Wolves Meet Central Washington in Battle of 4-1 Teams

You can hear the game live on KPJC 1220-AM in Salem.

WOU's defense held Humboldt State to 62 yards rushing and no touchdowns, and sacked Lumberjack quarterback Brian Hildebrand six times. Photo courtesy: Humboldt State Athletics/hsujacks.com

MONMOUTH, Ore. - 4-1 Western Oregon will host 4-1 Central Washington in a significant NCAA Division II battle of teams in the Northwest on Saturday at McArthur Field. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m.

Football and Family:

Saturday's game is a part of WOU Family Weekend, and the contest will be the first home game in 2007 to be played since classes have been in session.

In the Wolves first two games before school started, they drew 2,700 against Willamette and 3,800 versus Linfield.

Home Sweet Home:

After three straight road games, WOU finally returns home to McArthur Field this week.

Since opening the season with home victories over Willamette and Linfield, Western has traveled to Kingsville, Texas (22-14 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville), to San Luis Obispo, Calif. (24-17 loss to Cal Poly) and to Arcata, Calif. (27-3 win over Humboldt State).

All of WOU's 2007 roadies are out of state: two to California, one to Texas, one to Utah and one to Washington.

Headlines at Humboldt:

Even without their senior quarterback and leading receiver, Western Oregon rolled past Humboldt State last Saturday at the Redwood Bowl, 27-3.

Mark Thorson and Isaiah Smith sat out the contest with shoulder injuries, but redshirt freshman quarterback Brady Lovell stepped in to throw two touchdown passes and run for another as the Wolves improved to 4-1 on the year.

In addition, WOU's defense held the Lumberjacks to 62 yards rushing and no touchdowns, and sacked Lumberjack quarterback Brian Hildebrand six times.

The Wolves also had their most impressive goal-line stand to date, pushing HSU back two yards on three running plays after first and goal from the one.

Then, on a 20-yard field goal attempt, Casey O'Donnell blocked it and Matt Buche picked it up and returned it 35 yards.

Bryan Huber had his first interception of the season, tipping the ball to himself and then returning the pigskin 32 yards.

Chris Malcolm had his first TD reception on a 45-yard strike from Lovell.

Western Oregon had 75 yards in penalties in the first half, but only five yards of mark-off yardage after the halftime break.

National Exposure:

The WOU-CWU clash is also a national game of the week on CSTV (College Sports TV), available for free at www.cstv.com/ncaa/divii. The game is one of four contests broadcast each month by CSTV. WOU's Russ Blunck and the Coach Bear Blunck will provide the call.

Series History:

Western Oregon led 14-12 at the half but Central Washington won the war 28-21 last fall at Tomlinson Stadium in Ellensburg.

Quarterbacks Mike Reilly and Mark Thorson threw for an identical 314 yards in the shootout, while WOU running back Eliot Vinzant rushed for 132.

Tight end Kevin Boss had eight catches for 81 yards, all in the second half, before leaving the game with a season-ending shoulder injury early in the fourth quarter.

Central Washington has won the last seven games in the series, and leads the all-time ledger, 22-16.

GNAC Preview:

Beginning in 2008, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference will offer football again, and WOU and Central Washington will play twice a year with league title hopes on the line.

Western Washington and Humboldt State will also return to the conference and newcomer Dixie State will also join the fray.

CWU and WWU currently play in the North Central Conference, which will disband next season. The Wildcats are currently 3-1 in the NCC.

Nice Losses:

Both Western Oregon and Central Washington have solid 4-1 records at the halfway point in the regular season, and both of their losses were impressive, if you will. WOU's only blemish was on the road to nationally ranked (CFS) Cal Poly by a scant 24-17 margin, while CWU lost at No. 2 ranked (D-II) North Dakota by a 42-35 deficit.

Medical News:

Quarterback Mark Thorson and wide receiver Isaiah Smith are both expected to return to the starting line-up this week, after sitting out the Humboldt State game with shoulder injuries. Back-up defensive back Danny Hart and running back Adryan Allen are both out with knee injuries.

Wildcat Words:

First-year CWU coach Beau Baldwin takes over for the successful John Zamberlin (now the head coach at Idaho State), and the Wildcats haven't skipped a beat.

At 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the North Central Conference, Central rose to No. 4 in the first Division II Northwest Region ranking of the season.

The Wildcats have wins this season over Humboldt State (44-0), Minnesota-Duluth (43-21), St. Cloud State (29-0) and most recently, No. 22 nationally ranked South Dakota (45-40). The Wildcats' only loss is to then-No. 2 North Dakota (42-35).

The offense revolves around junior quarterback Mike Reilly, who is progressively climbing the CWU passing charts, on pace to top the marks of former Wildcat and current Detroit Lion Jon Kitna. This year, Reilly has completed 66 percent of his passes (113-171) for 1,503 yards and 15 touchdowns: with only ONE interception.

His favorite target is 6-3 sophomore Johnny Spevak, who already has 34 catches for 488 yards and six scores. He had 10 catches for 156 yards and two TD's last week.

The Wildcats also have a running game, with Johnny Lopez accumulating 501 yards in five games. CWU averages 460 yards of total offense per game.

The 'Cats defense has given up 383 yards a game, although Chris Hemphill leads a group of good pass defenders with four interceptions on the season.

True freshman Adam Bighill made just his second start at linebacker against South Dakota and had 16 tackles, earning NCC Defensive Player of the Week honors (Reilly was the NCC Offensive Player of the Week).

Arne's Assessment of Wildcats:

"Central Washington is once again a very good football team. They have a quarterback (Mike Reilly) who has a chance to play in the NFL, they have a dominant receiver (Johnny Spevak) and a very good tailback (Johnny Lopez). Their defense has always done some things that cause us problems. We often have been able to move the ball on them, but have difficulties in the red zone. They (CWU) are fast and physical, and they have some good transfer players. The game could come down to defense and turnovers. There are a lot of implications in the outcome of this game, both for this year and the future."

Lovell-Headed:

Redshirt freshman quarterback Brady Lovell took his first collegiate snap and made his first college start at the same time during the win over Humboldt State.

The former Vale High School star, who had only held on extra points prior to Saturday, was 9-for-17 for 188 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 56 yards (he finished with 33 officially after sacks were taken out).

The 6-3, 195-pounder earned all-state honors at Vale in basketball and at wide receiver and defensive back before making the switch to quarterback for his senior season.

Ferg on His Freshman and HSU Game:

"I was very impressed with Brady's composure in that situation. He threw with accuracy and took care of the football, no turnovers. It took him a little while to get adjusted, as we expected. We always seem to have first quarter issues at Humboldt, but our kids responded well to the slow start, an area where we may have fallen apart in the past. We still have a lot of things to fix, but we have also eliminated a lot of the mistakes that we used to fall prey to."

Three-Peat:

For the third week in a row, JT Gilmore earned Defensive Player of the Week honors in the Independent Colleges Athletic Association. He had 14 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss in the near shutout of Humboldt State.

That comes after compiling 16 tackles against Cal Poly, one week after notching a career-high 18 tackles against Texas A&M-Kingsville. The sophomore from Lincoln City (6-4, 260) leads the Wolves with 12.2 tackles per game. The ICAA is a listing (not a conference) of the independent members of NCAA Division II.

Watch and Listen:

If you can't make it to McArthur Field this Saturday, you have listening and viewing options.

All Western Oregon football games are broadcast live on KPJC 1220-AM in Salem, and are available on the internet at www.wouwolves.com.

WOU television replays of the game will run beginning on the following Tuesday and through the week on both Comcast and WIMPEG cable in the Monmouth-Independence area, and on CCTV in Salem starting at midnight on Saturday.

Source: Western Oregon Athletics

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