Blazing through the preseason

The Weber State University stadium on Sept. 17, 2022. (Kennedy Camarena/ The Signpost)

Weber State University’s football team sits at 3–0 after the Wildcats blazed past the Utah Tech Trailblazers 44–14 on Sept. 17 at Stewart Stadium.

It has been 24 years since the last time Weber State football has entered conference play with a 3–0 record.

“You need to go into conference play playing well,” head coach Jay Hill said. “I think that there’s a lot of things we’re doing well, we’ve handled the first three games exactly the way we needed to.”

After an upset against Utah State, spectators were concerned the ‘Cats would roll into this game against the Trailblazers overly confident and underperform.

Weber State was quick to silence the doubters after Bronson Barron connected with Ty MacPherson for a 13-yard touchdown less than two minutes after the game started.

Kyle Thompson kicked for the extra point and the ‘Cats led 7–0.

Utah Tech wasn’t able to respond to the Wildcats first touchdown before they added another seven points to the scoreboard.

Barron connected to Jacob Sharp for a 35-yard touchdown four minutes after their first, leading UTU 14–0.

The Trailblazers added their own points to the scoreboard on an 8-yard touchdown from quarterback Kobe Tracy to David Fisher.

Weber State kept up their passing game and Barron found MacPherson for a second time, connecting for a 36-yard touchdown to push the ‘Cats to 21–7 headed into the second quarter.

On a slower start to the second quarter, the Trailblazers responded first with a 37-yard touchdown pass from Tracy to Joey Hobert. This would be the last time UTU would add any points to the scoreboard.

The new pace of the Wildcat offense looked to be too much for the Trailblazers as the ‘Cats would score five more times before the end of the game.

Of those five scoring attempts, Thompson had three field goals, all from over 20 yards.

The Barron-MacPherson combo connected for the third time after Barron connected a 17-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.

“He continues to do well and teams are going to have to find answers to cover him,” Hill said about MacPherson.

Damon Banksnskton collected the only rushing touchdown late in the fourth quarter for 6-yards, the ‘Cats finished the night 44–14.

In total, the Wildcat offense totaled 623 yards. Barron completed 25 of their 33 attempted passes and threw for 368 yards.

Winston Reid led the squad with 11 tackles. Garrett Beck was close behind with seven, and both Eddie Heckard and Desmond Williams each had five tackles.

Weber State is headed into conference play next week as they hit the road and take on UC Davis on Sept. 24 at UC Davis Health Stadium.

The ‘Cats previously lost to the Aggies at Stewart Stadium last season in a close match up, 17–14.

The Aggies currently sit at 1–2 for the season, collecting their first win against the University of San Diego, 43–13 on Sept. 17.