Weber State football: Bankston, Wildcats pull away for 35-10 win over Central Washington
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- Weber State’s Damon Bankston (1) runs the football as Central Washington’s Jeremy Banks (11) and Brett McCalla (40) close in on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State linebacker Winston Reid (6) sacks Central Washington quarterback JJ Lemming on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State linebacker Jack Kelly, right, wraps up Central Washington quarterback Kennedy McGill on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Jayleen Record hauls in a pass against Central Washington on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Teammates celebrate as Abraham Williams (4) returns a kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown against Central Washington on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Abraham Williams backpedals into the end zone after a 105-yard kick-return touchdown against Central Washington on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Abraham Williams (4) celebrates with Marque Collins (2) after Williams’ 105-yard kick-return touchdown against Central Washington on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State running back Kris Jackson, right, runs from a group of Central Washington defenders Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Kylan Weisser throws a pass against Central Washington on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State running back Damon Bankston, center, outruns Central Washington’s Dominic Wieburg (8) on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State saftey Naseme Colvin, left, wraps up Central Washington’s Tyler Flanagan (21) on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Against a yet-to-be-opened east side backdrop, Weber State faces Central Washington on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State defensive linemen Brayden Wilson (94) and Easton Payne (53) look to the sideline against Central Washington on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
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- Weber State defensive end Brayden Wilson, left, battles Central Washington’s Noah Thompson (67) on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at Stewart Stadium in Ogden.
OGDEN — The first half wasn’t up to the Weber State standard, players and Mickey Mental said after the game.
But the No. 13 Wildcats put their foot down in the third quarter and pulled away from Division II Central Washington for a 35-10 victory, delivering Mental a win in his debut as head coach.
“It’s always good to win, no matter if it’s good, bad, or ugly. At the end of the day, it’s a ‘W’ and I’m never going to take that for granted,” Mental said. “Very proud of my staff, proud of the players.”
A first-half struggle led to a 14-10 WSU lead, but that quickly gave way to a blowout in the third quarter.
Having surrendered a 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to Abraham Williams in the first half — the junior now has five for his career, all 100 or more yards, with the Division I record at seven — Central Washington opened the second half kicking short to Winston Reid.
Weber State traveled the shorter field in nine plays for 59 yards thanks in part to quarterback Kylan Weisser dropping home a fourth-down pass across the middle to tight end Hayden Meacham for a 30-yard gain.
Damon Bankston capped the drive with a 1-yard dive at the goal line for a 21-10 lead at the 10:40 mark.
A Brayden Wilson sack helped the visiting Wildcats to a three-and-out to start the third quarter strong for Weber State; WSU’s defense held CWU to three-and-outs in three of their four possessions and WSU won the quarter in total yards 152-33.
The next time the ball got back into Bankston’s hands, he took a first-down run through the point of attack, angled left and burst up the sideline for a 66-yard touchdown, making it 28-10 with 7:06 left in the third.
Bankston finished with 13 carries for 119 yards and the two scores opening the season as the No. 1 running back.
“The expectations the team has for me, I just want to live up to those expectations and lead the offense on the right path,” Bankston said.
On Central Washington’s next punt, Haze Hadley scooted for a 25-yard return to set up a short field. Weisser threw a 24-yard sideline ball to Jacob Sharp, setting up Kris Jackson for rushes of 11 and 1 yards, the second a touchdown run for the final 35-10 score.
Weber State spent most of the fourth quarter rotating in backups on either side of the football, playing CWU to a stalemate in the frame.
Central Washington opened the game by gifting a short field to Weber State when a punt snap from its own 30 went awry and the punter fell on the ball at the CWU 13.
Three plays later, Weisser threw a fade to sophomore receiver and SMU transfer Jayleen Record, who hauled in an impressive one-handed grab at the end zone boundary for a 7-yard touchdown reception.
Central Washington tied it up 7-7 when, after JJ Lemming connected with Marcus Cook for a 25-yard in-and-out route, running back Tyler Flanagan made his way around the left side for a 15-yard touchdown rush at the 3:14 mark in the first quarter.
Williams answered with his kick return score, making CWU pay for a penalty. On its first kickoff, Josh Jones booted the ball through the end zone but the visitors were flagged for offside. WSU chose to have CWU rekick the ball.
The ball still traveled halfway into the end zone but the speedy Williams was barely touched on his way to the end zone.
Despite the score, CWU outgained WSU 149-19 in the first quarter. The visiting Wildcats flashed a running QB package that perhaps wasn’t on the scouting report, something WSU was able to adjust to after the quarter break.
Weber State was also without expected starting defensive tackles Zeke Birch and Steven Bryant, who sat as a precaution to finish recovery from injuries.
WSU won the next three quarters 287-127. By game’s end, Weber State outgained CWU 306-276 on 20 less offensive plays for a 5.7 yards-per-play average to Central Washington’s 3.7.
“It’s just the standard, that energy and effort and that’s part of my job. I’ve got to get these guys ready to go right away,” Mental said. “I’ve got to get these guys locked in earlier, and that will happen. I love how they responded. You’re going to go through adversity within a season and I liked how we handled our first bit of adversity as a group.”
Jones booted through a 40-yard field goal for the visitors for the 14-10 halftime score.
For Central Washington, run-first backup quarterback Kennedy McGill ran 13 times for 55 yards; CWU totaled 101 yards on 39 carries.
“We wanted to just dominate and we didn’t play very dominant on defense,” Reid said. “You know, establish the line of scrimmage instead of getting knocked back, and wrap up and tackle.”
Aside from a 51-yard sweep-and-receiver-pass trick play, Central Washington QBs combined to throw an inefficient 13 of 34 for 124 yards.
For Weber State, Weisser threw 12 of 21 for 116 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions, connecting on some well-thrown balls but missing some opportunities, especially on deep throws where receivers had beat their defender.
“Any time you go 12 of 21, there’s about four or five you probably should have completed. You do that, then you’re 17 of 21 and I think that’s the standard,” the former quarterback Mental said. “I think Kylan would be the first to say he’s got to complete those and the receivers will be part of that … we’ll look at the film and see where he’s got to get better.”
Meacham caught three passes for 37 yards, Record two balls for 35 yards and Sharp had his one 24-yarder.
Jackson added to Bankston’s big day with 23 yards on six carries and, with a 13-yarder as time expired, Dallas Larson rushed three times for 20 yards.
Defensively, Reid led Weber State with 10 tackles, including 3 1/2 for loss and 1 1/2 sacks. Wilson totaled seven tackles with three for loss. Jack Kelly had three tackles and two pass breakups in less than two defensive possessions; he was ejected midway through the first quarter on a questionable targeting call.
Maxwell Anderson had two pass breakups. Tre Parks-Vinson, in his first game after switching from receiver to cornerback, had an exceptional one-handed, fourth-quarter interception overturned on replay review; officials ruled he stepped out of bounds before securing the catch. Matt Herron added three tackles, including one for loss, at the defensive tackle spot.
Weber State has a few extra days going into the weekend before its second game week, preparing to hit the road for No. 23 Northern Iowa on Saturday, Sept. 9.
AROUND THE BIG SKY
Five other Big Sky teams opened their seasons Thursday. All ended up in lopsided games against fellow FCS opponents, with all but one claiming victory.
No. 8 Idaho 42, Lamar 17
No. 10 Sacramento State 38, Nicholls 24
No. 16 UC Davis 48, Texas A&M Commerce 10
Abilene Christian 31, Northern Colorado 11
SATURDAY SCHEDULE: Utah Tech at No. 3 Montana State, Butler at No. 14 Montana, Eastern Washington vs. No. 2 North Dakota State (in Minneapolis), Portland State at Oregon, San Diego at Cal Poly, Northern Arizona at Arizona, Idaho State at San Diego State