Simon Fraser Clan face challenge in first place Wildcats (VIDEO)

Clan head to Central in search of first GNAC win

Burnaby, B.C. – The Simon Fraser University Clan football team knows it has a challenging weekend ahead, as the Clan travel to Ellensburg on Saturday (12 pm) for a game against the regionally ranked Central Washington University Wildcats in Great Northwest Athletic Conference Action.

The Clan, 1-7 on the year (0-6 GNAC), lost 44-30 the last time they played against Central Washington and are still searching for their first conference victory of the season.
After being ranked in the top ten of the NCAA Division II rankings to start the season, Central Washington has posted a 6-3 record, dropping out of the Top 25 and is in a battle for the GNAC title with Humboldt State. The Wildcats however are ranked eighth in the first Super Region Four poll of the year, one spot ahead of HSU.

A video recap of the CWU-SFU game is available here:

The Clan last week:
Lyndon Rowells and Daniel Wyatt combined for 366 yards rushing, as the Humboldt State University Lumberjacks ran all over the Simon Fraser University Clan, en route to a 35-14 win on Terry Fox Field on Saturday afternoon. The win moves Humboldt State into a first place tie with a 7-2 overall record, including a 5-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference mark. The loss drops SFU to 1-7 (0-6 GNAC) on the year.
Greg Bowcott finished the game 15-for-28 for 137 yards and one interception. Gabe Ephard finished with 38 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown, while Taylor Wilkinson was SFU’s leading receiver with six catches for 52 yards.

Learning curve:
In his second career start, Greg Bowcott regressed against last week Humboldt State, only six days after being named GNAC Offensive Player of the Week. SFU head coach Dave Johnson says it’s understandable for the freshman, as it was his first opportunity to start at home, as well his first week of university midterms. Through two games, Bowcott is 31-for-64 for 370 yards, with two interceptions.

Ephard almost 100%, Palmer out:
Running back Gabe Ephard is almost back to full health after injuring his ankle in the Shrum Bowl against UBC. The Clan have limited the North Vancouver native’s carries over the past two weeks because of the injury, but Ephard will be the starting back when the Clan take to the field on Saturday. Bo Palmer went in for surgery on Thursday afternoon to attend to his broken right hand, and will not play against Central Washington. Running backs Ronald Young, Cole Tudor, Brett Fabian as well as fullback Dashiell Buntjer and Adam Johnson are all making the trip to spell Ephard in various situations. The injuries to Ephard and Palmer knocked SFU out of the to spot in the GNAC offensive rankings for rushing. Ephard and Palmer are ranked third and fourth in the GNAC for rushing yards per game, and Ephard is second in the GNAC in total rushing yards and first in yards per carry.

Baumbach No.1:
Despite a quiet week against Dixie State, Mathis Baumbach is still No.1 in the GNAC for receiving yards per game, edging Western Oregon’s Justin Ore by .7 of a yard with his 64.1 yards per game average.

Northfield gets the call:
Greater Toronto Area native Ryan Northfield (Mississauga, Ont.) will be starting on Saturday at defensive tackle in place of injured Blair West. In six games this season, Northfield has three tackles, including one for a loss.

Pick six:
Adam Berger’s interception against HSU on Saturday was the longest of the season, the 65-yard touchdown return was SFU’s biggest play of the game. Berger is tied for the team lead in interceptions with Nigel Palma, each have three. Berger, a redshirt freshman has played both at safety and axe linebacker for SFU this season.

Marshall mauls:
Middle linebacker Andrew Marshall has been a force for the Clan defence this season, and leads the Clan with 56 tackles over his eight games played. His seven tackles per game average places the sophomore from Nanoose Bay in eighth spot in the GNAC rankings.

Meet at the quarterback:
Defensive ends Scott Puffer and Justin Capicciotti are tied for the Clan lead this season in sacks, each have 3.5 total and both are tied for fourth in the GNAC rankings. Central Washington’s Eugene Germany leads the conference with 6.5 sacks over nine games.

The Wildcats last week:
The Wildcats enter Saturday’s game off a bye-week. Two weeks ago Central Washington University senior wide receiver Kollin Hancock (Columbus, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln HS) had a career-high 95 receiving yards and one touchdown, and the Wildcat defense stifled the Humboldt State University running game en route to a 26-18 Homecoming football victory over the Lumberjacks on Saturday afternoon at Tomlinson Stadium.

The Wildcats regained the lead in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings by improving to 6-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play. They also locked up a winning record for the ninth consecutive season by defeating the Lumberjacks, who saw a six-game winning streak snapped in falling to 6-2 (4-1 GNAC).

A look at CWU (courtesy Central Washington Sports Information):
• Central Washington plays the middle game of its season-ending three-game homestand this week against Simon Fraser. The latter portion of the Wildcats’ schedule has been to their benefit thus far, not having left the state of Washington for a football game since their Oct. 2 contest at Humboldt State and four scheduled home games in five starts. CWU opened this home stand with a 26-18 win over Humboldt State two weeks ago (Oct. 23) and will close it out with next Saturday’s game against Western Oregon.

• The series between Central and Simon Fraser dates back to 1967, with the Wildcats leading the all-time series by a 21-8 count. The two schools were longtime rivals in the Columbia Football Association before Central Washington moved up to the NCAA Division II ranks and joined the Great Northwest Athletic Conference prior to the 2001 season.

• The Wildcats are 29-10 all-time against teams from Canada. In addition to their 21 victories in 29 all-time meetings with Simon Fraser, Central Washington has an 8-2 all-time record against the University of British Columbia, whom they faced between 1935 and 1958.

• Central has won its last six games against Simon Fraser, including the first meeting of the season between the two schools on Sept. 25. The Wildcats’ last football loss to the Clan came on Oct. 19, 1996 in Burnaby by a 47-23 score, and that marks the only CWU loss in the last 17 head-to-head battles between the teams. Simon Fraser has not won at Tomlinson Stadium since Sept. 27, 1980.

• The Wildcats will maintain at least a share of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference lead with a victory over Simon Fraser this week. Central Washington is currently tied atop the conference standings with Humboldt State, as each team owns a 5-1 conference record with two games remaining. While CWU hosts Simon Fraser on Saturday, Humboldt State faces Western Oregon in Arcata. Should there be a tie for first place in the conference standings at the end of the season, teams will be declared co- (or tri-) champions. The Wildcats are in pursuit of their 33rd all-time football conference championship and what would be their sixth GNAC title in the eight-year football history of the conference.

• CWU head coach Blaine Bennett has a 5-2 all-time record against Simon Fraser, including the Sept. 25 win over the Clan in Burnaby. Bennett went 4-2 against SFU as the head coach at Western Oregon between 1995 and 2000.

The last time SFU played CWU:
For the first time in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history, two running backs each ran for over 200 yards, as No. 22 ranked Central Washington’s Bryson Kelly (246 yards) and Simon Fraser University’s Gabe Ephard (222 yards) went back and forth trying to top one another. Ultimately, the CWU Wildcats left SFU’s Terry Fox Field with a 44-30 victory to improve to 3-2 (3-0 GNAC) on the season. The loss drops the Clan to 0-4 (0-3 GNAC) on the year.
Central Washington finished the afternoon with 381 total yards on the ground, with Kelly and Ishmael Stinson (158 yards) combining for 405 yards. Kelly’s longest run of the day was for 64 yards, and the senior scored touchdowns of one, 22, four, and three yards only one week after scoring three touchdowns against Dixie State.
Ephard finished with two touchdowns, a 64-yard scamper in the second quarter to put SFU’s first points on the board, followed by a 70-yard run in the fourth quarter to clear the 200-yard mark.
SFU head coach Dave Johnson’s thoughts on the game:
“Central Washington is an incredibly tough place to play, this is going to be an incredibly challenging game, but I say that every week. Last time we played they were able to run up the gut on us every single time, and we need to do a better job of defending against that if we hope to be in this game.”
“I thought [Bowcott] regressed somewhat last week, but that’s understandable for a freshman quarterback playing his first game at home during his first week of midterms. That’s part of the university experience, and part of the learning process for a freshman, and I think he will respond well this week.”
“There is no quit in our locker room, which has been great to see, but as coaches we just need to do a better job of putting our athletes in places where they can make plays. Last weekend in particular I saw some technique issues that we need to correct, and some instances where we just flat out beat ourselves. And playing at this level, that cannot happen.”

Follow the game:
Links to live audio and statistics for Saturday’s game are available at:
[URL]http://www.wildcatsports.com/schedule.aspx?path=football&