ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The 14th-ranked Central Washington University Football Team (1-2, 1-0 LSC) will look to wrap up their home stand with a clash against the Sul Ross State Lobos (1-2, 0-1 LSC) on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. from Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium.
Saturday's gameday sponsor, Multicare, will be helping CWU Athletics give away Wildcat rally towels to the first 800 fans to enter the stadium. Fans can also look forward to the return of the CWU Marching Band as they will be making their first appearance of the season on Saturday to play all of your favorites.
GAME INFORMATION:
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QUOTING CWU HEAD FOOTBALL COACH SCOTT POWER:
"They're 1-2, maybe didn't play their best week last week against UTPB, but when you flip on that Adams State game you see a team that earned over 600 yards and lit the scoreboard up. They do have some capable players, I think just like most weeks the focus for us is always to start with ourselves. Whether we're playing the number one team in the country in Ferris State or we're playing Sul Ross State the focus starts with the Wildcats and making sure that our process and our approach and how we prepare ourselves to play in the game really doesn't change on who the opponent is that week. That's the starting point.
I think for Wildcat fans, this will be our third of three home games in September. I think you're going to get to see another opportunity to see our team perform and have a fun Saturday night at Tomlinson. It'll be another competitive college football game that we hope to put on a good show Saturday evening."
LAST WEEK:
The 'Cats found themselves in an early hole as Western Oregon opened the scoring with a 41-yard field goal from Ashton Wolff, then added a 29-yard touchdown run by Jermaine Land to take a 10-0 lead after the first quarter. CWU answered with a 24-yard
David Weber field goal early in the second, but the Wolves responded with a touchdown pass from Jordan McCarty to Tyler Konold to make it 17-3. The 'Cats quickly answered as
Justin Brennan connected with
Mason Juergens for a 45-yard touchdown, and after Western Oregon struck again on a 46-yard touchdown pass, Brennan found
Isaac Torres for a 32-yard score with 22 seconds left in the half to send CWU into the locker room trailing 24-17.
The Wildcats came out strong in the third quarter, tying the game on
Ryder Bumgarner's 1-yard touchdown run before Brennan found
Stephen Woodward for a 2-yard touchdown to give CWU its first lead of the afternoon at 31-24 heading into the fourth.
Western Oregon pulled within one early in the fourth on another McCarty-to-Konold touchdown, but the Wolves missed the PAT. The 'Cats answered with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Brennan to
Wiley Donnerberg to make it 38-30. Western Oregon cut the lead to 38-36 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Terayon Sweet, but CWU responded with Bumgarner's second rushing touchdown of the afternoon, a 2-yard score with 1:32 remaining, to secure the 45-36 victory.
Brennan turned in a career performance through the air, completing 19 of 26 passes for 314 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He also added 13 rushing yards on five carries. Bumgarner led the 'Cats on the ground with 45 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, while
Antoine Lee provided a big-play spark with 46 yards on just two attempts, including a 40-yard run.
Through the air, Juergens continued his impressive start to the season, hauling in seven passes for 134 yards, including a long reception of 48 yards. Torres added four catches for 95 yards and two touchdowns, while Donnerberg finished with two receptions for 37 yards and a touchdown.
Samaje Featherstone caught three passes for 29 yards,
Ty Snider added two catches for 17 yards, and Woodward finished with one reception for two yards and a touchdown.
Defensively,
Brycen Indell led the Wildcats with 16 tackles, including two tackles for loss.
Omar Lazcano added 11 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, while
Brady Phillips finished with nine tackles, one tackle for loss, and two quarterback hurries.
Isaiah Strong contributed eight tackles,
Trishion Sullivan added six, and
Chris Hauss finished with five tackles and a four-yard sack.
Joseph Jefferson II recorded five tackles, an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a pass breakup.
Isaiah Paul also recorded an interception for the Wildcats.
On special teams, Weber connected on his lone field-goal attempt from 24 yards and was a perfect 6-for-6 on PAT attempts. He also handled all four of CWU's punts, averaging 42.2 yards per punt on four punts. Featherstone finished with 114 kickoff-return yards on six returns, averaging 19.0 yards per return, while Juergens added a 12-yard punt return.
ABOUT THE LOBOS:
The Lobos have started out the 2026 campaign with a 1-2 record and are 0-1 in LSC play and are playing their first road game against CWU. SRSU opened their season against NAIA Wayland Baptist who defeated the Lobos 34-20. They then welcomed and defeated Adams State by a 53-26 score. Last week they fell in their LSC season-opener against UT Permian Basin by a 66-7 score.
Sul Ross State is currently getting outscored by their opponents as the Lobos are averaging 26.67 points per game while their opponents are dropping 42 points per contest. SRSU has found more success in the air, averaging 285 passing yards per game while adding six passing touchdowns. The Lobos have added 153 rushing yards per game and three rushing touchdowns .
The Lobos are converting on 39.58 percent of their third down attempts, but are still looking for their first fourth down conversion, going 0-9 on fourth downs this season so far. SRSU has shut opponents down on third downs this season, only letting them convert on 31.58 percent of their third down attempts, however, opponents have managed to convert three of their six fourth down attempts. Sul Ross State has controlled the ball longer than their opponents, managing the ball for 32:27 minutes per game while their opponents average 27:33 minutes with the ball. SRSU has averaged 86.67 penalty yards per game and have racked up 31 penalties for a total of 260 yards.
Quarterback Will Howell has been a weapon for the Lobos completing 55.96 percent of his passes for 821 yards, six touchdowns, and four interceptions. Three Lobos have accumulated over 100 rushing yards on the season so far led by Rashad Madden with 206 yards and a touchdown while Howell has added 120 rushing yards and another touchdown and Eli Martinez has tacked on 106 rushing yards. Will Craven has been one of the standout receivers this season in the LSC already, making 25 catches for 355 yards and two touchdowns. Joining Craven with two touchdowns is Ronald Bell who has added 150 receiving yards while Ryan Van Roekel and Tribbean Ramirez have each snagged one touchdown to go with 183 and 123 receiving yards, respectfully.
Byron Carter has led the Lobo defense with 20 tackles this season while adding 2.5 tackles for loss for six yards including a three-yard sack as well as an interception and a quarterback hurry. Jabari Corbett and Emmanuel Osom have both tallied three tackles for loss for 23 and 26 yards with Osom leading the team with 2.5 sacks. Joining Carter with an interception this season is Amari Welch, Jai Williams, and Javien Powell. Jaeden Servantez and Elijah Rolfe each have two pass breakups to lead the defense while Osom is the leader in quarterback hurries with three. Grant Williams and Welch have each forced a fumble while Cortez Howard has blocked a kick.
Jason Maltos is a perfect 2-2 on field goal attempts this season while Marcos Garcia is currently 2-3 on his field goal attempts, but both have their longest success coming from 36 yards out. Maltos has been the primary kickoff kicker kicking off 13 times for 572 yards with two landing as touchbacks and one landing out-of-bounds. Logan Johnson has six punts for 217 yards with one sailing for 51-yards while Maltos has punted five times for 185 yards. Ramirez has been the only punt returner this season, returning four punts for 49 yards. Keithron Lee has returned six kicks for 110 yards while Kyree Payton has added five kick returns for 175 yards and a touchdown of 90-yards.
UP NEXT:
The Wildcats will head on the road for their first conference road test when they travel to San Angelo, Texas to face the Angelo State Rams (0-3, 0-1 LSC) on Saturday, October 3 at 4:00 p.m. PST from LeGrand Stadium at 1st Community Credit Union Field.
