Football | 10/23/2013 3:29:00 PM

GNAC WEEKLY RELEASE

MONMOUTH, Ore. – A Great Northwest Athletic Conference football matchup between Western Oregon University and Simon Fraser University is sandwiched in the middle of a busy Saturday on the WOU campus.

Hall of Fame Weekend has hit the Western Oregon campus. The school inducts its ninth class into the athletic hall of fame Friday, and will recognize the six inductees at halftime of the football game. All four fall sports are in competition Saturday at WOU.

Football kicks off at 1:05 p.m., and the Wolves (4-3, 4-2 GNAC) are seeking their third straight win. WOU has won four its last five, with a two-point setback to first place Azusa Pacific as the lone loss. Western Oregon has four games left in the regular season, with two at home, and sits a game back from APU and Central Washington for first place.

Saturday, the Wolves host Simon Fraser in a rematch of a 30-9 road win for WOU on Sept. 28. Western Oregon's defense allowed no touchdowns against a talented offense. The rushing game was key on a wet and windy day in Burnaby, B.C. WOU gained 131 yards on the ground. Despite the weather, Ryan Bergman had another solid day through the air, tossing for 234 yards (14-of-33) and a touchdown while Tyrell Williams led all players with 114 yards receiving.

Western Oregon led 9-6 at halftime, before outscoring the Clan 21-3 in the second half. SFU's Ryan Stanford threw for 148 yards and a pair interceptions. The sophomore completed 11 of his 17 passes. Chris Tolbert gained 112 rushing yards in the loss.

Last week's 46-34 road win at Dixie State propelled the Wolves to the top spot in the conference in scoring offense (31.1). WOU averages 400 yards of offense per game, with 295 coming through the air. Bergman is averaging 292.9 passing yards per outing, with a 133.9 efficiency. Tyrell Williams leads the GNAC with an average of 17.4 yards per catch. He is averaging 89.4 receiving yards per game. Joe Harris leads WOU with 59.3 rushing yards per contest.

Simon Fraser (2-4, 2-4) rides into the weekend on a three-game skid. The Clan is coming off of a 54-14 loss at home to Central Washington. After this weekend, SFU will have played the top three teams in the conference in consecutive weeks.

Stanford is completing 64.8 percent of his passes this season, which leads the conference, but he also has thrown eight interceptions to his six touchdowns. Stanford is averaging 242.6 passing yards per game. Bobby Pospischil is the leading target for the Clan. He is averaging 49.8 receiving yards per game, but 130 all-purpose. He is the best kick-returner in the conference currently. Tolbert is third in the GNAC with 96.5 rushing yards per outing.

On defense, the Clan's Casey Chin tops the conference with 75 tackles this season. The linebacker has made 41 solo tackles so far in 2013. Another linebacker, Mitchell Barnett, has added 45 tackles, with 21 solo. He has recovered two fumbles this season.

Western Oregon's Shane Kuenzi and Devin Wells are fifth and sixth in the GNAC in tackles, followed closely by Kraig Akins in ninth. The three combine for 23.9 tackles per game. Akins is second in the conference with 5.5 sacks this season, and first with three forced fumbles.

WOU is welcoming Tackle youth football players into Saturday's game against Simon Fraser University for free. Players need to wear their jersey and bring a can of food for the free admission.

In addition to the youth football player wearing a jersey and bring a can a food, one parent will also be admitted free per player. Those who wish to take part in this admission need to enter through the north end gate at McArthur Field at the will call gate.

The athletic department wants all fans to wear red to the game for a Red Out. Fans can bring either of their Thursday or Saturday soccer ticket stubs, or a ticket stub from Saturday's football game, for free entry to Saturday's volleyball 7 p.m. match.

Tailgating begins at 11 a.m., with kickoff following at 1:05 p.m. Live video and stats from the game will be available on WOUWolves.com. The game can also be seen on television in the Willamette Valley with KWVT providing the broadcast. For a complete rundown of channel listings, check www.kvtsalem.com. All WOU football contest can be heard on 1340 KLOO AM – Corvallis with Mark Gilman proving the play-by-play.