Colorado State came out strong against the Wildcats posting a 17-0 score at halftime and cruised to a 38-10 victory to cap off the last game before the opening of Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.
With the loss, the Wildcats close out non-conference play at 0-2 and will enter Southland play this week against Houston Baptist, while Colorado State moves to 2-1 and will remain in non-conference play against Alabama this Saturday.
Despite the loss, head coach Adam Dorrel said he was proud of his team’s performance.
“I was very pleased with our team’s effort today,” Dorrel said. “I thought we played really hard. Obviously Colorado State is a great football program, they’re so big and physical and the fact that our guys held up most of the day, I was very proud of them.”
After halftime, the Wildcats answered back from a 17-0 deficit when senior outside linebacker Bryson Gates blocked a punt and graduate transfer linebacker Erik Huhn scored on a 16-yard touchdown return making the score 17-7.
However, the Wildcats couldn’t find the end zone for the rest of the game and were out scored 21-3.
Junior quarterback Dallas Sealey contributed the most offensively completing 25 passes out of 38 attempts for 258 yards. Sophomore wide receiver DeShun Qualls also stood out as he caught three passes for 79 yards.
Sophomore safety Bolu Onifade had a big game defensively for the Wildcats making 17 tackles and one tackle for a loss. Junior safety Brandon Richmond also played well making 12 tackles.
Senior Colorado State QB Nick Stevens threw for an impressive 337 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He also completed 25 passes out of 40 attempts. Stevens connected with senior star wide receiver Michael Gallup 10 of those 25 times for 103 yards and a touchdown.
Heading into conference play, Dorrel said he feels confident in his team.
“I feel really good about our team,” Dorrel said. “Being the new coaching staff has been so neat to us, just to see how kids are going to respond to adversity, coaching, game day and how we’re gonna hold up against playing two teams that went to bowls last year, and for the most part I thought we did some good things.”
The stadium opener against HBU is scheduled Saturday at 6 p.m. and can be heard on 98.1 FM.
