SAN ANGELO, Texas --- The stage is now set.

Next Saturday. Monmouth. Rival in town. Winner takes the Lone Star Conference.

The matchup is set thanks the No. 21 Western Oregon football team going on the road and dominating No. 22 Angelo State 31-7 on Saturday - beating the Rams for the first time in program history and moving its win streak to six games.

Now it's the No. 21 Wolves (8-2 overall, 7-1 LSC) hosting No. 7 Central Washington (9-1, 8-0) 1:05 p.m. next Saturday at McArthur Field with the winner claiming the LSC crown.

As for Saturday night's win at ASU, the Wolves jumped out to a 21-0 lead thanks to a Jordan McCarty touchdown pass to Cyris Taylor in the first quarter and a pair of McCarty touchdown runs in the second quarter. The Rams (6-4, 4-4) scored its lone points of the game later in the second quarter to make it 21-7 at the break. 

But the WOU defense locked up ASU from that point on - holding the Rams to just 83 yards of offense in the second half and 197 total. Meanwhile, WOU added a Zane Colson 24-yard field goal in the third quarter before Tyler Konold broke free for a 38-yard touchdown run late in the fourth to make the final 31-7.

Along with holding the Rams to less than 200 yards of offense, the WOU defense picked off three passes with Tyler Copeland (his third on the season), Malik Ross (his team-high fourth) and Kam Forest (his second) each picking off a pass. Malcolm Liufau led the defense with eight tackles, Copeland added six tackles and a pass breakup to go along with the interception, Daron Ulrich Jr. had five tackles while Joseph Northcutt had four tackles along with his team-leading seventh sack this season.

Offensively it was the WOU ground game that dominated - going off for 272 yards at 5.7 yards per carry. McCarty led the team with 99 yards ( he was 9-for-15 passing for 75 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and two scores, Terayon Sweet add 66 yards on 10 carries and Konold finished with 55 yards and a score on seven carries.

NOTES
- This is WOU's first time winning six in a row since winning the final three games of the 2005 season and the first four of the 2006 season. It's the first time since 1986 the Wolves have won six in a row during a single season - a team that had current WOU coach Arne Ferguson as a sophomore defensive back where he was named first team all-conference.
- It's the first time the Wolves have won eight games in a season since going 9-2 during the 2009 season.