Grandview to test mettle against 2A power

Near perfection turned Squalicum into a near pariah.

After routing its four Class 2A state-tournament opponents by an average of nearly 22 points, capping a season in which the junior-laden Storm’s only loss in 27 games came against California national powerhouse Mater Dei, Squalicum became the team nobody wanted to play.

Well, almost nobody. More on that in a moment.

While trying to put together the kind of daunting summer and non-league fall schedules that would hone his team for another championship season, Squalicum coach Dave Dickson had trouble trying to line up games against some of the state’s traditional powers.

So, too, did the guys who were determined to pit Dickson’s team against one of those big-name draws in this weekend’s the SunDome Basketball Hall of Fame Tip Off Classic.

One powerhouse team after another backed away from the idea, including at least one prominent Seattle program that had what Classic director Mike Anderson called “a handshake agreement” to face the Storm.

“Nobody wanted anything to do with them, that’s for sure,” Anderson said. “Anybody who thinks they’re going to be good is thinking, ‘Why do we want to start our season 0-1 and have our (egos, let’s say) handed to us by a team that’s the defending champion who’s bringing back almost their entire team?’”

One team, though, didn’t back away from the opportunity.

It was a team that expects to be good and has a state-tournament résumé far longer than that of Squalicum. It’s a program that returns key members of a team that barely missed a state-tourney berth a year ago, while bringing up some talented members of a JV team that went 15-4 last year (after being undefeated in C-team play two years ago) and won its last 12 games last spring.

The folks at Grandview took the call with the offer to play Squalicum, stroked their collective chins and pretty much said: What time’s the tipoff?

“I checked with Roy (Garcia, the Greyhounds’ second-year coach) to make sure it was good with him, and he was up for it,” recalled Grandview athletic director Scott Parrish, who coached the Greyhounds to the 2002 Class 2A title, the third of their three state championships. “We thought it would be a good challenge for our kids early in the year. It should be fun.”

A bit of fun is just what Garcia was having when he was asked last week about his willingness to open the season against the reigning 2A champs.

“What season opener? You mean the shellacking they’re going to give us? I don’t know what I was thinking,” Garcia said, not sounding remotely serious.

When Parrish wanted to know if he’d be interested in a game with Squalicum, Garcia said, “Yeah, we’d be interested. It’ll give us as a program a sense of where we need to go. Obviously, we know what we need to work on, but it’ll give us as coaches a detailed overview — and what better way of doing that than against the defending state champs?”

Squalicum had only one senior on its tournament roster last March, and it was a big one — 6-foot-7 center Kyle Hooper. But Hooper was only the team’s fifth-leading scorer, and four juniors scored in double figures. One of them, though, was 2A state player of the year Keith Stackhouse, who will miss this season after injuries to both shoulders, one of which has already been operated on with a second surgery still to come.

“I’m so sorry for him,” Dickson said. “He’s a great kid and that’s very unfortunate for him.”

On the other hand, Squalicum has a pair of sensational guards in slashing Patrick Voeut and sharpshooter Derek Dickerson, a 6-foot-5 go-to guy in Michael Greene, plus five other players at 6-foot-3 or taller.

Grandview, meanwhile, has a 6-4 guy (Derek Newhouse) who is more of a finesse guy than a rebound banger, a 6-2 guy (Christian Shrank) who will battle on the boards, and a bunch of sub-6-footers — like 5-7 cousins Adrian Vela and Tony Vela — who will play with end-to-end intensity. Garcia believes Tony Vela could turn out to be as much of a big-time playmaker as his older brother James, which is high praise indeed.

And Dickson knows the Greyhounds will come to play.

“I think our league, the Northwest Conference, is very strong,” Dickson said. “Well, if there’s a 2A conference that matches us in strength, I think it’s the CWAC.

“With Ephrata winning (the state tournament) the year before and having that special player (6-foot-8 Washington State University recruit Patrick Simon) back, and Toppenish had that nice run in the tournament last year … we respect that league and know that from top to bottom it’s very competitive. They really get after it, and it’ll be fun to come over and play a team like that.”

Especially since he knows the Greyhounds won’t shy away from the opportunity.

Hall of Fame inductions one of weekend highlights

The inaugural SunDome Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic this Friday and Saturday will be about two days of basketball and, yes, the first inductions into the SunDome Basketball Hall of Fame.

Friday’s opening day will feature four games — East Valley taking on Granger and Selah facing Riverside Christian, each in a girls-boys doubleheader —  with the first Hall of Fame induction right in the middle.

The inductee will be former East Valley standout Elyse Mengarelli, who earned tournament MVP honors in leading the Red Devils to the 2002 Class 2A title.

That ceremony will take place after the 6 p.m. showcase game pitting East Valley’s girls, perennially a CWAC and Class 2A state contender, against Granger, last year’s Class 1A runnerup.

The second inductee, to be inducted following Saturday’s Grandview-Squalicum game, will be David Pendergraft, who led Brewster to four state trophies between 2001 and 2004, including back-to-back titles in his junior and senior seasons.

Hall of Fame Classic schedule
Friday
4:30 p.m. — East Valley boys vs. Granger
6 p.m. — Granger girls vs. East Valley
7:30 p.m. — Selah girls vs. Riverside Christian
9 p.m. — Riverside Christian boys vs. Selah
Saturday
2 p.m. — Ellensburg girls vs. Graham-Kapowsin
3:30 p.m. — Ellensburg boys vs. Graham-Kapowsin
5 p.m. — Grandview boys vs. Squalicum
7 p.m. — Toppenish girls vs. White Swan
8:30 p.m. — White Swan boys vs. Toppenish

CWU kicker named Academic All-American

Central Washington University kicker Garrett Rolsma has been named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division first team.

Rolsma becomes the first CWU student-athlete to be a first-team Academic All-American as part of the CoSIDA program. Former Wildcat wide receiver Nate Brookreson was the most recent CWU student-athlete recognized by the program in 2005.

Rolsma carries a 3.50 grade-point average as an exercise science major and was a three-time academic all-conference choice. He also earned first-team all-GNAC honors as a kicker each of his final two seasons, finishing his career as Central’s all-time leading scorer with 330 points.

VEA named All-American: For the second consecutive season, Central Washington libero Brandie Vea has been named an honorable mention Division II All-American.

Vea, a junior, also was an honorable mention All-American during her sophomore season. This year, she finished the regular season ranked fourth nationally with an average of 5.83 digs per set. She led the GNAC in digs and earned first-team all-conference honors.

4-wheelers tend to interfere with a proper hunt

First let me say that I have nothing against four-wheelers. Some of my favorite vehicles have four wheels. In fact, I have spent more time in a vehicle with four wheels than I ever did on a two- or three-wheeler.

And I know four-wheel off-road vehicles have a purpose. They are fun to ride and they are certainly useful on the ranch and around the orchards.

I’m just not terribly fond of them as a hunting tool.

I should amend that statement. Four-wheelers can be a very useful hunting tool, when used to transport hunter and/or game from point A to point B. But way too many hunters who hunt from all-terrain vehicles — and I’m talking about the smaller ones here, the one- or two-person ATVs — use them as a crutch. They rarely leave the seat of the vehicle to actually get off the beaten path and go hunting.

During the first part of November, I spent five days hunting mule deer in southwest Colorado. There, where the laws allow the use of ORVs on basically any two-track road or trail, the things were everywhere. Every pickup and SUV in the region was pulling a trailer with anywhere from two to six ATVs on them. And from first light to sunset each day, you could hear the drone of their engines combing the roads as hunters searched for deer.

I’m sure some of the hunters who were looking for deer from their ORVs did actually see deer. Some probably even filled their tags. But as I watched the riders moving here and there around the perimeters of some excellent deer country, I had to wonder just how many deer they weren’t seeing.

I got a first-hand answer to that question one morning as I hiked across some ridges into several draws. As I started out on my hunt, not one or two, but five four-wheelers with seven orange-clad hunters aboard zoomed by me on a tiny little two-track.  At first I was ticked, but then I thought, “You know what, these guys can’t go where I’m going to go,” and stuck with my plan. Sure enough, they stayed on the road and motored off into the junipers.

After watching the hunters bounce off into the dust on their four-wheelers, I walked 100 yards or so and peeked over into a little draw. There, with their ears perked up, watching the direction of the ATVs, were five does and fawns.

The hunters didn’t see them — couldn’t see them — from their four-wheelers.

I followed the progress of the ATVs by the sound of their engines, and once or twice I heard them come to a stop, presumably to glass down the hill from the road they were on. In a few seconds, they’d rev up the little vehicles and off they would roar.

In the next hour, I walked up, over, down and through all of the country below the road the ATVs had just traveled. I lost count of the number of deer I saw on that hunt. It was well over 50, including two legal bucks any of the seven motorized hunters would have been happy to see and possibly shoot. I’m thinking the four-wheeler hunters didn’t see one-tenth of the deer I did.

The interesting thing is I hardly saw another person out walking during the five days of hunting, apart from the three other guys I was with from Washington.

I did see dozens and dozens and dozens of hunters on four-wheelers. I guess in Colorado that’s the way to hunt.

Besides the obvious missed opportunities for deer, along with having to listen to those things all day if you are hunting on them, I would think the ORV riders are also losing out on much of the hunting experience.

Part of the enjoyment of hunting for me is getting away from the roads, seeing the country and the other wildlife. And I enjoy the exercise I get from hiking up and down the hills during the hunt. You don’t really get any of that from the seat of a four-wheeler.

Over the years of hunting here in Washington, I have not run into too many ATVs.

I know some people use them, but I’ve not seen anything like what I saw in Colorado.

Again, I believe these vehicles have a place. Even in hunting. There’s been a few times I would have paid big money to have one at my beck and call when I had a deer down a couple of miles from the road. And for some handicapped hunters, ORVs are obviously needed, used and appreciated. I certainly understand that.

After hunting in Colorado recently, and in other states over the years where hunters rely heavily on the use of ATVs,  I’m glad Washington hasn’t gotten that bad. And I hope it never does.
• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

Wildlife Moment: Waxwings fly into picture

A local birder checking out the birds in the crabapples in the Yakima Area Arboretum noticed among the cedar waxwings a larger and grayer bird. It was a Bohemian waxwing, a winter visitor from the north.

Look for this bird from November through February, though it’s irregular this far south (it appears in some winters in Yakima, but not in others).

What’s with this Bohemian name? One definition is a gypsy, which characterizes this waxwing very well, as it is famous for its unpredictable wanderings. Another thought is that since the species occurs across northern Europe and Asia, the region of western Slovakia called Bohemia is another home to this waxwing.

How to spot one: Look among the cedar waxwings, brownish with a lemon-yellow belly, for a bird that’s a tad larger and distinctly grayer. Both species share a similar silhouette: like a starling with a crest. Two features not seen in a cedar waxwing are white patches in its wings and a rufous patch at the base of its under tail. The waxy red spots on the wingtips of this species are also found on the cedar waxwing. Experienced birders note the call of the Bohemian is distinctly trilled, unlike the more simple wiry call of the cedar.

This bird enjoying an early-winter snack is a Bohemian waxwing, distinguished from smaller cedar waxwings by the white patches on its wings and its larger size. (Photo courtesy of GEORGE VLAHAKIS)

Where and when: Bohemians breed in Alaska and western Canada in spruce habitat and mosquito-infested bogland. They head south in winter to southwestern Canada and the northern tier of states. Thirty years ago, Bohemian waxwings reached Yakima more regularly than now, but they remain common in the Okanogan Valley; perhaps there is enough food in orchards and vineyards to the north that these birds have little need to wander our way.

Diet: In summer, these birds perch atop spruce trees in their north-country breeding grounds and sally off the treetops snatching up insects, though probably not making a serious dent in the clouds of mosquitoes. On cold days and through most of the winter, they switch to fruit as a mainstay.  Items up north include a variety of arctic berries.

Here, they seek berries of junipers, mountain ash, crab apples and rose hips. They forage for fruit by plucking from a perch or hovering in flight and snipping berries.

Social life: While nesting this waxwing breeds in pairs. At all other times of the year, Bohemian waxwings are strongly social, forming flocks of up to several hundred birds. They breed late, apparently cued to the ripening of fruit in summer. Their nest is a cup-shaped structure built by both sexes. Four to six eggs are laid; incubation by the female is 14 to 16 days. The young, fed insects and berries by both parents, may stay with their parents through their first fall and winter.

What you may not know: Waxwings are named for the waxy red “droplets” at the tips of some wing feathers. Their function is not really known, though the color itself comes from pigments (carotenoids) found in fruits they eat.

An interesting shift in pigmentation of waxwings in eastern North America over the past several decades, from yellow to orange, is thought to be tied to widespread plantings of exotic honeysuckles. Intensity of the orange in those eastern waxwings seems to be tied to the quantity of honeysuckle fruits the waxwings eat.
• Wildlife Moment, focusing on native wildlife, typically runs in Outdoors on the first Tuesday of every month, with the cooperation of the Yakima Valley Audubon Society.

White Pass to host Nordic sports event

If you’ve always wanted to take up cross-country skiing or snowshoeing, mark Dec. 12 — a week from this Saturday — on your calendar.

On that day, the Yakima Nordic Skiing and Snowshoeing Council will put on what it’s happily calling the “Yakima Family Cross-Country Ski and Snowshoe Jamboree” from 9 a.m. to

3 p.m. at the White Pass Nordic Center, across U.S. Highway 12 from the downhill skiing area.

The council’s intent is to highlight and improve area participation in non-motorized winter sports, and members of the council and the Cascadians will be on hand to provide instruction. That instruction will be entirely introductory-level stuff, right down to how to put those things on your feet and what to do once they’re there.

The cross-country/snowshoe council was created about a year ago to give those outdoor user groups a voice in the process, explained Ted Gamlem, who is active in both the council and the Cascadians.

“I guess you could liken it in a number of ways to what the Washington State Snowmobile Association does in terms of trails for snowmobiles,” Gamlem said. “There’s no voice for non-motorized (user groups), and that pretty much goes for hiking, skiing, that kind of thing.

“Because there are Sno-Park and license fees for snowmobile grooming, the snowmobilers have a pretty strong voice, politically — making sure they get some funds. And the non-motorized people don’t.”

White Pass is offering jamboree participants a reduced, group-rate cross-country trail-use pass (for Dec. 12 only) — $8 instead of the usual $12 trail pass — and is also offering a reduced rate on cross-country ski or snowboard rental.

Because jamboree organizers don’t know how many people will attend, it’s possible the number of participants may exceed the amount of rental equipment available at White Pass.

For that reason, organizers are suggesting that participants also consider renting cross-country ski or snowboard equipment at a commercial outlet such as Pacific River and Alpine Sports (XC ski or snowshoes) or Sporthaus (snowshoes), both in Yakima; Little Red Schoolhouse in Naches; or Getaway Sports at Rimrock Retreat.

For more information, call Gamlem at 697-5051 or Mike Gunderson at 972-2615.

12/01 What’s Happening

Audubon gathering will revisit Uganda

Thursday is still three weeks before Christmas, but this Thursday is when bird- and animal-lovers from around the Valley will celebrate the Yakima Valley Audubon’s annual “Christmas potluck.”

The event at the Yakima Area Arboretum will begin with the potluck at 6 p.m., followed by the regular monthly program beginning sometime between 7 and 7:30. The program will be a presentation by Vera Backstrom and Dotty Armstrong called “Safari in Uganda,” a photographic look back at a trip the two Yakima women made with a small group in Uganda over 10 days last summer.

Some highlights: a successful trek to see

13 gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a 24-kilometer board ride along the Kazinga Channel, and a visit to a sanctuary for orphaned chimps on Ngamba Island in Lake Victoria.

For members or prospective members, potluck food assignments will be by the first letter of your last name: A-G, main dish; H-P, potatoes, vegetables, salads; Q-Z, desserts, breads & butter. Dishes need to serve about 12-14 people. Questions? Call Bill at 965-5808.

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Land-use issues on state parks agenda

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will consider a couple of major land-use issues Thursday at its regular meeting at Centralia’s Fox Theater.

Among other issues on the 8 a.m. agenda, the commission will consider a staff recommendation to decline acquisition of Kiket Island, a 96-acre property in Skagit Bay near La Conner, because of issues involving the landowner’s sale closing date; and consider a request to rescind an earlier action transferring Osoyoos Lake Veterans Memorial State Park to the City of Oroville, because of Oroville land-use and urban-growth issues.

A full agenda is available online at www.parks.wa.gov/commtg.asp.

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BIRD ALERT

A Bohemian waxwing was found with about 20 cedar waxwings in the crab apple grove at the arboretum. The crab apples also attracted northern flicker, black-billed magpie American robin, varied thrush, European starling, and house finch.

Other finds at the arboretum included black-capped chickadee, Bewick’s wren, ruby-crowned kinglet, spotted towhee, sooty fox sparrow, song sparrow, golden-crowned sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, white-throated sparrow and dark-eyed junco.

A half hour walk along the creek at the Ahtanum Ridge Business Park was long enough for one local birder to tally 24 species of birds. The highlights included, Wilson’s snipe, golden-crowned kinglet, yellow-rumped warbler, and American goldfinch.

Birds spotted at Eshbach Park this week include green-winged teal, downy woodpecker, belted kingfisher, red-tailed hawk, Northern harrier and American kestrel.

A western screech-owl was hooting from an arborvitae tree in the backyard of a residence on 18th Avenue. A Sawyer resident had two Cooper’s hawks dining on quail in the yard, as well as a rough-legged hawk that was being harassed by a common raven and a prairie falcon was being distracted by a northern harrier that was dive bombing him at the Cowiche sewage treatment plant.

Please call your bird sightings into the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 248-1963

— Kerry L. Turley

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AROUND AND ABOUT

CLAM DIG: An evening razor-clam dig will get under way Wednesday at ocean beaches, with an additional four-day dig tentatively scheduled to start New Year’s Eve. Digging will be held Wednesday through Saturday at Twin Harbors; Thursday through Saturday at Mocrocks; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at Long Beach; and Friday and Saturday only at Kalaloch Beach. Digging is only allowed betwen noon and midnight.

GRANT APPLICATIONS: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife begins accepting grant applications today from individuals and groups seeking one-year grants for volunteer projects that benefit fish and wildlife and occur between

July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011. Total funding available is $180,000.

CHRISTMAS TREE PERMITS: Permits to cut Christmas trees within the National Forest are available ($5 each, maximum two per family) at ranger stations and selected vendors.

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ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Cascadians’ Tuesday group will meet at 8 a.m. at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart and head out to the day’s trek from there — a hike, cross-country ski jaunt or snowshoe trek, depending on what the weather and snow conditions warrant. Come prepared and ready for the weather.

SATURDAY: The Cascadians’ David Hagen will lead an easy-to-intermediate snowshoe outing. So the trip leader can have an idea of the number of participants to expect, call Hagen at 965-3697 to learn meeting time and place. Hagen will lead another Saturday outing, that one a “Winter Walk,” on Saturday, Dec. 19.

January leads the way for YVCC

LONGVIEW, Wash. — Derrick January scored 18 points to lead Yakima Valley past Southwestern Oregon 75-64 at the Lower Columbia Thanksgiving Classic on Sunday.

Jordan Kidd and Ryan Dornik added 16 and 15 respectively for the Yaks.

Terrence Stanley scored 15 points to lead the Lakers.

The difference in the game was free throw shooting. Yakima Valley made 26 of 35 free throws while Southwestern Oregon made 17 of 24.

YAKIMA VALLEY — Skelton 2-6 1-2 5, May 0-0 0-0 0, Blodgett 1-3 1-1 3, Wilson 3-8 2-3 8, Evans 1-2 0-0 2, McGee 0-2 2-2 2, Kidd 4-11 6-6 16, Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Dornik 3-9 6-8 15, January 5-9 8-11 18, Kirvin 2-3 0-2 4, Gream 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 26-35 75.

SOUTHWESTERN OREGON — Terai 0-1 0-0 0, Moquino 1-5 0-1 2, Mims 0-1 3-4 3, Seto 1-1 0-1 2, Wilson 1-5 6-9 9, Cordler 0-0 0-0 0, Van Pelt 5-8 0-0 10, Stanley 6-13 3-3 15, Flynn 2-9 2-2 8, James 5-11 1-2 11, Earnest 1-2 2-2 4, Delarles 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 17-24 64.

Halftime — Yakima Valley 35, Southwestern Oregon 32. 3-point goals — Yakima Valley 5-17 (Dornik 3-6, Kidd 2-5, Blodgett 0-1, Wilson 0-1, McGee 0-2, January 0-2), Southwestern Oregon 3-15 (Flynn 2-5, Wilson 1-3, Van Pelt 0-2, Stanley 0-2, Moquino 0-3). Fouled out — Yakima Valley Brown, Southwestern Oregon Van Pelt, James. Rebounds — Yakima Valley 41 (January 7), Southwestern Oregon 35 (Stanley 6). Assists — Yakima Valley 12, Southwestern Oregon 8. Total fouls — Yakima Valley 22, Southwestern Oregon 27. Steals — Yakima Valley 15, Southwestern Oregon 11. Blocked shots — Yakima Valley 0, Southwestern Oregon 3. Turnovers — Yakima Valley 25, Southwestern Oregon 27.

Seahawks-Rams Photo gallery

Photos from Sunday’s NFL game between the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams. All photos by The Associated Press.

Break point for Wildcats

Blocked PAT halts No. 1 Central’s comeback bid in D-II quarterfinal ||

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Even the most veteran of football fans, those convinced that they’d seen everything, would have been hard pressed to fathom this ending.

And for Central Washington, it meant an ending in the most literal sense of the word.

The top-ranked Wildcats, seeking a school-record 13th win and the program’s first berth in the Division II semifinals, saw their season halted on the most rudimentary of plays with only six seconds to play Saturday as No. 2 Northwest Missouri prevailed 21-20 on a blocked extra point.

PHOTO GALLERY

Click here for more photos from this event

“This was one of those days,” CWU coach Blaine Bennett said quietly, “when you experience the highs and lows of this game within a very short amount of time. We had the high of scoring the touchdown and it looked like we were headed for overtime.

“And then we experienced the low. That’s why a lot of people call football the game of life. You have a high like that, and then you get … a low.”

Though outplayed for most of the second half, Central had given itself a chance at overtime when Cole Morgan engineered a 70-yard scoring drive in the final 1:11.

Aided by a pass interference penalty that gave the Wildcats a first down on the Bearcats 15 yard line, the senior quarterback found Mike Waller in the left side of the end zone.

Waller’s leaping grab had 5,625 in Tomlinson Stadium on their feet, but seconds later the fans stood in stunned silence when Garrett Rolsma, who had converted 99 PATs in succession before having one blocked on Nov. 7 at Western Oregon, saw this one batted down.

Tyler Roach, a 6-foot-2, 315-pound senior, got a hand on the ball when his teammates triple-teamed a Central lineman.

“We just tried to turn his shoulders enough so I could get through,” said Roach, who had blocked three prior kicks.

Said NMSU coach Mel Tjeerdsma, who got his D-II-record 27th playoff win, “That was kind of a picture of the other three. It wasn’t an accident.”

The Bearcats, winners of 12 straight since a season-opening loss, have advanced to a semifinal matchup with California (Pa.), which beat West Liberty (Pa.) 57-35.

Saturday’s other quarterfinal winners were Grand Valley, 24-10 over defending champion Minnesota-Duluth, and Carson Newman, 24-21 over North Alabama.

Northwest Missouri, which won national titles in 1998 and 1999, has lost the past four championship games.

But on this occasion against CWU’s No. 1-ranked scoring defense, the Bearcats used their second-ranked scoring offense to overcome a 14-7 halftime deficit.

They did it with precision offense led by quarterback Blake Bolles, running back LaRon Council and wideout Jake Soy, frustrating the Wildcats by repeatedly converting crucial third downs.

They scored on their first two possessions of the third quarter, marching 78 and 73 yards, respectively, with drives of 12 and nine plays.

Bolles, who hit 31 of 40 throws for 295 yards, found Soy with a 15-yard scoring strike to tie it  at 14, then connected with Jordan Simmons from 19 for the go-ahead score.

Council, one of nine finalists for the Harlon Hill Trophy, finished with 102 yards on 27 carries and Soy caught 11 passes for 136 yards.

Northwest Missouri converted 11 of 18 third downs — including seven of 10 in the second half — helping the Bearcats to a 32:19-to-27:41 advantage in time of possession.

“We felt good about our situation at halftime,” Bennett said. “I told the players I thought we needed to get to 28 to win. And I still thought we could pull it out in overtime, but we just couldn’t get that last extra point through.”

The Wildcats scored on their first possession, with Randall Eldridge’s 1-yard run capping a 75-yard drive, and added a 12-yard second-quarter TD, also from Eldridge.

And while Central (12-1) staged a stirring second-quarter goal-line stand, stopping Council on four consecutive tries from the 6, it gave up a first-quarter score when Chad Kilgore intercepted Morgan and returned the ball 25 yards.

CWU, meanwhile, missed a scoring chance early in the fourth period when Morgan’s pass on fourth-and-one from the 5 was batted down by linebacker Adam Vondrak.

“I’ve always been a coach who’s had the mentality of, ‘go for the points, go for the points,’” Bennett said. “But at that point in the game I didn’t feel like three points were that important. I still felt like we needed to get to 28.”

NW Missouri State 7 0 14 0 — 21 Central Washington 7 7 0 6 — 20

First Quarter CWU — Randall Eldridge 1 run (Garrett Rolsma kick), 9:50. NMSU — Chad Kilgore 25 interception return (Todd Adolf kick), 1:23. Second Quarter CWU — Eldridge 12 run (Rolsma kick), 3:09. Third Quarter NMSU — Jake Soy 15 pass from Blake Bolles (Adolf kick), 10:28. NMSU — Jordan Simmons 19 pass from Bolles (Adolf kick), 5:15. Fourth Quarter CWU — Mike Waller 15 pass from Cole Morgan (kick blocked), 0:04.

NWMSU CWU First downs 25 18 Rushes-yards 42-100 30-87 Passing 295 250 Comp-Att-Int 31-40-1 21-38-2 Return yards 53 109 Punts-Avg. 4-38.5 4-38.2 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 10-86 5-35 Time of Possession 32:19 27:41

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — NMSU, LaRon Council 27-102, Billy Creason 5-15, Justin Welch 1-3, Team 1-(minus 2). CWU, Eldridge 19-69, Bryson Kelly 7-24, Ryan Dyer 1-2, Jerome Morris 1-2. PASSING — NMSU, Bolles 31-40-1-295. CWU, Morgan 21-38-2-250. RECEIVING — NMSU, Soy 11-136, Tyler Shaw 6-51, Kyle Kilgore 4-29, Council 4-10. CWU, Waller 6-88, Eldridge 5-37, Reggie Westmoreland 4-69, Johnny Spevak 3-30

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