Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Northern Colorado
Wildcats run to 38-17 win over Northern Colorado
9/26/2015 11:01:00 PM | Football
GREELEY, Colo. -- Weber State won its second straight game and opened Big Sky Conference play with a 38-17 win over Northern Colorado Saturday afternoon at Nottingham Field. The win moved Weber State to 4-0 all-time in Greeley.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 31-0 lead but the Bears rallied with 17 straight points before the 'Cats finished it off with another rushing touchdown.
Weber State totaled 435 yards of total offense compared to 325 for Northern Colorado. WSU rushed for 254 yards and three rushing touchdowns and hled UNC to 97 yards rushing. WSU was also 7-of-13 on third down conversions.
“So many positives for us today and I was really pleased with how we came out of the gates and moved the ball,” said WSU head coach Jay Hill. “We really played well on both sides of the ball and made some great stops defensively. Offensively we really ran the ball well which opened up lots of other things as well. We had planned on getting some snaps for Justin Shaw and he really performed well and took us right down the field. We got a lot of guys involved today and made some great steps forward.”
WSU took their first possession 80 yards and capped it with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Clark to Tui Satuala, his first career TD reception.
Josh Kealamakia added a 34-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Late in the second quarter, Treshawn Garrett converted a one-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-goal at the one and the 'Cats led 17-0 at halftime.
Weber State started the second half with a new quarterback as true freshman Justin Shaw checked in for the first time this season and led the Wildcats down the field on a 12-play, 63-yard drive and finished it off with a four-yard touchdown run. On the next possession, Shaw found TyJuan Prince for a 46-yard touchdown that gave Weber State the 31-0 lead.
The Bears came back with 17 unaswered points with back-to-back touchdown passes by Jacob Knipp and a 25-yard field goal to cut the lead to 31-17 with 7:28 to play.
WSU responded with a 12-play, 73-yard drive that took 5:39 and ended with a 17-yard touchdown run by junior Emmanuel Pooler, his first carry of his career to make it 38-17.
Weber State totaled 435 yards of total offense compared to 325 for Northern Colorado. WSU rushed for 254 yards and three rushing touchdowns and hled UNC to 97 yards rushing. WSU was also 7-of-13 on third down conversions.
Individually, Clark was 8-of-18 passing for 99 yards and one touchdown. Shaw, playing for the first time in his career, was 5-of-6 passing for 82 yards and one touchdown.
On the ground sophomore Eric Wilkes had 22 carries for a career-high 122 yards rushing, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Freshman Treshawn Garrett had 16 carries for 78 yards and his first career TD.
TyJuan Prince led the receivers with three catches for 69 yards and the one touchdown. Satuala had three catches for 22 yards and Cory Thomson and Darryl Denby each had two receptions.
Karsen Liljenquist led the WSU defense with 10 tackles. LeGrand Toia had nine tackles with one sack and 2.5 tackles for loss and Emmett Tela added nine tackles and with one for a loss.
Weber State improved to 2-2 on the season and won the Big Sky opener on the road for the first time since 2008.
WSU will continue Big Sky play next week as they return home Friday night to host Southern Utah. The game will begin at 6 p.m. at Stewart Stadium.
