ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University football team held off Western Oregon University, 24-20, on its homecoming Saturday.
 
The Wildcats (4-3, 3-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) beat WOU for the 11th straight time in Ellensburg. The Wolves have not won at CWU since 1998.
 
Western Oregon outgained Central Washington, 436 to 360, in total offensive yards, but the Wolves turned the ball over four times. CWU led 17-7 entering the fourth quarter, but Western Oregon rallied with 13 points in the final quarter, before the Wildcats tacked on a score and then made the stops they needed for the win.
 
Jake Nelson connected on 29 of his 48 passes through the air for Central Washington. He tossed three touchdowns and one interception. Nelson passed for 264 yards. Kent McKinney caught 10 passes for 104 yards. Jesse Zalk added 11 catches for 85 yards. Jordan Todd ran for a game-high 60 yards on 17 carries.
 
The Wolves' (3-4, 1-1 GNAC) Ryan Bergman threw for 412 yards, completing 24 of his 41 passes. It was the sixth 400-yard game of his career. He moved to second on the WOU all-time career list for touchdown passes (47), and fourth in passes completed (384) and passing yards (5486). The senior tossed a pair of touchdowns, but also three interceptions. All three interceptions ended three consecutive possessions, ending the first half and just into the third quarter. He was also sacked four times.
 
Tyrell Williams had a career-high 171 receiving yards on just five catches. The senior had one touchdown catch for 89 yards. Williams moved to third on the school's all-time list with 2,398 receiving yards. Paul Revis added 161 yards receiving off of nine catches. The redshirt freshman entered the game third in NCAA Div. II in all-purpose yards per game. He finished with 261 all-purpose yards Saturday after adding 99 yards on kickoff returns.
 
After being named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Monday, WOU's Breeon Moreno made 10 tackles, with eight coming solo Saturday. Austin Spencer also had 10 tackles. Roger Garrett had an interception return for seven yards. Jesse Correa made 29 and 39-yard field goals in the fourth quarter. Kevin Haynes had 10 tackles to lead Central Washington.
 
The Wolves won the first meeting between the programs this season in Monmouth on Sept. 20, 36-34. WOU jumped out to a large lead, before losing the advantage, only to rally for the win with a field goal by Correa.
 
Western Oregon hosts Simon Fraser (2-5, 2-1) in only its third home game of the season next Saturday. It will be homecoming for WOU. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Live video and stats will be available on WOUWolves.com. The game will also be broadcast on WOUTV locally in Monmouth and Independence, and KWVT throughout the Willamette Valley.
 

Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
-----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
Western Oregon......  7  0  0 13  - 20       Record: (3-4,1-1)
Central Washington..  7  7  3  7  - 24       Record: (4-3,3-1)

Scoring Summary:
1st 13:29 CWU - Logan 12 yd pass from Nelson (McDonald kick), 6-69 1:31, WOU 0 - CWU 7
    05:52 WOU - Revis,Paul 34 yd pass from Bergman,Ryan (Correa,Jesse kick), 4-69 1:45, WOU 7 - CWU 7
2nd 08:14 CWU - McKinney 14 yd pass from Nelson (McDonald kick), 5-44 1:50, WOU 7 - CWU 14
3rd 10:15 CWU - McDonald 39 yd field goal, 8-17 3:25, WOU 7 - CWU 17
4th 14:51 WOU - Correa,Jesse 29 yd field goal, 14-59 4:53, WOU 10 - CWU 17
    13:30 WOU - Williams,Tyrell 89 yd pass from Bergman,Ryan (Correa,Jesse kick), 1-89 0:13, WOU 17 - CWU 17
    07:38 CWU - Zalk 14 yd pass from Nelson (McDonald kick), 5-29 1:35, WOU 17 - CWU 24
    04:16 WOU - Correa,Jesse 39 yd field goal, 8-49 3:22, WOU 20 - CWU 24

                                    WOU      CWU
FIRST DOWNS...................       17       24
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    28-24    37-96
PASSING YDS (NET).............      412      264
Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  41-24-3  48-29-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   69-436   85-360
Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............     2-10     5-88
Kickoff Returns-Yards.........    5-122     2-38
Interception Returns-Yards....      1-7     3-12
Punts (Number-Avg)............   5-42.2   9-36.4
Fumbles-Lost..................      2-1      0-0
Penalties-Yards...............     6-60     8-62
Possession Time...............    29:36    30:24
Third-Down Conversions........  3 of 16  6 of 18
Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 2   1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      2-3      4-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards........      2-6     4-21

RUSHING: Western Oregon-Penaranda,Nathaniel 18-24; Simkins,Dylan 3-15;
Revis,Paul 1-1; Bergman,Ryan 5-minus 1; TEAM 1-minus 15. Central Washington-Todd
17-60; Nelson 17-21; Stinson 3-15.

PASSING: Western Oregon-Bergman,Ryan 24-41-3-412. Central
Washington-Nelson 29-48-1-264.

RECEIVING: Western Oregon-Revis,Paul 9-161; Williams,Tyrell 5-171;
Apelu,Kamakana 4-58; Thomas,Daniel 3-17; Penaranda,Nathaniel 1-9; Simkins,Dylan
1-6; Bergman,Ryan 1-minus 10. Central Washington-Zalk 11-85; McKinney 10-104;
Logan 5-58; Todd 3-17.

INTERCEPTIONS: Western Oregon-Garrett,Roger 1-7. Central
Washington-Baines 1-12; Williams-Miller 1-0; Davis,I. 1-0.

FUMBLES: Western Oregon-TEAM 1-0; Revis,Paul 1-1. Central
Washington-None.

Stadium: Tomlinson Stadium     Attendance: 4729
Kickoff time: 1pm       End of Game: 4:04      Total elapsed time: 3:04
Officials: Referee: Bob Rose; Umpire: Kurt Renstrom; Linesman: Bob Guerin;
Line judge: Rob Quello; Back judge: Scott Kramer; Field judge: Joel Murphy;
Side judge: Rob Hilsenteger; Alternate: Tim Davis;
Temperature: 60 DegF   Wind: 4MPH SSE  Weather: Cloudy