WSCU grounds Eagles, 24-15
CSC’s offense struggled against a dominating Western State Colorado University defense, especially in the opening quarter. The Mountaineers defeated CSC 24-15, Saturday at Elliott Field.
In the first quarter, the Mountaineer defense held the Eagles to 20 yards on six plays. Two 3-and-outs was all the Eagles could manage the opening 15 minutes. The Mountaineers controlled the ball for 12 minutes, 44 seconds to start the game.
The time of possession leveled off in the second quarter.
The Eagles held the ball for about six minutes in the second quarter, but only gained 73 yards. Midway through, Matt Vinson, junior of Box Elder, South Dakota, connected with Max Gray, redshirt sophomore of Arlington, Washington, for a 15-yard touchdown pass. Gray finished with 111 yards.
The Eagles finished with 345 total offensive yards, 234 passing and 111 on the ground. On a bright note, CSC completed the game without a single turnover.
Cody Paul, senior of Seal Beach, California, led the ground attack for CSC, with 58 yards on 10 carries. Redshirt freshman Priest Jennings, of Stockton, California, finished the game with 57 rushing yards, 56 of them coming from one play in the third quarter.
Defensively, the Eagles couldn’t contain the powerful ground attack from Western State. Of Western’s 407 total yards, 377 of them were on the ground.
The duo of Cameron Shumway, redshirt sophomore of Blanding, Utah; and Austin Ekeler, senior of Eaton, Colorado, combined for all but 10 of the Mountaineers rushing attack.
Ekeler finished with 283 yards and two touchdowns. He was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week.
Shumway, a 6-foot-6-inch, 240-pound quarterback, rushed for 84 yards and a score.
Ryan Wood, senior of Stockton, California, led the Eagle defense with 12 tackles. Courtland Joshua, senior of Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and Mitch Collicott, junior of McCook, added eight of their own.
Redshirt sophomore Merrit Crabtree, of Newcastle, Wyoming, also recorded eight tackles.
CSC is on the road for the second time this season, traveling to Alamosa, Colorado, to face Adams State University. The Grizzlies are 0-3 overall and in conference play.
Adams State lost to Fort Lewis College, Durango, last week 21-16.
CSC will have another tough match-up on offense and defense, as ASU’s John Reed, senior of Glendale, Arizona, leads the RMAC in tackles, averaging more than 12 per game.
Junior runningback Corey Brown, of Peoria, Arizona, is in the top five runningbacks in the RMAC for yards per game, averaging 70 and more than six yards per carry.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.