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 Schedule/Results | Roster | Stats | News | Archives WEEKLY RELEASE: Western travels to NCAA I-FCS North Dakota
Oct. 13, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - THIS WEEK'S GAME: Western Washington University Vikings (3-3) vs. University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux (4-1) in a non-conference contest Saturday, Oct. 18 (11 a.m. PT) at the Alerus Center (12,283 cap., AstroTurf) in Grand Forks, N.D. It is North Dakota's Homecoming game. In the previous two years, the two teams were both members of the now-defunct North Central Conference. Last week, the Vikings had a two-game winning streak snapped as they fell 50-28 to Central Washington in the sixth annual Battle in Seattle for the Cascade Cup at Qwest Field. Western opened its season by splitting two league contests, losing its home opener to Western Oregon, 36-27, on Sept. 6, and winning 30-14 at Humboldt State on Sept. 13. The Vikings fell 52-31 at NCAA I-Football Championship Subdivision No.14-ranked Eastern Washington on Sept. 20 in a game that was tied 31-all with 13 minutes remaining. They bounced back with a pair of GNAC victories, posting a dramatic home field 29-27 win over Dixie State on Sept. 27 that was decided on a 27-yard field goal with four seconds remaining and having a 24-13 triumph at Western Oregon on Oct. 4. North Dakota, which is in its first year as a NCAA I-FCS member, has not played for the last two weeks after suffering its first loss of the season, 38-35, at Southeastern Lousiana on Sept. 27. The Fighting Sioux opened with four wins, the first three at home, defeating Texas A&M-Kingsville 40-14, St. Cloud State MN 31-17, Wisconsin-La Crosse 45-7 and 38-35 at Idaho State. SERIES HISTORY: Fourth meeting. Western trails 3-0. Last year, the Vikings lost 63-42 to No.2-ranked North Dakota in a NCC game at Bellingham. In 2006, Western gave No.4 North Dakota a scare at Grand Forks, holding a halftime lead before losing 26-20. The Vikings also met the Fighting Sioux on the road in 2005, losing 47-7. RADIO: KBAI (930 AM-Bellingham) is broadcasting all Western football games live this season with sports director Doug Lange handling the play-by-play duties for the 13th consecutive season. The pre-game show with host and color commentator Mark Scholten begins at 10:30 a.m. The KBAI broadcast can also be heard on the Internet at wwuvikings.com. AUDIO WEBCAST: Viking football is again on the Internet for 2008. To listen to the live broadcast via the web, go to www.wwuvikings.com and follow the links. The web provides streaming audio of the KBAI 930 AM radio broadcast. The audio stream is only available during event broadcast times. 2007 RESULTS: Western finished 2-8 and placed ninth in the NCC at 1-7. North Dakota was 10-2, reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA II national playoffs, and placed second in the NCC at 7-1. NEW LEAGUE (KIND OF), NEW REGION: The Vikings spent the last two years as a football-only member of the North Central Conference, but when that league folded after an eight-decade history, WWU returned to the GNAC, which took a two-year hiatus from football. The top team in the conference not reaching the NCAA II playoffs earns a berth in the Rotary Bowl at St. George, Utah. The five GNAC schools will play each other home-and-home this season. The five current GNAC football teams competed in the Northwest Region last season, but have been moved to the Southwest Region this fall. That region, which earlier this season was officially renamed Super Regional Four, also includes the Lone Star Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. WESTERN REPORT: The Vikings are looking to bounce back after their largest loss of the season and do so in tough surroundings at North Dakota. Western is led by senior quarterback Adam Perry, who triggers an offense averaging 28.2 points and 403.8 yards a game. Perry has thrown for better than 300 yards in three of the last four games, and for the season has completed 127-of-202 passes (62.9 percent) for 1,799 yards with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. Perry's top targets have been wide receivers Pat McCann and Travis McKee. McCann has 30 receptions for 536 yards and six touchdowns, McKee 29 grabs for 453 yards and one score. Western's tight ends have also played a big role, as senior Logan Cullen and junior Zach Hekker have combined for 19 receptions, including four touchdowns. Keying the ground game is junior running back Randall Eldridge, who has 394 yards and two touchdowns on 108 carries and leads the GNAC in rushing (78.8 avg.). Eldridge has also added 19 catches for 244 yards and two scores. The offense is anchored by an experienced line that returned four starters, led by senior center Dan Trask, an honorable mention all-North Central Conference pick last season. On defense, junior linebacker Caleb Jessup has 75 tackles, including 4.5 for loss, He leads the GNAC and ranks third nationally in NCAA II in tackles per game (12.5 avg.) and has double-figure stops in all six games, matching a season-high with 15 last week against Central Washington. Sophomore linebacker Nick Cragin has 50 tackles, including five for loss, sharing the team lead in that category with senior linebacker C.J. Green. Sophomore end Nick Rocco and sophomore tackle Don Thomas share the sack lead with 2.5 each. In the secondary, sophomore safety Zach Schrader has 46 tackles and a team-high two interceptions. Sophomore cornerback Anthony Zackery has a team-high four passes defensed and 19 tackles. On special teams, junior Josh Lider is 19-of-21 on extra points and 6-of-8 on field goals, including a game-winning 27-yarder with four seconds against Dixie State. The Vikings have blocked three punts this season, with Kevin Sampson getting two of them and returning a block in the first meeting with Western Oregon for a touchdown. Senior Rick Copsey is averaging 19.5 yards on 17 kickoff returns. This week's team co-captains are Rick Copsey, Chris Corey, C.J. Green and Dan Trask. VIKING NOTES: Perry ranks 11th among school career passing leaders with 3,763 yards and needs two yards to move into the top 10. His 423 yards passing in a 29-27 victory over Dixie State were the third-most in school history ... McCann's 96-yard touchdown grab against Dixie State was a GNAC record and the second-longest in school history. His yardage total of 232 was the second most in school history and his three touchdown catches tied a school record ... In its first two losses, WWU held a third-quarter lead in the season opener against Western Oregon, and entered the fourth quarter against NCAA I-FCS Eastern Washington tied at 31-all ... In 2007, Perry threw for 1,587 yards with seven touchdowns and four interceptions ... Eldridge redshirted last year after being the Golden Gate Conference Offensive Player of the Year at Chabot JC in 2006, rushing for 1,277 yards and 12 touchdowns in 10 games ... Senior wide receiver Travis McKee had 43 catches and was an honorable mention all-NCC pick a year ago. He has been the Vikings' leading receiver in each of the last two seasons ... Jessup earned all-NCC honorable mention in 2007. SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA: After 113 years in NCAA II and 87 in the NCC, the Fighting Sioux have moved up to the NCAA I-FCS ranks this year and are competing in the Great West Football Conference. North Dakota has a 4-1 record after a 38-35 loss to Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond, La. The loss broke UND's seven-game regular season winning streak dating back to the 2007 season. Sophomore reserve tailback Josh Murray has scored a team-high 42 points on seven rushing touchdowns. He is the North Dakota rushing leader with 579 yards on 96 carries, averaging 6.0 yards per carry. Last year as a true freshman, Murray ran for over 500 yards and four touchdowns. Senior quarterback Danny Freund has totaled 1,220 yards on 108 completions and has thrown 13 touchdowns with just two interceptions. He is averaging 244.0 passing yards per game. Last year, Freund ranked third nationally in pass efficiency at 167.7, setting school records for yards passing with 2,573 and touchdowns with 24. Senior running back Brady Trenbeath is the team's top receiver with 609 yards on 42 catches and six touchdowns, averaging 14.5 yards a reception and 121.8 yards per game. He also is second in rushing with 209 yards and two touchdowns. Trenbeath, who had career highs of 13 catches for 201 yards versus Southeastern Louisiana, has had 156 catches over the last three seasons. Junior placekicker Brandon Hellevang is second on the team in scoring with 37 points, booting 5-of-10 field goals and 22-of-23 PATs. He was a second-team Daktronics All-American in 2007, connecting on 15-of-25 field goals with a long of 56 yards and all 58 of his PATs. Senior center Mitch Braegelmann was an honorable mention All-American last season. All-American running back Ryan Chappell is not playing this season because of academic ineligibility. Senior free safety Rory Manke paces the defense with 27 tackles, followed by junior inside linebacker Andrew Miller with 21, redshirt freshman Dominique Hawkins with 17. Senior outside linebacker Brett Holinka, an honorable mention all-NCC pick in 2007, also has 17. Hawkins has a team-high two interceptions and leads North Dakota with 321 yards on 12 kick returns (26.8 avg). HOMECOMING SUCCESS: North Dakota has won its last five Homecoming games, including a 37-0 routing over Augustana SD last season. The Fighting Sioux are 59-26-1 (.686) all-time during Homecoming games. North Dakota's last Homecoming loss was 20-17 to St. Cloud State in 2002, the second of back-to-back Homecoming losses. The previous year, North Dakota fell 27-24 in overtime to No.2 Nebraska-Omaha. It was the first and only loss that season for the Fighting Sioux, who went on to win the NCAA Division II title. NORTH DAKOTA AT HOME: North Dakota is 46-6 in its eighth season at the Alerus Center, a 12,283-seat indoor stadium. The Fighting Sioux won 23 straight home games from 2002 to 2005. FIGHTING SIOUX SUCCESS: North Dakota has made a total of 17 post-season appearances, winning the NCAA II national championship in 2001 as it rallied from a late four-point deficit to defeat Grand Valley State MI 17-14 in Florence, Ala. North Dakota was the national runner-up in 2003, losing 10-3 to Grand Valley State in the title game. In all, the Fighting Sioux made 14 NCAA II playoff appearances and won 24 NCC titles. WWU INJURY REPORT: WWU lost two top reserves during the first three weeks, strong safety Jordan Carey and cornerback Reggie Christor both suffering season-ending shoulder injuries. GNAC PRESEASON POLL: WWU was picked to finish third among five teams in the 2008 Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll. Arch-rival Central Washington was the first-place pick with Western Oregon second. Dixie State was fourth and Humboldt State fifth. HEAD COACHES: Robin Ross (Washington State, 1977) is in his third year (10-17) as head coach at WWU and has three decades of coaching experience. He was the defensive coordinator for two of the finest Viking teams in school history in the mid-1990s. Ross spent most of his career as an assistant at the NCAA Division I-A level. He also coached in the National Football League, being the linebackers coach with Oakland for two seasons, helping the Raiders have the ninth-ranked defense in the NFL in 2000, when they were 12-4 and reached the AFC Championship Game. In 2005, Ross was linebackers coach at Oregon State, where the Beavers led the PAC-10 in run defense, allowing 108.0 yards per game. He spent the previous four seasons as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach at Oregon. The Ducks won the 2001 PAC-10 championship, finishing second in the ESPN Coaches Poll after defeating Colorado in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. He was also at Oregon as an assistant during the 1997 and 1998 seasons. Ross initially came to Western in 1994 and in his first season the Vikings led the NAIA Division II in scoring defense, allowing just 11.5 points a game and five times holding opponents without a touchdown. Western, which posted its first national playoff victory that season with a 21-2 triumph at No.1-ranked Linfield, ranked third nationally in rushing defense at 76.0 yards a contest and fifth in total defense (260.3) with 42 takeaways. In 1995, Western finished 9-1, going 9-0 for the school's first undefeated regular-season in 57 years and being ranked No.1 nationally in NAIA II for five weeks. The defense allowed 13.7 points a game, ranking seventh nationally in that category. Ross, 53, is a graduate of Washington State, where he was a second-team all-PAC-8 pick as an offensive lineman. He was a 10th round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 1976, and spent one preseason with the Seattle Seahawks. Chris Mussman (Iowa State, 1990) is in his first season (4-1) as North Dakota head coach. The 39-year-old Mussman became the 25th head coach in UND football history on Jan. 4, 2008 after nine seasons on the Fighting Sioux coaching staff, including the last four as assistant head coach and the last seven as offensive coordinator. Mussman possesses nearly two decades of collegiate coaching experience. During his nine seasons as an assistant on the UND staff, the Sioux went 90-24 (.789), won a Division II national championship in 2001, won five North Central Conference titles and made five NCAA Division II postseason appearances. Last season, his seventh as UND's offensive coordinator, Mussman directed arguably the most explosive offensive unit in the history of Fighting Sioux football. UND set school records for total yards (5,924), total touchdowns (60) and regular season scoring average (40.7 points per game). UND finished the 2007 season as the NCC's top-ranked offense in scoring, total offense, total first downs, 3rd-down conversions and time of possession. Mussman also was an assistant eight years at Minnesota State. LAST MEETING: Running back Ryan Chappell rushed for 214 yards on 24 carries, including four second-half touchdowns, helping nationally ranked North Dakota pull away from a halftime tie and claim a 63-42 North Central Conference victory over Western on Sept. 22, 2007, at Bellingham's Civic Stadium. UND, rated No.2 in the latest American Football Coaches Association/NCAA Division II Coaches Poll, improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the NCC. Western allowed the most points in a game since a 66-0 loss at Nevada in 1978. The combined 105 points were the most ever scored in a Western football game, and also set an NCC record, breaking the mark of 102 set in South Dakota State's 60-42 victory over Mankato State in 1993. The two teams combined for 1,092 yards of offense, with UND having a 622-470 advantage. Craig Garner had a career-high 192 yards on 31 carries and a school record-tying four touchdowns for Western. It was his sixth 100-yard rushing effort in the Vikings' last seven games. Chappell had just 27 yards on six carries in the first half, but ran for 82 yards in the first two Fighting Sioux possessions of the second half, capping the drives with scoring runs of 5 and 15 yards, to give UND a 35-21 lead. On UND's next possession, quarterback Danny Freund hit wide receiver Brady Trenbeath on a 40-yard touchdown pass set up by play-action. Western narrowed the gap to 42-28 on a 5-yard pass from quarterback Adam Perry to wide receiver Travis McKee, then recovered an onside kick. But Perry was intercepted by Drake Otto on the final play of the third period, and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Chappell burst 90 yards down the left sideline, giving the Fighting Sioux a 49-28 lead and effectively putting the game out of reach. Perry completed 21-of-33 passes for 276 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Freund was 17-of-22 for 319 yards with five touchdowns and one interception, going 11-of-14 for195 yards in the opening half. UND wide receiver Weston Dressler had seven receptions for 165 yards, and rolled up 236 all-purpose yards, all in the first half. It was the fourth straight game the Fighting Sioux exceeded 500 yards of total offense, and they scored their most points in an NCC game since a 69-0 triumph over Morningside in 1972. Each team scored three touchdowns in the first 24 minutes. Western opened the game with an 11-play, 80 yard drive. Garner rushed six times for 55 yards in the march, setting up a 1-yard sneak by Perry less than six minutes into the game. UND responded with back-to-back scoring drives - going 66 yards in eight plays, capped by Freund's 7-yard pass to fullback Andrew Sorbo; then taking a 14-7 lead Dressler for a 10-yard score to complete a 10-play, 87-yard march. Western came right back, as Garner, on the first play from scrimmage, bounced outside and sprinted down left sideline for 63-yard touchdown, but UND responded 1-play drive of its own, as Dressler got behind Viking defense for a 61-yard touchdown reception. The Vikings completed the scoring explosion on the following series. Perry completed passes to convert on third-and-22 and third-and-10, leading to a 7-yard touchdown run by Garner. LAST WEEK: Quarterback Mike Reilly completed 36-of-47 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns as Central Washington defeated Western, 50-28, in the sixth annual Wells Fargo Battle in Seattle for the Cascade Cup presented by Comcast and GNAC game at Qwest Field. The Vikings fell despite quarterback Adam Perry completing 22-of-36 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns. Central, ranked No.11 in the latest American Football Coaches Association Division II Top 25, improved to 6-1 overall and stayed atop the GNAC standings at 5-0. A crowd of 12,258 watched the game, the second-best mark in the history of the BIS, and the most since 16,392 attended the inaugural game in 2003. Reilly was 14-of-16 for 150 yards in the first quarter alone, helping stake the Wildcats to a 16-0 lead. After taking a 2-0 lead on a safety, Central scored twice in a 14-second span late in the first quarter. Reilly tossed a 10-yard touchdown to Sam Togar, and after Western fumbled on the kickoff return, hit Jamal Weems for a 30-yard score. Reilly broke two records, one school and one national, when he found Togar with that scoring toss. Reilly established a NCAA record for all classifications with a streak of 41 consecutive games with a touchdown pass and it was the 100th of his career, breaking the Central mark of 99 he shared with Jon Kitna. Western used a 1-yard sneak by Perry and a 2-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Travis McKee to counter a 25-yard Garrett Rolsma field goal and narrow the margin to 19-14 late in the second quarter and had the ball back with an opportunity to take the lead. Instead, Western's drive stalled, and a partially blocked punt and a personal foul led to Rolsma kicking a 30-yard field goal with one second left in the half, giving the Wildcats a 22-14 lead at halftime. The Vikings never got closer than that in the second half. Jerome Morris had a pair of second-half touchdown runs for the Wildcats, and Reilly connected on two 7-yard scoring strikes with wide receiver Johnny Spevak, who had 13 receptions for 148 yards. Western countered in the second half with a 56-yard touchdown pass from Perry to wide receiver Pat McCann in the third quarter and a two-yard run by running back Randall Eldridge in the fourth period. Reilly's 36 completions were a career-high and the second-most in Central history. His 371 passing yards were a season-high, and he also rushed for 58 yards on nine attempts, giving him a career-best 429 yards of total offense and helping the Wildcats to a 531-372 advantage in that category. Reilly also set a GNAC record for consecutive passes without an interception with 184 before being picked off by Western linebacker C.J. Green in the fourth quarter. Eldridge rushed for 79 yards and a score on 16 carries, and added 63 yards on five receptions. Central has now won five of six Battle in Seattle games, including the last four. WWU PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets for Viking football cost $12 for reserved seating, $10 for general admission adults, $6 for students and seniors and $3 for Western students. For ticket information, contact the WWU Athletic Department at 360-650-2583 (BLUE). Season tickets are available for $33. CIVIC STADIUM: Western is in its 47th year of playing home games at Bellingham's Civic Stadium. The Vikings have a 123-90-7 (.575) record at that facility which was built in 1961. Last year, Western finished 1-3 at home, the second time in three years after not having a losing record at Civic Stadium since 1990. NEXT GAME: Western returns to GNAC action as it entertains Humboldt State on Saturday, Oct. 25 (1 p.m.) at Bellingham's Civic Stadium. The Lumberjacks are under the direction of former WWU Hall of Fame head coach Rob Smith. WEBSITE: For the latest results, statistics and updates, including reports on all WWU athletic events, visit the Vikings website at wwuvikings.com. PROBABLE TWO DEEPS
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