GAME #3
Western Oregon (1-1, 0-1 GNAC) at Central Washington (0-2)
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, at 1 p.m. PT
Ellensburg, Wash. — Tomlinson Stadium
 
LIVE COVERAGE LINKS
LIVE VIDEO/STATS: CWU Portal
TICKETS: CWU Ticket Page
TWITTER UPDATES: @WOUWolves
 
MONMOUTH, Ore. - Western Oregon returns to the road to meet Central Washington on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 1 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium. WOU enters a stretch where its next three games are away from home – at Portland State (Sept. 26), at Dixie State (Oct. 2).
 
TICKETS – WOU fans traveling to Ellensburg for the Saturday afternoon game may purchase tickets in advance by clicking here. Tickets for remaining WOU home games for 2015 are on sale at WOUWolves.com/WOUtickets. The Wolves have five home games remaining at McArthur Field – Oct. 10 vs. North Alabama (1 p.m.), Oct. 17 vs. Central Washington (1 p.m., Homecoming), Oct. 31 vs. Azusa Pacific (1 p.m.), Nov. 7 vs. South Dakota Mines (3:30 p.m.) and Nov. 14 vs. Humboldt State (1 p.m.).
 
VS. CENTRAL WASHINGTON – This will be the 58^th meeting between the Wolves and the Wildcats. CWU holds a 35-22 advantage in the all-time series. In 2014, each team defended home their home field in close games (Sept. 20, WOU 36-34; Oct. 18, CWU 24-20). The last time one team swept both games played in a season was 2012 when CWU picked up 21-14 (OT) and 36-32 victories.
 
OPENING McARTHUR STRONG – Make it three consecutive wins in home openers for Western Oregon football. Last Saturday's 31-14 win over Simon Fraser extended the McArthur Field opening streak to three consecutive years and six of the last eight years overall. WOU has previously defeated Simon Fraser in the 2010 home opener, 48-25. All told, the Wolves are 21-5 in their last 26 games played at McArthur Field.
 
HAIL HANKINS – WOU defensive back Danny Hankins was named GNAC Defensive Player of the Week. The Portland, Ore. native made eight tackles, broke up two passes and had a 99-yard pick-six in the final minutes to seal Western Oregon's 31-14 home win over Simon Fraser. The interception return was one yard short of a GNAC record.
 
POINT PROTECTORS – Western Oregon leads the GNAC in scoring defense, allowing 21.5 points per game to opponents this season. Over the past two years, WOU has finished third in the GNAC at the end of the season in scoring defense (25.1 PPG in 2014, 26.1 PPG in 2013). Only once have the Wolves led the conference through a whole season – 2008, allowing 23.9 points per game.
 
NON-GNAC COUNTERS – Western Oregon has a 3-1 record in non-conference games against GNAC opponents, including last week's win over Simon Fraser. In 2014, WOU defeated SFU and CWU while falling to HSU in league non-counters. The GNAC abandoned a true round robin conference schedule with the addition of its sixth team in 2014, South Dakota Mines. Presently, a team will play the GNAC schools twice during the year with only one of those games counting towards the conference title race. That format will again change in 2016 after S.D. Mines and Dixie State leave the league to join the RMAC.
 
TARGET PRACTICE – Senior quarterback Trey Shimabukuro has spread out his 44 pass completions to nine different receivers. Wesley Gray leads in receptions (13), Paul Revis leads in receiving yards (155) and Daniel Thomas leads in touchdown receptions (2).
 
SECOND HALF SCORING – WOU has scored 38 of its 51 points in the second half this season. In comparison, opponents have scored 17 points in the second half.
 
A KICK AHEAD - Punter Alexander Bradt ranks third in the GNAC and 10th in Division II with his average of 42.9 yards per punt. Bradt punted eight times against Simon Fraser for an average of 44.9 yards per punt.

SPECIAL REVIS – Sophomore receiver/returner Paul Revis may have only had three grabs for 39 yards against Simon Fraser, but his output on special teams gave him another game eclipsing the 100-yard mark in total offense. He had three punt returns for 66 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown, and one kickoff return for 18 yards.
 
NO MISTAKE TREY – In his fourth career start, quarterback Trey Shimabukuro went the entire SFU game without a recorded interception. It was the first game in which Shimabukuro started and did not have an INT. His one pass that was picked off came during a two-point conversion in the third quarter, leading to a failed attempt in the official stats.

D2 RANKINGS - In the Division II stats, Western Oregon is ranked 16th in pass efficiency (170.13), 19th in completion percentage (.667), 21st in net punting (38.36 yards per punt) and 23rd in punt returns (15.75 yards per return) 

LOOKING AHEAD – Western Oregon makes its shortest road trip next week. On Sept. 26, WOU heads to Providence Park to face Portland State at 2:05 p.m.