Football | 9/18/2010 5:03:34 PM

Box Score [Box score]

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Western Oregon broke a 23-year old school record by putting up 684 yards of total offense in a 48-25 victory over Simon Fraser on Saturday, Sept. 18.

Darryl Valdez gained 201 yards from scrimmage to lead the Wolves (2-1, 2-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) in both rushing and receiving. He had 77 yards on the ground and 124 yards on five catches through the air. Many of his catches came on short passes but he was able to turn those into big gains by eluding the Clan (0-3, 0-2 GNAC) defenders.

AJ Robinson threw for a career-high 298 yards and a touchdown while completing 16-of-24 passes. Evan Mozzochi also saw some time at center, and completed all four of his passing attempts for 111 yards, including a 42 yard touchdown strike to Justin Ore. This was one of six catches for Ore, who finished with 115 yards and two receiving touchdowns.

"AJ Robinson and Evan Mozzochi both did a really nice job," said Western Oregon head coach Arne Ferguson. "Justin Ore had a really big day and Demario Ballard made some big catches early. Our inside receivers are starting to do some good things also."

Ballard had a number of catches which amazed the crowd of 1,727 fans at McArthur Field. His four catches for 78 helped Western Oregon outgain Simon Fraser 409-147 through the air.

The Wolves also edged the Clan on the ground with a 275-108 advantage in the running game. Apart from Valdez's 77 yards, WOU also received strong efforts from a number of runners, which accounted for four of the Wolves' six touchdowns. Adryan Allen notched 57 yards, while AJ Robinson and Kirk Werhane added 48 and 38, respectively.

"The biggest thing was the increase of our running game" continued Ferguson. "We saw three or four running backs in there, but also our quarterbacks carried the football a little bit too."

This balanced attack kept Simon Fraser's defense guessing throughout the game, and helped WOU hold a 30-12 advantage in first downs.

"Our offense did well on third and fourth downs early which were a key to the game to get things going," noted Ferguson.

After pitching a shutout in the first game of the season against Simon Fraser, the Wolves' defense faced a much sharper Clan offense today. SFU took advantage with a couple of 28-yard touchdown strikes and a WOU fumble at the goal line for three of its four scores.

Bryce Peila was all over the field making plays on defense for the Wolves. He had nine tackles (seven solo), had 2.5 tackles-for-loss, a pass break up and WOU's only interception of the day. The Wolves' defense was also solid against the pass limiting Simon Fraser's quarterback duo to 10-of-30 passing for 147 yards.

Despite the strong game on the offensive side of the ball, the Wolves were hurt by a number of self inflicted wounds. They committed 14 penalties for 110 yards and turned the ball over seven times (three interceptions and four fumbles).

Western Oregon never trailed in the game. It scored on its opening drive on a one-yard plunge into the endzone by Kyle Lavender. Gerritt Vincent then kept that momentum alive by stripping the ball out of Bo Palmer's hands on the next possession to set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Kyley McCrae.

SFU then scored on a long touchdown pass from Agosta to Mathis Baumbach before the Wolves answered with a 28-yard scoring strike to Ore to make it 21-6. The teams would trade touchdowns after that and the Wolves would take a 28-12 advantage into halftime.

After a Kelly Morgan field goal and a long touchdown pass for the Clan opened the second half, Western Oregon scored 17 unanswered points before SFU tacked on one more score at the end.

The win kept Western Oregon tied with Central Washington atop the GNAC with 2-0 records.

Western Oregon's 684 total yards eclipsed its previous high of 630 which was set against Eastern Oregon in 1987.

Western Oregon will face another GNAC opponent next week when Humboldt State comes to town. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.

"Humboldt State is a really good football team," Ferguson explained. "They have a good offensive line, a really good running back and a defense which really swarms to the football. They also have experience at quarterback. They use two quarterbacks which really take care of the football, and can do things with their arm and their legs."

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