Article

Football Heads to Central Washington In Search of Conference Win No. 2

Mavericks hit the road for the final time this season looking to build on shocking win over NCC-leading South Dakota.

by Kaleb Roedel
Issue date: 11/2/06 Section: Mens Sports

When Jeff Fielder scooped up the football off Ben Spencer's blocked field goal and barreled 23 yards into the end zone, lifting the Mavericks over conference-leading South Dakota, Minnesota State football was rejuvenated.

"We knew it was only a matter of time before we put it all together," said MSU head coach Jeff Jamrog following the game.

Now, keeping it together will be the key for MSU as the remainder of the season unfolds.

The Mavericks will be tested this weekend when they travel to Ellensburg, Wash., to face Central Washington who sits in the middle of the conference pack with a 3-3 record. The game will be the Mavericks first versus Central Washington in program history and mark the first time that MSU football has traveled to the state of Washington.

The Wildcats, who are fresh off a 38-28 win over Augustana, have momentum of their own as they ride a three-game winning streak going into Saturday.

"They're a good ball club," Jamrog said. "They're solid on offense, defense and special teams. And we know they like to throw the ball around."

Indeed, they do. In fact, the crux of Central Washington's success so far this season has come from the passing game, where quarterback Mike Reilly has been picking NCC defenses apart with his 252 throwing-yard average, fourth in the conference, and 18 touchdowns, first in conference. In the win over Augustana last week, Reilly racked up three touchdowns and 269 yards.

Trumping that aerial display, however, was MSU's own Ben King, who fired 60 passes for 505 yards and four touchdowns last week en route to breaking both MSU's yardage and completion records. King's performance earned him NCC and D2football.com player of the week honors and placed him atop the passing-yard totem pole with a 281-yard average and fourth in touchdowns with 14.

While the Maverick offense looks to ride its wave of momentum, the defense will be looking to put a muzzle the Wildcats' passing game.

"A nice thing for our defense is that we see probably the best arm in the country everyday at practice," said Ficcadenti in reference to King. "When we play well against him, we feel we can stop anyone."

Kaleb Roedel is a Reporter staff writer