackles, a quarterback hurry, and the fumble recovery on Ferris State's opening possession of the second half.
On special teams, Weber handled the bulk of the punting duties, averaging 41.2 yards on four punts with a long of 45 yards and one punt placed inside the 20. Brennan also punted once for 38 yards with a touchback.
Samaje Featherstone returned one kickoff for 23 yards, while Weber went a perfect 2-for-2 on PAT attempts.
ABOUT THE #10 WOLVES:
The Wolves have started out the 2026 campaign very strongly, building a 2-0 record. WOU first traveled to Colorado School of Mines where they squeaked out a 22-20 victory. They then stayed in the beaver state two weeks ago when they traveled to Southern Oregon where they defeated the Raiders by a 65-35 score.
Western Oregon is currently outscoring their opponents 43.5 points per game to the 27.5 points they give up per game. The red and black have a strong ground attack that's averaging 326 rushing yards per game and have tacked on 7 rushing touchdowns. The Wolves are just shy of 200 yards in the air per game averaging 199.5 yards each game and have totaled 4 touchdowns via passing.
The Wolves are currently successful on 50 percent of their third down attempts and are 0-1 on fourth down attempts this season. That is compared to their opponents 47.06 third down conversion percentage and 2-7 on fourth down attempts this season. Opponents are holding onto the ball a bit longer than WOU by a margin of 32:24 minutes per game compared to the 27:34 minutes the Wolves hold onto the ball. Western Oregon is currently averaging 57.5 penalty yards per game racking up 14 penalties for a total of 115 yards this season.
The LSC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Jordan McCarty is currently throwing at a 56.1 percent rate completing 23 of 41 throws for 362 yards with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. Jermaine Land is the leading rusher for the red and black rushing for 154 yards on 10 rushes. Tony McAdoo leads the team with two rushing touchdowns so far this season while adding 131 yards. Jaylen Fite and E'lijiah McChristian are leading the receiving corps with 77 and 72 receiving yards each while Jayden Burns has hauled in 2 receiving touchdowns.
The Wolves already have three athletes with double-digit tackles led by Elijah Pula with 16 tackles while Nijawn Sterling and Malik Ross aren't far behind at 13 and 10 tackles, respectfully. Daniel Cooper leads the team with 3 tackles for loss for 29 yards with all 3 tackles for loss coming as sacks. LJ Imo has added 2.5 tackles for loss for 17 yards and 2 sacks for a total of 16 yards. 3 different Wolves have an interception to their name. Nino Gama leads the team with three pass breakups and 4 other Wolves have 2 pass breakups. Jayden Brannan and Sterling both have 2 quarterback hurries to their names so far this season. Grayson Bagley has blocked a kick already this season.
Ashton Wolff has been the primary kicker for the Wolves, converting 2 of 3 field goal attempts with his longest field goal coming from 27 yards out. He's also added 16 kickoffs for 984 yards with 9 landing as touchbacks. Kyle Babcock has punted 8 times for a total of 312 yards with 2 of them landing inside their opponents 20-yard line and 2 sailing for over 50 yards. McAdoo has all 4 kick returns for the Wolves for a total of 54 yards. Erick Gonzalez-Bejar has 2 punt returns for 6 yards while D'Marieon Gates has a punt return for 21 yards.
UP NEXT:
CWU will continue their home stand and continue on their LSC schedule with a home clash against the Sul Ross State Lobos (1-1) on Saturday, September 26 at 6:00 p.m. from Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium.
