ELLENSBURG, Wash.—Holding Western Oregon University to 160 total yards on offense, No. 21-ranked Central Washington University won its 15th straight GNAC game with a 48-10 victory at Tomlinson Stadium on Saturday night.
The reigning GNAC Special Teams Player of the Week,
Adrian Saldana provided Western Oregon's (3-4, 2-3 GNAC) lone points in the first half of play with his second 50-yard kick in as many weeks. Lining up early in the first quarter, Saldana cleared the crossbar from 50 yards out to make it a 7-3 contest. Saldana connected on a conference record 55-yard attempt last week at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Still 7-3 late in the first quarter, Central Washington (5-2, 5-0 GNAC) scored a pair of touchdowns inside the final 90 seconds of the quarter and went on to tally 38 points by the end of the half to initiate the rout.
With the result, Western Oregon's three-game winning streak came to an end. The Wolves will carry a 2-3 record in GNAC contests into its final home game of the season next week when the squad hosts Humboldt State on Oct. 20 as part of its annual homecoming festivities.
CWU quarterback Reilly Hennessy made it a 14-3 spread with a 1-yard touchdown run at the 1:28 mark in the first while Hennessy connected with Winterhawk Leighton for a 2-yard aeriel scoring strike on the final play of the quarter to extend the advantage.
The Wildcats added 17 points in the second quarter with a 24-yard TD run by Cedric Cooper and a 4-yard touchdown catch by Tony Archie.
WOU's final score came late in the fourth quarter as
Jaylin Parnell blocked a CWU punt and recovered the loose ball in the end zone.
Linebacker
Bo Highburger led the WOU defense with 10 total tackles, including six solo stops. The tally pushed Highburger into the top of the WOU all-time school record books (D-II era) in both categories as the senior surpassed Shane Kuenzi's (2012-15) totals of 150 solo and 276 total tackles. Highburger now has 279 total and 151 solo tackles for his career.
Completing 17 of 25 passes, Hennessey ended the night with 172 yards passing and three touchdowns. Michael Roots logged 12 carries for 90 yards on the ground while Cooper added 81 yards on nine attempts.
