Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Oregon State
Beavers knock off Wildcats 26-7 in season opener
9/5/2015 4:06:00 AM | Football
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Despite a strong effort by the Wildcat defense, Oregon State knocked off the Wildcats 26-7 Friday night in Reser Stadium in the season opener of the 2015 season.
“We did a lot of good things tonight but there are no moral victories,” said WSU head coach Jay Hill. “I was really pleased with some of the things we did. We showed we can be a very physical team and our defense did a nice job. We needed to make some more plays offensively but we weren't able to.”
After a defensive first quarter, Oregon State scored first with a 35-yard field goal with 10:22 left first half. The Beavers added another 40-yard field goal with less than a minute left in the half and took a 6-0 lead at halftime.
The Beavers opened the second half by driving down for a four-yard touchdown pass from Seth Collins to Victor Bolden with 8:13 left in the 3rd quarter to make it 13-0 Oregon State.
Weber State's only points came from the defense as Josh Burton intercepted an OSU pass and returned it eight yards for a touchdown to make it 13-7 with 3:34 left in the third quarter.
But the Beavers responded with back-to-back scores in the fourth quarter. Following a 39-yard field goal, OSU intercepted a WSU pass. Then five plays later Collins found Jordan Villamin for a 44-yard touchdown pass that made it 23-7 with 9:55 to play.
The Beavers added their fourth field goal late in the game to make reach the final score of 26-7.
Oregon State tallied 22 first downs compared to nine for the Wildcats. OSU also had 391 total yards of offense with 178 yards for Weber State. WSU rushed for 58 yards and passed for 110 yards.
Individually, Burton led the Wildcats with 10 tackles and the interception. He had five solo tackles and five assisted tackles. Tre'Von Johnson had nine tackles as did Karsen Liljenquist and Mitch Tulane had eight tackles. The 'Cats also had two sacks with Devonte Johnson and Rayshawn Henderson each picking up a sack.
Offensively, Jadrian Clark finished the night 19-of-35 passing for 120 yards and one interception. Drew Batchelor led the WSU receivers with six receptions for 51 yards and Cameron Livingston had 26 yards on three catches.
Eric Wilkes led the WSU rushing attack with seven carries for 37 yards.
The Wildcats will be back on the road next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. as they head to Fargo, N.D., to take on the four-time defending FCS national champion North Dakota State.
