Western or not, Wildcats need win

YAKIMA — Rivalry aside, Central Washington needs this one.

The Wildcats, who oppose arch-nemisis Western Washington in Saturday night’s Battle in Seattle, will lose much more than bragging rights if they come up short at Qwest Field.

Ranked seventh in a regional poll that will send six teams to the Division II playoffs next month, CWU can ill-afford a loss — be it to the Vikings or in any of their four remaining games — if it is to realize its long-stated goal or returning to the postseason.

“It’s a very big game for a lot of reasons,” said Central coach Blaine Bennett, who earlier this week stated that his Wildcats must win their remaining games and finish 10-1 to be assured a postseason berth.

“We need to win, obviously. But it’s also a chance for both programs to who where they’re at in their programs.”

CWU’s program, of course, has had substantially more success than Western’s of late.

Last year, for example, the Wildcats went 10-3 and reached the playoff quarterfinals while the Viks lost their last five and finished 2-8. It was Western’s first eight-loss season since going 1-9 in 1983.

And since 2002 Central has gone 53-20 with no losing seasons while Western has gone 30-36 with just two winning campaigns.

Head to head, CWU has bested the Vikings five times in a row, won seven of the past nine and 11 of the past 16.

But of course in rivalries such as this, records and other historical factors become much less meaningful, if not entirely irrelevant.

The most significant single item, in fact, might well be Western’s defeat of Western Oregon last week, a 24-13 road win that reversed a season-opening 36-27 loss to the Wolves in Bellingham.

“We’re experienced on offense and young on defense,” said third-year WWU coach Robin Ross. “The last couple of weeks we’ve gotten some crucial touchdowns and then made some big stops in the red zone.”

And a Viking victory Saturday would go a long way toward stopping Central’s playoff hopes.

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