MONMOUTH, Ore. – A Saturday for the record books went in favor of the Wolves as Western Oregon University defeated the Simon Fraser Clan 54-13 at McArthur Field.
Defense dominated the game throughout with seven combined turnovers coming in the first quarter and 11 in the first half; eight of those turnovers were forced by the Wolves' defense.
Western Oregon (2-3, 2-2 GNAC) received a punt on the Simon Fraser (1-4, 0-3 GNAC) 42 to open their first series of the game.
Facing fourth down with four yards remaining, quarterback
Ty Currie managed to evade several defenders and run for the first down to avoid a turnover on downs after just four plays. After an
Omari Land run inside the red zone,
Nico Jackson fumbled for the first turnover of the game, giving SFU possession back on their own eight.
Simon Fraser picked up a quick first down, but on the third play of the drive Clan quarterback Justin Seiber's pass to the left side was intercepted by
Dominic Akina who ran it back for a 25-yard touchdown and an early Western Oregon lead. It was the first of six turnovers on consecutive possessions for SFU and was an early indicator of how the half would play out.
Seiber threw for five interceptions in the first half, completing 16 passes for 146 yards.
After a
Court Hammond sack and a fumble recovered by
Isaiah Molden, the Wolves moved quickly for their next score. On the second play of the drive, Currie connected with
Anthony Bradley for a 48-yard touchdown catch on his first target of the day to push the lead to 14-0.
Early on in the second quarter, Akina delivered a sack that forced a fumble returned 30 yards by Nate Proctor for a touchdown.
The first half came to a close with a flurry of scoring. In the last 35 seconds of the second quarter, WOU popped 17 points on the board.
La'jon Enis-Carter hauled in his first catch of his collegiate career for a 51-yard touchdown,
Curtis Anderson returned an interception for a touchdown and
Adrian Saldana booted through a 38-yard field goal to take the Wolves' lead from 31 to 48 in under a minute to make it a 54-6 halftime score.
"Our offense did a really nice job controlling the ball," said head coach
Arne Ferguson. "Next guy up being ready to go on offense is a huge deal and that's what we got from Enis-Carter today."
Of the 54 points scored by the Wolves, 30 came from the defense. It is the most points scored by the Wolves in a half since their move to the NCAA, breaking their previous record of 44 also set against Simon Fraser.
Western Oregon's defense held the Clan to -14 yards rushing with no more than 13 yards being gained by a single player in the half. Along with the five interceptions, four fumbles were forced, three being recovered before the break.
"When you score defensively three times, get 10 total turnovers and have a two-point conversion, that's amazing," said Ferguson. "I've never seen a team do that on this field, ever. Our guys followed the game plan and were right there to make plays. The defensive line really improved. They were getting low, pushing people back and had great hurry on the quarterback that allowed our defensive backs and linebackers to capitalize."
Simon Fraser got off on the right foot in the third quarter, punching in their second score of the day. Isaac Evans returned a fumble 50 yards for the score inside the first five minutes.
That is where the scoring ended for both sides with a quiet fourth quarter.
In total, 15 turnovers were committed, 10 by the Clan. The seven total interceptions for the Western Oregon defense set a new school record and tied the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record set in 2011 by Humboldt State.
Curtis Anderson pulled in two of the picks, one going for a touchdown.
Bo Highburger added on a team-high eight tackles, four being solo, and 1.5 tackles for a loss.
The win is the 18
th consecutive win for the Wolves over the Clan, pushing their all-time record to 18-1 against SFU.
The Wolves now head back on the road for two consecutive weeks. Their next matchup is Oct. 6 at Texas A&M – Kingsville. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. PDT.
