2024-09-06 20:35:02
Jacob Thompson
Football
ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The 2024 Central Washington University football season is upon us as the ‘Cats look to prove why they deserve to be the preseason favorites in just their third year of being members of the Lone Star Conference. The Wildcats will take on the San Diego Toreros on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 1:00 p.m. from Torero Stadium in San Diego, Calif.
GAME INFORMATION
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LAST SEASON
The Wildcats had a historic season in 2023 earning their first NCAA Division II playoff victory and advancing to their first regional final both for the first time since the 2009 season. The Wildcats season started out slow dropping their first two contests at Weber State and against Montana Tech before rattling off seven-straight victories to open LSC play highlighted by a victory over then 9th-ranked Angelo State, a homecoming victory over West Texas A&M and a come-from-behind victory at Texas A&M-Kingsville. The roll was halted in the LSC championship game at 17th-ranked UTPB. The ‘Cats regrouped and pulled off back-to-back come-from-behind victories on the road in the first two rounds of the playoffs, first a 16-13 overtime victory at then 10th-ranked Western Colorado and a 21-17 victory at 21st-ranked Bemidji State. The season came to a close in the regional finale as the ‘Cats tied things up at 14 with 1st-ranked Colorado School of Mines, but the Orediggers pulled away in the second half to give Mines the 38-14 victory.
The Wildcats had many individual accomplishments as senior safety Tanner Volk had the season of the century leading the entire NCAA in interceptions with 13 as well as leading the entire NCAA Division II in total tackles with 124. He became the first Wildcat and first junior to earn the prestigious Cliff Harris Award and was named a finalist for the coveted Harlon Hill Award. CWU had four All-Americans as Volk earned two different National Defensive Player of the Year awards while Slade Edwards and Brett McCalla each were named Honorable Mention All-American with Tyler Flanagan earning Second Team Academic All-American.
ABOUT THE TOREROS
The Toreros finished the 2023 season with a 4-7 record including a 4-4 record in the Pioneer League for Head Coach Brandon Moore’s first season with USD. San Diego has already gotten off to a good start in 2024 earning a 27-21 victory over in-state rival Cal Poly last Saturday, their first victory over the Mustangs since 2016.
“I hope in game one we go out there and have great ball security and take care of the football,” CWU Head Football Coach Chris Fisk said. “Number two you hope we’ve done enough work here in fall camp to be a great tackling team, I think as you go look at the teams who played in week one, those are usually their two biggest regrets that you go home with is you’re suffering the pain of regret because you didn’t take care of the football and you didn’t tackle well. So, we’ve worked awfully hard during fall camp to make sure we are taking care of the football, we aren’t turning the ball over. We didn’t have a lot of turnovers offensively in fall camp. Also, that we did enough work during fall camp in tackling and getting ball carriers down, so hopefully after that we can come away saying we improved in those things along with pre- and post-snap penalties, we want to try and avoid those and have incredible discipline on the day. Hopefully, our guys go out and execute and take care of the game plan.”
Against the Mustangs, the Toreros were led by Grant Sergent who completed 15 of 24 passes for 153 yards. Cole Monach was the favorite target of Sergent’s completing five receptions for 43 yards while Ja’seem Reed led the way with 56 yards on three receptions. Matt Colombo and Isaiah Smith poured in 88 and 79 rushing yards, respectively as Logan Gingg ran in the only offensive touchdown for the Toreros compiling two yards.
The San Diego defense stepped up helping secure the victory for the Toreros as Trey Ortega and Matt Ballentine each had interceptions returned to the house with Eric Haney adding a third interception. Jagger Pagano led USD in tackles with six while Ruben Lopez, Giovanni Iovino, Ortega, and Haney all added five apiece. Iovino was a menace along the line earning three tackles for loss for a loss of 19 yards while Chase Lyons and Ortega each added one TFL for two- and three-yard losses, respectively. Haney and Ballentine also each added two pass breakups. The Torero defense gave up 286 passing yards, but stuffed the Mustangs to only eight rushing yards.
“We pride ourselves on running the ball, and we pride ourselves on a lot of the same principles that I think San Diego prides themselves on,” Fisk said. “I think when you hear the University of San Diego your mind doesn’t necessarily go straight to great run defense in football, but that’s what they are. They’re built the same way we’re built. We’ll have to similar program philosophies matched up this week. We spend every day to try not to be in that position to have eight yards rushing, so hopefully we can avoid that.”
Aidan Lehman also served as a major contributor to the Toreros victory drilling both attempted field goals, one from 35 yards and one from 39 yards. He also went three of three on point after touchdown attempts and had six kickoffs for 389 yards with five landing as touchbacks. Aydan Corrales finished the night with six punts for 245 yards with a long punt of 52 yards. Yosei Takahashi had the sole punt return for USD returning it for one yard while Kenyon Sims took both kickoff returns for a total of 60 yards.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will continue on as road warriors next weekend when they travel to Colorado Mesa for a noon PST showdown on Saturday, Sept. 14 from Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction, Colo.
