West Texas A&M (1-2, 1-0) at Central Washington (1-1, 0-0)
Date	Saturday, September 20th | 8:00 p.m. CT
Location	Ellensburg, Washington | Tomlinson Stadium
Live Statistics	Link
Live Video	FloCollege (Pay-Per-View)
Radio	KGNCNewsNow.com | Listen Locally: 710 AM | 97.5 FM
Other Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M closes out their two-game road trip on Saturday night as they make their way to Ellensburg, Washington to take on the #17 Wildcats of Central Washington with kickoff set for 8:00 p.m. CT at Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium.
 
CWU HEAD COACH CHRIS FISK
Chris Fisk is in his seventh season at the helm of the Central Washington football program, holding an overall record of 39-21 during his time in Ellensburg. The Pocatello, Idaho native has led the Wildcats to consecutive trips to the NCAA Playoffs highlighted by an appearance in the Regional Finals in 2023. 
 
Fisk spent three seasons as an assistant in Ellensburg before being promoted to head coach in February of 2019. Prior to CWU, Fisk coached at Southern Oregon from 2011-2015, where he served as the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Raiders. Fisk played collegiately at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota, and Southwestern College in Kansas.
 
A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS
Central Washington enters the weekend with an overall record of 1-1 following a 42-17 loss to FCS #10 Montana last Saturday in Missoula, the Wildcats trailed 21-17 at the half before the Grizzlies outscored CWU 21-0 in the second half. Central Washington opened up their season with a big 41-14 win over Colorado Mesa.
 
The Wildcats finished the 2024 campaign with an overall record of 8-4 as they qualified for the NCAA Playoffs for the second straight campaign, CWU went on the road for the opening round as they fell to Western Colorado, 28-21 in Gunnison. The Wildcats graduated a pair of All-Americans in safety Tanner Volk and running back Tyler Flanagan, Volk was the 2023 winner of the Cliff Harris Award and Flanagan was named the LSC Offensive Back of the Year twice for the Wildcats.
 
Redshirt junior quarterback Kennedy McGill leads the Central Washington offense as the Bothell, Washington native has completed 15-of-29 passes for 266 yards and three scores to go along with 26 carries for 174 yards and two more scores. 
 
CWU's powerful running attack ranks 12th nationally with 256.5 yards per game on the ground with Beau Phillips and Justice Taylor combining for 40 carries and 214 yards. Three difference Wildcat receivers have caught touchdown passes (Jalen Grable, Mason Juergens, Camden Loidhamer) as Grable leads the team with 94 receiving yards on four catches with a score.
 
Chase Coalson leads the way defensively for the Wildcats as the senior defensive back from Gig Harbor, Washington has a team-best 17 total tackles (seven solo) to go along with a pair of pass breakups. Brett McCalla and King Williams have tallied 11 tackles each with McCalla leading the team with 1.5 sacks.
 
WEEK 3 MATCHUPS
Week 3 will feature all 10 Lone Star Conference football teams in action for the first time this season, A pair of league contests will take place in the Pacific Northwest with WT taking on Central Washington and Sul Ross State travelling to Western Oregon. The other three LSC matchups take place in the Lone Star State as Angelo State hosts Western New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico travelling to Midwestern State and Texas A&M-Kingsville battling UT Permian Basin in Kingsville.
 
WESTERN NEW MEXICO REWIND
West Texas A&M secured a decisive 58-27 victory over Western New Mexico to open up Lone Star Conference action at Ben Altamirano Field in Silver City, New Mexico highlighted by six touchdown passes and 514 passing yards.
 
RJ Martinez led the Buffs with a standout performance, completing 19 of 28 passes for 388 yards and five touchdowns. Trevin Edwards was pivotal in the receiving corps, collecting 137 yards on seven receptions and scoring two touchdowns. C'ing Blanton contributed significantly as well, with two receptions totaling 104 yards and two touchdowns. On the defensive side, Jahmek Armstrong delivered an impactful game by recording two sacks and four total tackles.
 
PUTTING UP YARDS
WT put up 684 yards of total offense on Saturday night to mark the most by the Buffs since October 26, 2013 (693 vs. McMurry), 514 of those came thru the air for the most passing yards by WT since November 13, 2010 (605 vs. East Central).
 
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
West Texas A&M hits the road for the third time this season as the make the 1,652-mile trip to Ellensburg, Washinton for the longest road trip of the season for WT. The total mileage for the 2025 campaign is 3,088 miles.
 
STARTING FAST
The Buffaloes have scored on their first possession of the game in each of the first three games this season, averaging 7.3 plays and 77.0 yards per opening possession. West Texas A&M has received the opening kickoff in each of their first three contests.
 
THE LONE STAR STATE
The 2025 Buffalo football roster features 137 student-athletes with 102 playing their high school football in the state of Texas.
 
SIZE UP FRONT
The West Texas A&M offensive line features 20 student-athletes that boast a total of 6,065 pounds of blocking power for an average size of 303.3 pounds per lineman.
 
WT AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
Saturday's showdown in Ellensburg will feature the second of four potential Top-25 opponents for the Buffs this season, WT fell on the road to #10 Western Colorado (45-28) in the season opener with contests against #11 UT Permian Basin (Oct. 25) and #6 Angelo State (Nov. 15) still upcoming. 
 
The Buffs are looking for their first Top-25 victory under head coach Josh Lynn and the first since knocking off #17 Western Colorado (44-6) back on September 3, 2022. The last Top-25 road win for the Buffs came in Ellensburg on September 29, 2018 with a 28-26 victory over the Wildcats.
 
LSC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
West Texas A&M senior quarterback RJ Martinez threw for 388 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Buffs to a 58-27 road win over Western New Mexico in the LSC opener for both teams. Martinez was 19 of 28 passing with no interceptions and threw three TDs in the first quarter to set the tone for WT's first win of the season. He also rushed for 17 yards.
 
THE SERIES
Saturday night marks the ninth all-time meeting on the gridiron between the Buffaloes and Wildcats, WT holds the 5-3 advantage in the series that dates back to 2008. The Buffs are 1-2 all-time in Ellensburg with their last trip coming in 2023.
 
Last year's meeting saw a three-hour lightning delay during pregame in Canyon before the WIldcats scored on their first two drives of the game on the way to a big 45-3 win at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium.
 
HEAD COACH JOSH LYNN
Josh Lynn is now in his third season at the helm of the West Texas A&M Football program after being named the 29th head coach in WT history. Lynn, widely regarded as one of the nation's up-and-coming head coaches, came to Canyon following six seasons at the University of Nebraska-Kearney where he led the Lopers to an overall record of 35-25 including a run to the Second Round of the 2021 NCAA Playoffs.
 
NEW FACES ON THE SIDELINE
WT Football welcomes four new faces to the full-time coaching staff as Justin Bane was named the new Offensive Coordinator for the Buffs. Mike Bethea will work with the linebackers while Adrian Duncan (running backs) and Cole McDowell (tight ends) also joined the offensive staff. Justin Richter was promoted to Defensive Coordinator in January following two seasons as the defensive backs/co-special team coordinator for the Buffs.
 
LSC PRESEASON POLL
The Buffaloes have been tabbed sixth in the 2025 LSC Preseason Poll announced during the league's annual Media Day in McKinney, Texas.
 
Defending LSC champion Angelo State claimed 23 of the possible 30 first place votes for a total of 292 points to sit atop of the poll followed by Central Washington (four first place, 257), UT Permian Basin (two first place, 229), Texas A&M-Kingsville (one first place, 211), West Texas A&M (157), Midwestern State (139), Eastern New Mexico (88), Western New Mexico (53), Sul Ross State (51).
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Saturday night's contest will be broadcasted on FloCollege. The LSC and FloSports reached a historic agreement in August of 2024 for the largest streaming rights deal in NCAA Division II history. Fans have two different subscription options: $19.99 per month or $107.88 per year ($8.99/month). Additionally, those who use an .edu email address from an LSC member institution will be able to sign up at a discounted subscription price of $9.99 per month or $71.88 per year ($5.99/month). 
 
BACK ON THE AIRWAVES
West Texas A&M Athletics announces the return of radio broadcasts for the 2025-26 campaign. 
 
Members of Buff Nation will now be able to listen to Kent Johnson, Lucas Kinsey and Brice Sheets in partnership with Alpha Media. Football pregame begins 30 minutes prior to kickoff. Thursday night's broadcast is available online (GoBuffsGo.com / KGNCNewsNow.com) as well as locally in the Texas Panhandle on 710 AM and 97.5 FM.
 
ON THIS DAY
The Buffs are 3-8 all-time on games played on September 20th.
 
1947 - at Tulsa - L, 26-13
1952 - at Texas Tech - L, 46-7
1958 - at Virginia Tech - L, 28-12
1969 - Northern Arizona - L, 21-20
1975 - Tulsa - L, 23-14
1980 - at Baylor - L, 43-15
1986 - at Louisiana Tech - L, 24-21
1997 - East Central - W, 48-0
2003 - at Central Oklahoma - L, 31-20
2008 - Southwestern Oklahoma State - W, 42-20
2014 - vs. Shorter - W, 27-19
 
LSC HALL OF HONOR
West Texas A&M graduate and professional kicker Sergio Castillo has been selected as the 2025 inductee to the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor. 
 
Castillo is the all-time leading scorer in WT football history (437) and holds the LSC career record for most extra points made and attempted (251-for-255). Over his collegiate career from 2011-2013, Castillo connected for 62 field goals – with a long of 56 yards – and had a string of 64 straight extra-point attempts made, which is also a league record. He was a part of the 2012 LSC championship team and helped the Buffs reach the NCAA Division II national semifinals in 2012 and national quarterfinals in 2013.