WSU falls to NAU 27–10:
The Weber State University’s football team recently lost 27–10 to Northern Arizona University on Oct. 7 at Stewart Stadium, marking Weber’s second loss in the Big Sky Conference. The game was the third annual Red Rock Rivalry game after Weber State secured last year’s game 33–31. After the defeat the Wildcats fall to a 3–3 overall record and are 1–2 in Big Sky play.
The Wildcats were the first to score with a 13-play, 73-yard drive that capped it with a 1-yard touchdown run by Kylan Weisser. To finish off the first quarter the Lumberjacks scored on a 56-yard drive, but missed the extra point to make it 7–6.
NAU then scored on an 85-yard punt return touchdown by Coleman Owen to give the Lumberjacks a 13–7 lead with 11:13 to play in the first half.
Wildcat kicker Kyle Thompson then made a career-long 52-yard field goal to make it 13–10. Thompson scored the final points for the Wildcats. On the next possession, NAU scored on a 12-play, 75-yard drive to lead 20–10 at halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but the Lumberjacks added a 16-yard touchdown run with 2:35 left to play in the fourth quarter to secure their victory.
“I thought we started the game off really well, played really well in the first quarter, and from there we let it slip away from a special team standpoint, then obviously in the second half, we couldn’t generate much on offense, and we have to do a better job at that, but congratulations to Northern Arizona on the win,” head coach Mickey Mental said.
The Lumberjacks finished the game with a total of 321 total yards and held Weber State to only 180 yards through the entire game. Weber had 119 passing yards with 61 yards rushing.
Defensively for Weber State, senior Winston Reid had a career-high 16 tackles during the game. Reid had 10 solo tackles and six assisted tackles with two of the 16 being tackles for a loss. Redshirt freshman Keahnist Thompson had two sacks during the game for a loss of 18 yards for NAU. Senior safety Naseme Colvin finished the game with 13 total tackles.
“With Keahnist and Bronson, I thought that they came in and are obviously getting better every game with experience and to do that back-to-back games I’ve thought they’ve played very well,” Mental said.
Offensively, junior quarterback Kylan Weisser went 19 for 30 passing with a total of 119 yards. Senior wide receiver Haze Hadley had a total of six receptions for 43 yards, and junior wide receiver Jacob Sharp had four receptions for 25 yards. With junior Damon Bankston missing the game to a foot injury, the Wildcats’ run game was held to only 55 total gained yards. Redshirt freshman Adrian Cormier had seven carries for a total of 30 yards and Senior Kris Jackson had six carries for 25 total yards.
The Wildcats will be back home to host the University of California, Davis, on Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. at Stewart Stadium in the annual Homecoming game at Weber State University.
Homecoming game against UC Davis:
UC Davis has a 3–3 overall record and has a 1–2 record in Big Sky Conference games. The Aggies have wins over Texas A&M-Comm, Southern Utah and Cal Poly. The Aggies have losses to No. 16-ranked Oregon State, Eastern Washington and the University of Montana.
With last year’s matchup between Weber State and UC Davis, the Wildcats won 17–12. Weber has a total of seven wins in the 10 total games played between the two universities, with a 4–2 home record and a 3–1 away record. UC Davis took the first matchup between the two schools back on Sept. 18, 2004, the Aggies won 31–29.
The largest margin of victory was back in 2017 with a 41–3 victory for the Wildcats. The smallest margin of victory for this matchup was back in 2016, the Wildcats won 38–35. With a total of 249 total points scored and an average of 25 points in the history of UC Davis vs Weber State, this matchup is one to look forward to.
WSU football adds three FCS home-and-home series:
The Wildcats have scheduled three future Football Championship Subdivision home-and-home football series starting in the 2024 season. Weber State added future games with Lamar University, Northwestern State University and McNeese State University. All these schools are a part of the Southland Conference.
The ‘Cats will play at Lamar next season and will host the Cardinals in 2028. The first meeting is scheduled for Sept. 14, 2024, in Beaumont, Texas and will be the first matchup between the two schools.
Next season, the Wildcats will host McNeese on Sept. 28, 2024, at Stewart Stadium and will play the Cowboys on Lake Charles Louisiana on Sept. 13, 2025. McNeese and Weber State have met a total of four times with a series in 2012 and 2013 with the Cowboys holding a 3–1 lead in the series including a 2–0 overall record in Ogden.
The final matchup that the Wildcats have added for the 2024 season will be a matchup against Northwestern State. The Wildcats will play at Northwestern State on Sept. 21, 2024, in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The Wildcats will then host the Demons on Sept. 19, 2026, at Stewart Stadium. This will be the first matchup between Northwestern State and the Wildcats.
