ELLENSBURG -- It was a position to which Mike Reilly was unaccustomed, and it provided a viewpoint that was hardly advantageous.

In fact, he didn't even see Jared Bronson catch his 13-yard touchdown pass in the waning seconds of the first half Saturday.

"I had no idea," said Reilly, who was flat on his back courtesy of an untouched blitzing linebacker. "But then I saw the ref's arms go up, so I knew we had a touchdown."

Not an uncommon vision for Reilly and No. 11 Central Washington, which overran highly touted Mesa State 48-14 at sunsplashed Tomlinson Stadium despite having three TDs called back.

"That was the bad part," said Reilly, who threw for four scores. "The thing is, those were pretty stupid penalties on our part, and in a different game those things could kill."

They almost had the previous week, when the Wildcats (2-0) weathered 12 penalties and a fervent upset bid by host Dixie State to win 44-38 in overtime.

This time, however, the Wildcats excelled. Saturday's win was as convincing as the previous week's was perilous, even with their All-American quarterback in a prone position.

Mesa's Phil Vigil, meanwhile, had no such luck.

A defense that had surrendered 411 yards and, very nearly, a major upset, this time sacked Vigil nine times, held running back Bobby Coy to 61 yards after he'd gained 201 the week prior, and in general reasserted itself as a CWU plus.

"It was good to see our guys play that way," said coach Blaine Bennett, "because we'd come into the season thinking defense would be one of our strong points. And then there was last week."

During which defensive end Ryan Dyer said, "We definitely came back to earth."

Against Mesa (0-2, but ranked 23rd by D2Football.com), Central allowed more than a third of the Mavericks' 239 yards and half their points on one play -- an 80-yard, up-the-middle touchdown by 250-pound fullback Kris Means.

That first-quarter score drew Mesa to within 14-7, and it was 28-14 when Reilly surveyed the defense on first down from the Mavs' 13 yard line near the end of the half.

The play that had been called would work, Reilly concluded, if he could somehow survive linebacker Spencer McAdoo. Lined up in the shotgun, Reilly was alone in the backfield with no one available to deflect McAdoo if he chose to rush.

McAdoo did, and Reilly waited until the last split second for Bronson to come open in the back of the end zone.

"That play was designed for Jared all the way," Bennett said, "and Mike did a great job of standing in there and taking the hit. And the way the game went it was a very big play because with the lead it gave us, they pretty much had to throw and that was obviously to our advantage."

Especially after CWU had gotten two special teams touchdowns -- the first a 2-yard return by Dyer of Courtney Smith's blocked punt, and then Smith's 95-yard kickoff return after the Mavs' final score.

The 35-14 halftime lead enabled Reilly to run the clock and Central to add to its statistical dominance.

CWU outgained Mesa 231 yards to 19 during the final two periods, with Reilly and Chris Rohrbach polishing off stellar statistical days.

Reilly finished 17 for 24 for 293 yards with one interception, and became the second Wildcat (along with Jon Kitna) to surpass 10,000 yards in total offense.

Rohrbach, meanwhile, had career highs of seven catches for 113 yards and two TDs while Johnny Spevak and Jared Bronson had three receptions and one score each. East Valley junior Matt Snell added two catches for 48 yards.

Garrett Rolsma, whose 44-yard field goal with time expiring put Central into overtime last week, added 3-pointers covering 31 and 21 yards.

And the defense, which logged 14 tackles for loss, listed nine players with at least half a sack each including Andrew Oney with two, Dyer with 1.5 and West Valley's Taylor Tanasse with one.

Mesa State 7 7 0 0 -- 14

Central Washington 21 14 6 7 -- 48

First quarter

CWU--Ryan Dyer 2 blocked punt return (Garrett Rolsma kick), 11:46.

CWU--Johnny Spevak 39 pass from Mike Reilly (Rolsma kick), 3:40.

MSC--Kris Means 80 run (C.J. Smith kick), 0:13.

CWU--Chris Rohrbach 24 pass from Reilly (Rolsma kick), 2:23.

Second quarter

MSC--Maurice Manley 7 pass from Phil Vigil (Smith kick), 5:16.

CWU--Courtney Smith 95 kickoff return (Rolsma kick)

CWU--Jared Bronson 13 pass from Reilly (Rolsma kick), 2:22.

Third quarter

CWU--FG Rolsma 31, 6:12.

CWU--FG Rolsma 21, 3:39.

Fourth quarter

CWU--Rohrbach 31 pass from Reilly (Rolsma kick), 4:26.

MSC CWU

First downs 12 23

Rushes-yards 37-111 34-152

Passing 128 315

Att-Comp-Int. 18-12-1 26-19-1

Return Yards 152 224

Punts (Number-Avg) 7-32.0 2-28.0

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 5-42 11-85

Time of Possession 27:29 32:31

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Mesa State, Means 2-81, Coy 18-61, Pinegar 1-5, Britton 2-3, Team 1-(minus 2), Vigil 13-(minus 37). Central Washington, Reilly 8-64, Hasty 9-48, Morris 13-39, Leonard 4-1.

PASSING--Mesa State, Vigil 11-17-1-118, Pinegar 1-1-0-10. Central Washington, Reilly 17-24-1-293; Miller 2-2-0-22.

RECEIVING--Mesa State, Manley 4-59, Chernoff 4-44, Murray 1-20, Griffin 1-5, Coy 1-0, Means 1-0. Central Washington, Rohrbach 7-113, Spevak 3-92, Bronson 3-33, Snell 2-48, Waller 2-13, Weems 1-13, Landers 1-3.