Saturday, September 17, 2011

Western Oregon had five takeaways including two to set up its only touchdowns and two interceptions in the final two minutes in defeating Central Washington 14-7 in a GNAC football game at McArthur Field in Monmouth Saturday.

In Saturday's only other game, Dixie State earned its first win of the season defeating Simon Fraser 42-7 in its conference opener.

Western Oregon's win snapped a 14-game losing streak to the Wildcats (0-3, 0-2) dating back to the 2001 season.

Both Wolf scores game in short-field situations in the second quarter. The first came after Gavin Drake forced a fumble which was recovered by linebacker Scotland Foss at CWU's 24.

It took WOU (2-1, 2-0) four plays, including a 17-yard run by Corey VonAppen and and a seven-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Evan Mozzochi to Tyrell Williams, to get on the board.

Later in the second quarter, defensive back Bryce Peila intercepted a Ryan Robertson pass and returned it 50 yards to the CWU 5. Kenneth Gaines then gained three yards to the two-yard line before scoring on a second-and-goal play.

Central had the only sustained scoring drive of the contest going 96 yards in 13 plays in the third quarter. Redshirt freshman Leon LaDeaux caught a four-yard TD pass from Robertson to cut CWU's deficit in half.

Western Oregon had a chance to put the game away in the fourth quarter, but Kelly Morgan's 25-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Alex Griffith.

Robertson then completed a 68-yard pass to Anthony Spain down to WOU's 24. The two teamed up for another six-yard reception. But, Peila had his second interception of the day on the next play as the Wolves took over with just 1:39 remaining.

Western Oregon, however, was only able to take 25 seconds off the clock before surrendering the ball on downs. CWU regained possession at its own 45 and moved to WOU's 37 on an 18-yard reception by Justin Helwege.

Robertson, however, then threw four consecutive incompletions, including the final one which was picked off by Foss at the 26 with 36 seconds left.

In addition to his two takeaways, Foss also had nine tackles as WOU held Central to 366 yards. Isaiah Buchanan led the Wolf defense with 11 tackles.

Offensively, WOU had 301 yards including 91 rushing by VonAppen. Mozzochi completed 13 of 28 passes for 113 yards as Trevor Gates had six receptions for 64 yards.

Robertson tied his career high for passing yardage with 322 yards completing 29 of 53. But, he was picked off three times. Spain caught nine for 133 yards.

Robertson also had a 15-yard touchdown pass to Corey Trisby with 10 seconds left in the first half.

But the play was nullified by a pass interference penalty and an ensuing 47-yard field goal attempt by Sean Davis was blocked.

Defensively, the Wildcats were lead by linebacker Stan Langlow with 11 tackles. Langlow also had a 13-yard interception return.

Dixie State 42, Simon Fraser 7

Ence scored on a 72-yard pass from Cody Stevenson early in the second quarter and on a three-yard run in the third quarter.

The Red Storm also got a first-quarter touchdown on an 11-yard pass from Stevenson to Joe Don Duncan and on a eight-yard second-quarter pass from Stevenson to Zack Fox.

Dixie (1-2, 1-0) then completed its scoring in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard run by Stefan Cantwell and on a 60-yard run by Shayne Day before Simon Fraser finally got on the board in the fourth quarter on a nine-yard run by Cole Tudor.

Dixie dominated the yardstick as well as the scoreboard outgaining the Clan 495-230 in total offense, including 263-179 on the ground.

Ence netted 76 yards on 15 rushes and caught three passes for 79 yards. Day had 64 yards on two totes and Kaleo Nawahine had 60 on one rush.

Stevenson completed 17 of 24 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns and was not intercepted. Duncan had seven catches for 67 yards.

Tudor had 61 yards on six carries to pace SFU. Trey Wheeler completed 13 of 28 passes but gained just 51 yards through the air.

Defensively, Jake Duncan led Dixie with 12 tackles, including 3 1/2 for losses totaling 15 yards. Daniel Martin had seven stops for SFU, five behind the line of scrimmage for a total of 11 yards.