CWU rallies to beat Western oregon

MONMOUTH, Ore. — If double-digit deficits in Central Washington’s first two road games have alarmed some Wildcats fans, solace can be found in one bottom-line fact.

Behind Mike Reilly, CWU has won both.

“You never want it to be that way,” coach Blaine Bennett said Saturday after his team scored the final 21 points of a 31-24 defeat of Western Oregon. “But when you have a senior quarterback who operates like ours does — my calculator had him at 83 percent today, and that’s unheard of when you throw the ball 35 times.”

Reilly did in fact throw 35 passes against the Wolves, and completed 29 including a 71-yard touchdown strike to Johnny Spevak with 5:54 left that proved to be the difference.

The victory improved the No. 8 Wildcats to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the GNAC going into next Saturday’s conference home game with Humboldt State.

Humboldt (1-2) lost at home Saturday night to Western Washington, 30-14.

Central dominated most of the statistics, totaling 21 first downs to the Wolves’ 14, limiting the hosts to 17 rushing yards and controlling the ball for 36:14 to WOU’s 23:46.

But touchdown passes of 34 and 45 yards from Josh Riddell to Demario Ballard — the second coming with two seconds left in the first half — and a 53-yarder from Riddell to Isaiah Smith opening the third quarter staked Western Oregon (1-1 GNAC, 1-2 overall) to a 24-10 lead.

Reilly then began Central’s comeback with a 53-yard run, the longest of is career, and capped the drive with 4-yard TD pass to Spevak who had 11 catches for a career-high 197 yards.

J.R. Jamerson then intercepted Riddell for his 10th career pick, and CWU marched 70 yards for Jerome Morris’ 2-yard TD that tied the score with 6:56 left in the third period.

Reilly’s connection with Spevak was the only score of the fourth. Central held the Wolves to 104 yards over the final 29:44.

“They’re a very talented football team, they have some talented running backs and it was tough,” Bennett said. “Our coaches made a couple of nice adjustments at halftime, and they still made a play on us on the first series of the second half. After that I thought we played well defensively.”

Central left two offensive starters, running back J.R. Hasty and wide receiver Chris Rohrbach, home with injuries. Hasty twisted an ankle in the previous week’s win over Mesa State and Rohrbach sustained a back injury.

Reilly, for the second straight week, was CWU’s top rusher with 67 yards on 12 carries — he was sacked four times for 26 yards in losses.

His passing totals through three games are clearly befitting of a Division II All-American and a projected DII offensive player of the year. In 98 attempts Reilly has completed 72 throws for 969 yards and nine scores with two interceptions for an efficiency rating of 182.75.

First Quarter

WOU — FG Juan Rodriguez 25, 3:32.

Second Quarter

CWU — Jerome Morris 3 run (Garrett Rolsma kick), 14:18.

WOU — Demario Ballard 34 pass from Josh Riddell (Rodriguez kick), 12:28.

CWU — FG Rolsma 26, 3:10.

WOU — Ballard 45 pass from Riddell (Rodriguez kick), 0:02.

Third Quarter

WOU — Isaiah Smith 53 pass from Riddell (Rodriguez kick), 14:16.

CWU — Johnny Spevak 4 pass from Mike Reilly (Rolsma kick), 12:14.

CWU — Morris 2 run (Rolsma kick), 6:56.

Fourth Quarter

CWU — Spevak 71 pass from Reilly (Rolsma kick), 5:54.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Central Washington, Reilly 12-67, Morris 19-48, Team 4-(minus 6). Western Oregon, Ben Kuenzi 7-26, D.J. Jackson 8-17, Shaun Kauleinamoku 1-4, Riddell 7-(minus 30).

PASSING — Central Washington, Reilly 29-35-0-330. Western Oregon, Riddell 13-24-2-332.

RECEIVING — Central Washington, Spevak 11-197, Mike Waller 8-61, Jared Bronson 4-34, Morris 3-21, Jamal Weems 2-12, Sam Togar 1-5. Western Oregon, Smith 3-114, Jackson 3-28, Ballard 2-79, Kauleinamoku 2-29, Malcolm 1-48, Fullerton 1-18.