RSSCollege football -- Ranked Mesa looms for CWU
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ELLENSBURG -- The opponent figures to be better this time, but so does Central Washington.
After rallying for an overtime victory last week at Dixie State, the Wildcats will seek to rid themselves of a few opening-game wrinkles in today's 1 p.m. home opener at Tomlinson Stadium.
And they might well need to.
The Mavericks of Mesa State, despite an 0-1 record, are nationally-ranked.
"We have tape of them," CWU coach Blaine Bennett said, "and they were ahead of West Texas A&M until the last couple of minutes. They could very easily have won the game."
A&M, ranked ninth in this week's Division II poll, prevailed 23-20 over Mesa while Central, No. 11 nationally, recovered from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat Dixie 44-38 in overtime.
While not in the AFCA top 25, the Mavericks are listed as No. 23 by D2Football.com.
"I was very pleased with our poise, composure and maturity," Bennett said. "Our senior quarterback managed the clock extremely well late and put us in a position to win the game.
"One of the main things I took from the game was I was very impressed with our effort. As a new coach in the first game, you wonder if you've put too much stuff in or not enough. But one thing you don't want to worry about is effort, and our players were outstanding from start to finish in that respect."
Mike Reilly, touted as the DII offensive player of the year in one national magazine, completed 26 of 39 throws for 346 yards and three scores, though he did have an interception returned for a touchdown.
He needs only 23 total offensive yards to reach 10,000 for his career, and 33 pass attempts to pass Zak Hill for No. 2 on the CWU career list behind Jon Kitna.
An early injury to cornerback Courtney Smith hampered Central defensively, but the senior was listed as No. 1 on this week's depth chart by the Wildcats.
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