Weber State football: Wildcats flattened early in 45-10 loss at James Madison
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- James Madison receiver Michael Scott, right, tries to escape Weber State defensive end Keahnist Thompson (1) in the backfield on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Harrisonburg, Va.
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- James Madison defensive lineman Sahir West, left, wraps up Weber State running back Bird Butler during a game Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Harrisonburg, Va.
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- James Madison wide receiver Michael Scott (17) is tackled by Weber State cornerback Ishaan Daniels, left, and safety Trevian Tribble, behind, during a college football game Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Harrisonburg, Va.
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- Weber State quarterback Jackson Gilkey (2) fires a pass in a game against James Madison on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Harrisonburg, Va.
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- Weber State receiver Noah Kjar looks in a touchdown reception against James Madison on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Harrisonburg, Va.
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- James Madison lines up for a kick against Weber State on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Harrisonburg, Va.
Reasonable expectations were met Saturday evening in Harrisonburg, Virginia, when James Madison opened the game in full control over Weber State.
Still, JMU’s four straight touchdown marches left something to be desired on the Wildcat side of things.
WSU did punch back, creating a few turnovers and finding more stops in the second half, but the Dukes still dominated matters for a 45-10 victory in the season opener for both teams.
JMU outgained WSU 458-148 for the night. The Dukes led FBS in turnover margin last season, and had the third-most turnovers caused, but Weber ultimately took two away from the Dukes while giving away three in what became a bright spot on the night.
“Way too many third-and-longs offensively; against that type of defense, it’s tough to capitalize,” WSU head coach Mickey Mental said. “Thought we had some good spurts defensively, like taking two turnovers … thought they played well in the second and third quarters.
“But gotta do more. We’ve got to go back and practice hard.”
The Wildcats played without linebackers Sione Hala, Aidan O’Callaghan and Raimoana Tinirauarii making the trip. The latter two may be out for some time; Hala hopefully gets on the field soon.
Weber State entered knowing it would give third-year sophomore quarterback transfer Jackson Gilkey his first game as a collegian but didn’t know who would handle the ball on the other side. For the third straight season, James Madison started Alonza Barnett III, who seemed to have overcome his knee injury nine months earlier just fine, completing his first seven passes and running twice for 21 yards.
But sixth-year senior Matthew Sluka also took plenty of snaps as well, providing a 1-2 combo Weber State had difficulty slowing down early.
JMU’s first three possessions were all 10-play marches, getting third-and-shorts when facing third downs, and taking 4:46, 5:16 and 4:34 off the clock. The Dukes capped those drives with touchdowns to put the home team up 21-0 with 7:12 left in the second quarter.
Despite his inexperience, Gilkey looked comfortable commanding the offense and made good decisions for most of the game. The Wildcats struggled to run the football, though, making matters hard in the passing game. Weber State didn’t record a first down until early in the second quarter; Gilkey’s first throw downfield was a vertical strike to tight end Noah Bennee pushing into the secondary for a 16-yard gain, and Gilkey added a 16-yard rush for another first down right after.
The drive stopped at the JMU 43 when, after Gilkey lost his helmet, redshirt freshman Cash McCollum got his first career action as well, just missing a deep ball connection to Noah Kjar on fourth down.
First-year collegian punter Henry Way fared well enough Saturday but had his third punt of the night blocked by JMU’s Chase Regan and recovered by Tyler Brown. Hard-to-stop JMU had a 31-yard field, which Sluka quickly converted for a 28-0 lead with a 14-yard jump ball to Landon Ellis, defeating WSU’s Tre Parks-Vinson at the summit for the score.
Mental said Way played well in his debut and that punting struggles were a coverage problem.
“We just had some leakage on the back side, which we’ll get corrected and take care of,” he said.
Things soon perked up for Weber State, though, seemingly sparked by one play that led to a 17-10 margin over the final 33 minutes.
On the first play of another JMU possession, linebacker Aizik Mahuka flowed to meet receiver Michael Scott on a screen pass, crushing Scott from the side and jarring a fumble loose. Cornerback Ishaan Daniels jumped on the free ball and set the Wildcats up with a 21-yard field.
Two plays later, Kjar ran open in the end zone and caught a perfect pass from Gilkey for a 14-yard touchdown, breaking the scoring seal for the Wildcats in the 2025 season.
That made it 28-7 at halftime.
The second half carried that momentum for Weber State. JMU took the ball to open the third quarter and safety BJ Carey made a first-down tackle-for-loss, setting up Daniels for a big sack of Barnett on a corner blitz.
On fourth-and-10, punter Patrick Rea tucked the punt snap and rolled left, seemingly with an open field. But WSU cornerback Logan Mackey read the play and sprinted to meet Rea at the sideline, shoving him out of bounds 2 yards short of the first down.
“The DBs, I thought, played really well tonight,” Mental said. “Competed their butts off, and that’s good growth. Now, it’s going back and seeing how to get better technically to make those plays on a consistent basis.”
WSU couldn’t convert a 38-yard field when Gilkey overthrew Marcus Chretien up the right sideline near the JMU 5. Longtime kickoff specialist Sloan Calder got his fourth field goal attempt of his career; having never made a boot longer than 28 yards, Calder boomed through a 51-yarder to make it 28-10 with 11:03 left in the third.
Encouraging plays kept coming in the third quarter. Parks-Vinson broke up a third-down pass to the end zone, forcing a field goal after James Madison marched on several George Pettaway chunk-yardage rushes.
Gilkey had a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage, resulting in a glance off a slanting Jayleen Record and an interception by Tyler Brown. But WSU safety Angel King returned the favor, picking off Sluka to a throw inside the WSU 5.
After WSU needed Way to punt from the back line of the end zone, JMU couldn’t convert a 45-yard field when WSU linebacker Kevin Enriquez surged through the line to block a 47-yard JMU field goal attempt.
Weber mostly contained big plays and made JMU chew up yardage on every chance except for one. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Wayne Knight used a kickout block to find the right edge and race untouched for a 59-yard touchdown run to make it 38-10.
Perhaps only his second bad throw of 24 during the night, Gilkey got tricked by a JMU zone and Kye Holmes picked him off at the Weber 22, returning it to the WSU 5 with 4:54 left. The Dukes gave JC Evans a direct-snap run, which he converted for a 5-yard TD to cap the scoring.
After starting 7 of 7, Barnett went 7 of 15 the rest of the way, finishing 14 of 22 for 130 yards. JMU hurt WSU on the ground, totaling 313 yards with 99 from Pettaway and 89 from Knight.
Gilkey finished 10 of 24 for 84 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Zach Hrbacek carried 12 times for 39 yards. Chretien caught two passes for 22 yards.
King starred for WSU’s defense, totaling 11 tackles (six solo) and nabbing the interception. Mayson Hitchens tallied eight tackles, two for loss. Montae Pate had 1 1/2 tackles for loss.
Weber State next plays at Arizona.
“Get some guys back next week and clean up some things, look at the film, be critical and make the adjustments to get better next week,” Mental said.
LINE SCORE
Weber State 0 7 3 0 – 10
J Madison 14 14 3 14 – 45
SCORING PLAYS
FIRST QUARTER
8:25 — JMU TD: Barnett 11-yard rush (JMU 7-0)
0:46 — JMU TD: Barnett to Alston 20 yards (14-0)
SECOND QUARTER
7:12 — JMU TD: Sluka 1-yard rush (21-0)
3:36 — JMU TD: Sluka to Ellis 14 yards (28-0)
0:53 — WSU TD: Gilkey to Kjar 14 yards (28-7)
THIRD QUARTER
11:03 — WSU FG: Calder 51 yards (28-10)
7:21 — JMU FG: Suarez 38 yards (31-10)
FOURTH QUARTER
14:51 — JMU TD: Knight 59-yard rush (38-10)
4:48 — JMU TD: Evans 5-yard rush (45-10)
