Box Score ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The SFU Clan men's football team lost by a score of 37-17 this afternoon to the Central Washington Wildcats in front of 3,838 fans at Tomlinson Stadium in Ellensburg, Wash. It's the fourth loss in a row for the Clan and with it; their record falls to 1-4 on the season (0-4 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference). It was the first win of the season for the Central Washington Wildcats as their record improves 1-3 this year (1-2 in the conference).
Central Washington got on the board first with a touchdown early. After driving to the SFU eight yard line, junior quarterback Ryan Robertson connected with receiver Justin Helwedge to make it 7-0 for the Wildcats.
Quarterback Trey Wheeler (Seattle, WA) then responded for the Clan. Wheeler led SFU on a drive down the field that started at Simon Fraser's 33-yard line and ended on Central Washington nine-yard line. While the Clan couldn't find the end zone, Ian Sternau (Pasadena, CA) converted the field goal to get SFU on the board.
Running back Levi Taylor led the way for the Wildcats on their next drive. After SFU started the drive with a sack on the CWU quarterback, leaving the Wildcats in a 2nd and 15 situation, Central Washington successfully moved the ball up to their own 49-yard line. On 4th and 1, CWU elected to hand the ball off to Taylor who broke free for a 37-yard dash to the SFU 14-yard line. After an incomplete pass, they gave it to Taylor again and he found his way into the end zone to make it 14-3 CWU.
Central Washington added a 48-yard field goal off the leg of Sean Davis to make it 17-3 going into the second quarter.
The Wildcats started the second quarter with the ball after an unsuccessful Clan drive late in the first.
Less than a minute into the second, Robertson completed a 49-yard pass to Helwedge to expand the CWU lead to 24-3.
The two teams spent most of the second quarter battling for field position before CWU added to their lead late in the half. With 3:46 to play, Robertson started a drive on his own 20-yard line. After two rushing attempts and three complete passes, Robertson found Leon LaDeaux with a 26-yard strike, giving the Wildcats a 31-3 lead heading into halftime.
In the third quarter the SFU offence started showing some promise. On their first drive of the half, Wheeler led the Clan all the way down to the CWU 20-yard line. With some ground to make up on the scoreboard, SFU decided to go for it on fourth and 11 but they could not convert and the Wildcats took back possession.
CWU took over and marched the ball all the way down to the Simon Fraser 10-yard line. The Clan defence held strong however, forcing the Wildcats to kick a 27-yard field goal.
After SFU went three and out, Central Washington took over and drove down into the Clan red zone. Simon Fraser's defence came up big once again. This time the field goal was attempted by number 99 Josef Kistler. He converted, giving the Wildcats a 37-3 lead.
The SFU offence responded to the field goal with an impressive 14-play, 61-yard drive that resulted in their first touchdown of the afternoon. While the Clan's running game continued to be a threat on the drive, it was Wheeler finding success with the passing game that eventually led to a touchdown when Wheeler found Mathis Baumbach (Duesseldorf, Germany) in the end zone to make it 37-10.
Next it was the defence who found the end zone for the Clan. On the fifth play of the CWU drive, Wildcat running back Louis Davis fumbled the ball and SFU capitalized. Joseph Iatzko (Windsor, ON) recovered the fumble and returned it 71 yards for the touchdown, cutting the CWU lead to 37-17.
That was as close as the Clan would come as the CWU Wildcats held on for the 37-17 victory.
SFU will return home to host Dixie State University
next Saturday at 2 p.m. at Terry Fox Field.
