Receivers catch on for Wildcats

YAKIMA — At this point of the season, when every Division II team still playing is straining to find the slightest bit of advantage, Central Washington seems clearly to have identified one.

The Wildcats, believed initially to have been thin behind Johnny Spevak at wide receiver, have developed considerable depth there.

“We really have,” coach Blaine Bennett said earlier this week. “At the start of the season we didn’t think we did, but now we have so many guys playing well at those positions that they’ve turned out to be a huge advantage for us.”

Which in turn could amplify the effectiveness of Mike Reilly, which in turn might enhance the Wildcats’ chances in their Division II playoff opener today at West Texas A&M.

Spevak, of course, has had monster year. His 82 receptions are more than twice that of CWU’s runner-up in that department, and they’ve gone for 1,313 yards and exactly half of Reilly’s 32 touchdown throws.

Of Central’s 12 100-yard receiving games, Spevak has seven.

But when the opposition deploys multiple defenders on him — “single covering Spevak,” Reilly said, “is always a bad decision” — the Wildcats have come to flaunt other options.

Chris Rohrbach and Jared Bronson have both returned from injuries and Bronson, though a 6-foot-4, 255-pound tight end, is a deep threat as evidenced by his 63-yard touchdown in the season-opener at Dixie State. He’s averaging 16.6 yards a catch.

Younger receivers such as juniors Mike Waller and Sam Togar and freshman Jamal Weems have all had their moments, but none has been more spectacular than the last two showings by redshirt freshman Justin Helwege.

A 6-4, 205-pounder from Eastlake High in Sammamish, Helwege mostly rode the bench after a one-catch for seven-yard start at Dixie.

But Bennett, impressed by Helwege’s work ethic and athleticism, gave him another chance in Week 10 at Azusa Pacific, and was rewarded with a four-reception, 136-yard performance that included a 75-yard touchdown on a slant route. And last week against Western Washington, Helwege added three grabs for 108 yards.

Needless to say, he’s starting today.

Said Reilly, after Helwege went airborne for a highlight-film 46-yard reception against Western, “He’s Mossin’ guys right now. That’s what we call it when a guy makes a Randy Moss catch.”

Added Bennett, “He’s doing a great job of using his height to go up and get balls, and his confidence is extremely high right now.”

Spevak, who at 6-3 is also a three-year varsity basketball veteran at Central, said, “I’m not at all surprised at what he’s doing. When he wasn’t playing, you never heard a peep out of him. But when he got his turn down at Azusa, you could see his size and athletic ability come through.

“His confidence is up, my confidence in him is high and, more importantly, Mike’s looking for him.”

As opponents are constantly looking toward Spevak, in an effort to at least slow him down. A common tactic, and one Spevak expects today, is hard contact at the line of scrimmage which is designed to knock the receiver either off his feet or his route.

“You have to watch where their feet are positioned,” he said. “You can see when they’re ready to pounce, and you just have to keep your shoulder pads  low. When they do that they’re usually going to bring pressure (in the form of a blitz), and they want to throw the play’s timing off.

“But if you do get jammed, the play’s not over. You get back on your route and run your route. And you’ll never hear me complain about being covered man to man.”

Nor will Helwege grumble about traveling to Texas. It will be a big big game, after all, in front of a big crowd.
“My family’s coming out, I’ll have friends from Arizona coming to watch, and we hear they’ll have, like, 28,000 fans there,” he said. “I love that. I’ve always dreamed about playing in a game like this.”