BURNABY, B.C. – The season may not have resulted in an 11
th consecutive winning campaign, nor were there any playoff implications on the line Saturday as Western Oregon traveled to a damp Swangard Stadium to face a winless Simon Fraser football team.
Â
The Wolves did not post the best offensive numbers of the season, but ultimately it didn't matter.
Â
Junior quarterback
Nick Duckworth threw for a career-high 343 yards with four touchdowns and junior
Paul Revis became the first wide receiver in head coach
Arne Ferguson's tenure to post two seasons with over 1,000 reception yards in a 40-13 victory over the Clan on Saturday afternoon.
Â
Revis (1,057 season reception yards) and
Keoni Piceno each caught one scoring pass from Duckworth while junior
Zack Suarez had a breakthrough game with six catches for 117 yards and two touchdown grabs for the Wolves (4-6, 3-5 GNAC).
Â
Western Oregon wasn't perfect, but a 280-yard offensive performance was enough to beat SFU (0-10, 0-8 GNAC).
Â
The Wolves struggled with 15 penalties and running game that posted 35 yards, but Duckworth went 22 of 36 while picking apart the Clan's limited defense that saw only 15 players make a tackle.
Â
Bo Highburger added to his magnificent season resume with a game-high 19 tackles, 10 of them solo, as the Clan ran the ball 27 times and did not decide to air it out due to elements. Highburger added 2.5 of the team's six total tackles for loss.
Tyler Johnson and
Jeremy Moore each added seven stops.
Â
Myles Richardson passed for 217 yards on 29 of 50 passing for Simon Fraser throwing a touchdown pass to Rysen John and being picked once. The interception on the third play of the game was returned to the house by senior cornerback
Danny Hankins for an early 6-0 WOU lead.
Â
Later in the first quarter, Duckworth completed six passes in a drive that found the end zone on a 24-yard strike to Piceno. The Wolves enjoyed a 12-0 lead after the opening 15 minutes.
Â
The Clan would score the next 13 points to take their only lead of the game, 13-12, at the 10:10 mark of the third quarter after botched punt allowed Gabe Lopes to scoop up the ball at the three-yard line and score.
Â
Western Oregon responded with consecutive scoring drives aided by large pass plays. Duckworth it Suarez for a 31-yard completion and connected with him two plays later in the end zone from 27 yards out. Western retook the lead, 20-13, with a two-point pass play to
Javontae Perry. After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Wolves capitalized on a short field for a four-play, 37-yard drive. Revis completed the drive with a quick TD grab of four yards to build the lead to 27-13.
Â
The final touchdown came from senior defensive lineman
Jeremy Moore … yes, that
Jeremy Moore. On second down from the four-yard line, Moore got the fullback handoff and found the endzone for the Wolves' only rushing touchdown of the game on his first career carry to cap off a 28-point closing run.
Â
Not a bad way to close out a gridiron career.
Â
-- WOUWolves.com --