GNAC Football

Central Washington Picked To Win GNAC Football Title


Mike Reilly

Two teams – Central Washington and Western Oregon – hope to make return trips to the post-season, while three others will be looking to rebound from eight-loss seasons when the 2008 Great Northwest Athletic Conference football campaign begins next Saturday.

Central Washington, which is an unanimous pick (Quick Facts) to win its fourth GNAC title in the conference coaches' pre-season poll, travels to St. George, Utah for its conference opener against Dixie State. In non-conference games, Humboldt State and Western Oregon will take on Division I Championship Sub Division (formerly Division I-AA) opponents.

The Lumberjacks play at Sacramento State and the Wolves takes at Portland State in their openers. Western Washington opens its season Saturday, Sept. 6 hosting Western Oregon.

Central Washington won the last two GNAC titles - in 2004 and 2005 – before the conference discontinued the sport. In the last two seasons CWU and WWU competed in the now defunct North Central Conference, while Western Oregon, Humboldt State and Dixie State, which moved up from the junior college ranks two years ago, were independents.

Central is coming off a 10-3 campaign and a NCAA Division II national quarterfinal appearance and could not only make a run at its fourth GNAC title (it also won the title in 2002), but also has hopes of playing deep into December under first-year head coach Blaine Bennett.

The former Western Oregon head coach (27-32 in six seasons between 1995 and 2000), spent six of the last seven seasons as an assistant coach in the Big Ten Conference, including five at Purdue and one at Michigan State.

Bennett inherited a talented team from Beau Baldwin, who left after one season as head coach to take over at Eastern Washington after Eagle head coach Paul Wulff was hired at Washington State.

Among seven returning offensive starters for the Wildcats are first-team All-American quarterback Mike Reilly (3,388 yards, 30 touchdowns), two All-American receivers in tight end Jared Bronson (35-477) and two-sport standout Johnny Spevak (92-1210, 14 TDs) and three-fifths of CWU's 2007 starting offensive line which helped produce 408 points (31.4 per game) and 5,180 yards (398.5 per game).

The Wildcats did lose running back Johnny Lopez, who rushed for 1,230 yards and 13 touchdowns, but among Bennett's first recruiting class is University of Washington transfer J.R. Hasty, who ran for a state high-school record 50 touchdowns at Bellevue four years ago.

On defense, the Wildcats return five of their seven top tacklers and three NCC all-conference players – linebacker Buddy Wood, who led the team in tackles with 119 and was a first team selection. Defensive lineman Mitch Reffett and defensive back Jerome Williams were honorable mention selections.

The defense also got a boost with the addition of cornerback Jordan Murchison, who was being mentioned as a possible starter at UW last season but ended up playing in just two games, and linebacker Ryan Buenaflor, who played in 11 games over the past two seasons at Eastern Washington.

Western Oregon returns a GNAC-best 17 starters and 46 letter winners off a team that lost just once to a Division II team (49-14 to Central Washington) and capped off a nine-win season with a 26-12 win over Colorado School of Mines in the Rotary Bowl.

The Wolves return all of their running backs including Ben Kuenzi (722 yards, five touchdowns) and four of their top five receivers led by Isaiah Smith (37-541, 6 TDs) and Sean Kauleinamoku (36-483, 6 TDs). But head coach Arne Ferguson (20-12, 3 years) will need to replace quarterback Mark Thorson (2,316 yards and 24 touchdowns) and most of his offensive line.

Three quarterbacks – Brady Lovell, A.J. Robinson and Cory Bean – split playing time in the spring, combining to complete 17 of 23 passes for 249 yards in the Alumni game. A fourth – Salem native Josh Riddle – played three games last season at Mississippi State throwing for 240 yards and two touchdowns.

Center Cory Perkins and tight end Cory Dickson are the lone returning players that started on the offensive line in the Rotary Bowl.

On defense, the Wolves return five of their top seven tacklers including linebacker J.T. Gilmore (122 tackles), but will need to replace their two defensive ends.

Western Washington hopes to bounce back from a 2-8 season, its fewest victories in more than two decades. After an impressive 28-21 win over UC Davis in their season opener, the Vikings lost eight of their final nine games, giving up 40 or more points three times.

Nine starters are back for WWU on offense including quarterback Adam Perry, who threw for 1,587 yards and seven touchdowns. Perry will be backed up Washington State transfer Cole Morgan, who spent three seasons in Pullman, but played in just one game.

The Vikings did lose running back Craig Garner, who gained 989 yards, but Randall Eldridge who rushed for 1,277 yards in earning second team JC All-American honors in 2006 is available.

WWU's entire starting offensive line led by center Dan Trask, who earned honorable mention NCC honors, also returns. The Vikings top two receivers – wide receivers Travis McKee (43-381) and Rick Copsey (25-351) also are back.

On defense, the Vikings return six starters, including honorable mention all-league cornerback Anthony Rosso, who had a league-best four interceptions.

The defense, however, gave up 27 touchdown passes, allowed 431.8 yards and 32.1 points per game, and will need to show vast improvement in order for WWU to challenge the Wildcats and Wolves for either a NCAA playoff berth or an invitation to the Rotary Bowl, which goes to the highest league finisher not to receive an NCAA invite.

Among its returnees, WWU's most experience is in the secondary which will feature Rosso, University of Oregon transfer Jordan Carey and Kevin Jones, who was a starter in 2005 prior to missing the last two seasons with injuries.

Dixie State returns 15 starters and 35 letter winners off a team that had wins over Adams State, Western New Mexico and Humboldt State.

Three returning players earned D2football.com all-independent honors – tight end Judd Thompson, offensive lineman Ryan Delrosal and linebacker Teddy Owens.

Former Western Washington coach Rob Smith takes over at Humboldt State. Smith, who posted a 109-62 record in 17 seasons at Bellingham, inherits a team that features 32 returning letter winners and a GNAC season-low eight starters. Just two returning Humboldt players – kicker Kyle Schierholt and offensive lineman Bryant Kendall - earned all-independent honors a year ago.

Dixie Rotary Bowl To Be Televised By FANZ-TV Network

The Dixie Rotary Bowl Association has signed a one-year national broadcast deal with FANZ-TV Network, a 24-7 Sports Television Network.

The Rotary Bowl, which will be played Saturday, Dec. 6 in St. George, Utah, will match the champions of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and GNAC.

If the champions qualify for the NCAA playoffs, the runnerups from each conference would be matched in the game.

“We are delighted by our agreement with FANZ-TV to broadcast the bowl game,” said Richard Isom, Assistant Director of Marketing for the Dixie Rotary Bowl.

“After reviewing several proposals, we selected FANZ-TV to assist us in bringing national recognition to the Rotary Bowl and to Division II football. Their energy, vision, and market exposure are an excellent fit with our goals.”

Production of the game will be under the direction of Phil Tuckett and the Dick Nourse Center for Media Innovation at Dixie State College of Utah. Tuckett is a faculty member for the Dixie State film program and operates Bristlecone Films, his documentary production company.

Prior to forming Bristlecone Films in 2006, Tuckett spent 38 years with NFL Films and has received 30 individual Emmy Awards for his work. Tuckett will provide the color commentary during the game broadcast.

Paul Bulkley will join Tuckett on the broadcast, providing the play-by-play for the game. Bulkley is an award winning play-by-play broadcaster with nearly ten years of experience in sports broadcasting.

United Sports Media will handle the advertising and syndication for the game. FANZ-TV will distribute the game across its affiliates nationally reaching over 12.5 million homes and the game will be made available to other sports networks.

FANZ-TV has reached agreements with the Lone Star Network (2.3 million) and Altitude Sports (5.4 million) to broadcast the games, adding an additional 7.7 million homes.

The games will also appear on the Altitude's DirecTv Ch. 644 & 661 and DISH Ch. 410, bringing another 30 million homes to the footprint.