College football -- CWU looking for less drama

YAKIMA -- For their next act, Central Washington's Wildcats will seek to avoid late-game drama.

They will try to make the fourth quarter less chaotic, will attempt to place less pressure on the arm of Mike Reilly and the foot of Garrett Rolsma and thereby spare coaches, fans and others in their extended football family the intestine-knotting anxiety of the previous week's game.

On the other hand, given the credentials of Mesa State, Central would probably be entirely unapologetic should today's home-opener mirror its season-opener right down to the final play of overtime, in which J.R. Hasty's 25-yard touchdown scamper meant victory.

"First games are always hard," CWU coach Blaine Bennett said earlier this week, alluding to a 44-38 conquest of prohibitive underdog Dixie State last Saturday night at St. George, Utah. "Even though you're on the road, when you're ranked as we are and the other team isn't, there are people who think you're going to automatically go out and win the game by 20 points.

"As for this week, Mesa State is very good."

Good enough to have pushed West Texas A&M to the brink before falling 23-20 last week on the Mavericks' turf in Grand Junction, Colo.

A&M is ranked ninth in this week's Division II coach's poll. CWU is 11th.

Therein lies the rub.

The nature of the DII playoff system and the relative obscurity of the GNAC, to which the Wildcats return this season after a two-year membership in the now-disbanded North Central Conference, make this game as big as any on Central's schedule even though it won't count in the conference standings.

Since the GNAC has only five members, its champion will not get an automatic berth into the DII postseason. Final regional rankings will determine not only who gets in, but pairings and seedings as well.

Last year, the Wildcats got a first-round home game after an 8-2 regular-season in the well-regarded NCC. A similar finish this time, even with Football Championship Subdivision powerhouse Montana on the schedule, might leave CWU out of the mix.

Last week, Central survived its scare on the shoulders (and feet) of some of the players pegged to lead it to a repeat of the DII quarterfinals, or perhaps beyond.

Reilly, Johnny Spevak and Jared Bronson, all preseason All-Americans, had monster games with Reilly and Spevak connecting on three straight passes that in the final 30 seconds of regulation helped move CWU close enough for Rolsma's game-tying 44-yard field goal.

A concern, however, would be the 411 offensive yards surrendered by a Central defense thought to be solid with the return of six starters.

"There were several reasons for that," said Bennett. "First, one of our starting cornerbacks (Courtney Smith) was injured early and didn't play the rest of the game. Second, we didn't have any video tape on them and third, they had a new quarterback who ran well. We thought we could get some pressure with our defensive front, but weren't able to."

Smith, who had a concussion, is listed as the starter on this week's depth chart.

Mesa's main weapon, meanwhile, would appear to be Bobby Coy, a 5-foot-9,190-pound junior who last week ran for 201 yards.

"Our game last week was a perfect example of why you play," Bennett said. "I watched UCLA and Tennessee the other night and that was another example because Tennessee, in my opinion, was the better team but UCLA won.

"Saturday we have a chance to play at home and play against a quality opponent. Those are reasons why you play, too."

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