Weber State's entire roster contributes in big win over Idaho State

OGDEN — While the seniors got the pregame honors in the final home game of the season, Weber State received help from all across the roster as the Wildcats dominated Idaho State 45-7 on Saturday.

A total of 13 seniors with varying levels of time in the Weber State program were honored for their contributions to the team. But in the penultimate game of the regular season, the Wildcats showed why they'll be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

Led by sophomore quarterback Bronson Barron, Weber State's offense put up 455 yards of total offense despite a relatively slow start and a tougher-than-expected Idaho State defense. Barron completed 19-of-31 passes for 226 yards, and was buoyed by 77 receiving yards from senior Ty MacPherson and 139 rushing yards from sophomore Dontae McMillan.

The offense struggled to start out and the Wildcats couldn't get anything going on their first two possessions. A couple of three-and-out series plagued the home team and they didn't convert a first down until about five minutes into the game. But from there, offensive coordinator Mickey Mental and his guys did everything they needed to do to put the Wildcats ahead and keep it that way.

"The offense, we did really great," McMillan said about the overall performance after the slow start. "I just felt like we kept on staying consistent and not just thinking about being negative. ... We always lift each other up as a team, as a unit, and I just feel like everybody did their own responsibilities; we did our one-eleventh."

MacPherson opened the scoring in the first quarter on a 12-yard reception as Barron rolled right and connected with him in the end zone. Although the Wildcats only scored once in the opening frame, it loosened the team up and they went on to score two more touchdowns before the defense allowed Idaho State's one and only score of the game.

Weber State's defense did what its done in every win this season by holding the opposing team to less than 21 points. Out of the Wildcats' eight victories on the year, only Eastern Washington and Montana managed three touchdowns; and Weber State went onto win each of those games by 24 and 3 points, respectively.

Idaho State gained 230 yards of total offense, with more than a third of that yardage coming on the Bengals' lone touchdown drive. But Weber State did what Weber State is prone to doing, and that is causing a lot of havoc — both in the backfield and the secondary. The Wildcats picked off Idaho State quarterback Sagan Gronauer twice and forced him to fumble three times. The interceptions came by way of seniors Desmond Williams and Raoul Johnson, while the sacks were caused by a handful of Weber State defenders.

The Bengals retained the ball on two of the three fumbles but the third turned into a scoring opportunity for the Wildcats. Junior linebacker Winston Reid burst his way into the backfield and hit Gronauer's blind side, which forced the ball out. Sophomore linebacker Garrett Beck scooped the ball up and returned it 66 yards for the first touchdown of his career.

"He's a great kid, a great player," head coach Jay Hill said about Beck. "... He's only going to get way better, so super excited about it. And we've got a lot of players like that."

Thanks to the firepower from the starters on both sides of the ball, Hill was able to get a lot of his younger guys in the game, who haven't seen much action this season. On the offensive side, Weber State had four freshmen get valuable reps in the game and catch at least one pass each while the defense rotated in a lot of underclassmen who will be called upon to take over big responsibilities in the future.

Weber State played one of its cleanest games of the season when it comes to penalties — the Wildcats averaged just over nine penalties per game. The home team was only whistled for five penalties in the game, which is something coaches had talked about cutting down all year. The biggest blemishes in the contest came from the special teams when the Wildcats missed a field goal attempt and had another field goal muffed when the holder went to put the ball down. Besides those issues, the Wildcats did what they needed to do against the one-win Bengals.

As the team gets set to head out on the road for the last regular season game of the year — and with one of the eight seeds in the playoffs still in reach — Hill's team has to take care of business against Northern Arizona before getting set for a postseason run.

"Every game from here on out is a playoff game," Beck said. "We're 0-0 at this point; that's the mindset we have to think about going into this next game. We don't really think about our record; we don't need to think about our record because every game is important. We need to finish the season strong and NAU is the next target and we got to have all our focus on that."

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