UTPB Athletics

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (October 24, 2026) – After a slow start that saw the Falcons fall behind 21-0 in the final two minutes of the first half, The University of Texas Permian Basin football team was defeated 42-13 by No. 13 Central Washington University on Saturday night at Tomlinson Stadium. CWU scored a touchdown on four of its first five drives of the game before a long interception returned for a touchdown with 5:40 left in the fourth quarter stopped any chances the Falcons would have of a comeback.

After finishing with negative two rushing yards last time out, UTPB (5-3 overall, 4-2 Lone Star Conference) came out with four straight running plays to start the game. However, after one first down, the Falcons would find themselves behind the sticks on third-down-and-six before a screen pass for no gain. CWU (6-2, 6-0) then proceeded to see three of its runs go for 12-plus yards on its first drive. The Wildcats then picked up a third-and-long (third-and-10) with a 10-yard completion by Justin Brennan to Samaje Featherstone, and two-plays later a screen pass was read by the Falcons' defense, but the tip on the potential pass breakup instead went right to Mason Jurgens, who took it the rest of the way for a 15-yard touchdown reception to open the scoring. It was a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive on the first drive by the Wildcats.

The UTPB offense followed with another third-and-long (third-and-nine) and a three-and-out on its second drive of the game, and then CWU went right back down the field with two passes for 10-plus yards, an eight-yard run on third-and-seven to get the ball to the four-yard line, and a tush-push touchdown by Brennan on third-and-goal from within the one-yard line. That wrapped up a 12-play, 58-yard drive that took over five and a half minutes off the clock and made it 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

CWU led 9-1 on first downs, outgained UTPB 58-20 on the ground, and held the Falcons to negative one passing yard in the first quarter.

On third-and-one during the first drive in the second quarter for UTPB, Nate TenBarge pulled the pull on the quarterback read and bounced it outside for a 15-yard gain, getting the ball to near midfield (UTPB 49-yard line). Later in CWU territory for the first time in the game, UTPB went play action on fourth-and-eight from the 35-yard line, but the pass was broken up in the endzone by the Wildcats for a turnover on downs. Brennan again came out firing on the next CWU drive, hitting Featherstone for a 20-yard completion on the first play of the drive and for a 10-yard gain two plays later. The UTPB defense would stiffen up and held the Wildcats to a 38-yard field goal attempt by David Weber, and the kick was no good, resulting in the first stop of the game by the Falcons' defense.

A mistake on a low snap on a punt by the Falcons resulted in a kneel down on fourth down to allow the Wildcats to take over in UTPB territory (44-yard line). On fourth-and-one, the Wildcats went to the literal "Wildcat formation" and picked up the first down with a two-yard run by Ryder Bumgarner. Three plays later, Bumgarner broke through the UTPB defense with multiple broken tackles for a 13-yard touchdown run up the middle, making it 21-0 under the two-minute timeout in the first half.

Playing in its two-minute offense, UTPB finally began to show some explosiveness as the new quarterback, Braxton Baker, found George Sims for 24 yards down the middle of the field to get it into CWU territory on the first play, and then Cheno Navarrette took it for a 20-yard rush on the second play to get it to the CWU 31-yard line. UTPB got into the redzone for the first time in the game after Baker went to Navarrette for a 22-yard completion, and then a perfectly thrown ball to the corner of the endzone by Baker resulted in a three-yard touchdown catch for Traylen Suel, his only catch of the first half, to finally get the Falcons on the scoreboard down 21-6. However, the extra-point kick clanged off the upright, the first extra-point miss of the season for the Falcons.

Just like the last game versus Western Oregon University, it was Baker leading the Falcons on a long scoring drive after first entering the game. This one was a 10-play, 75-yard drive to get UTPB onto the scoreboard in the final second of the first half. After TenBarge completed just two of his eight passes, Baker was 4-for-6 for 57 yards during the touchdown drive.

Thanks in large part to that final drive in the first half, UTPB led 9-6 on first downs, 54-46 on rushing yards and 66-26 on passing yards during the second quarter (120-72 lead on total yards).

After three third-down conversions on the opening drive of the third quarter, CWU continued to showcase its proficient offense with a 26-yard touchdown to Isaac Torres to make it 28-6. Four of CWU's first five drives of the game all went for touchdowns, including three touchdown drives lasting for at least 10 plays, while the remaining Wildcat drive ended with a missed field goal. However, after a third-down and a fourth-down conversion on CWU's next offensive drive, an interception in the endzone by Nicholas Butler was his team-leading fourth interception of the season and was also the Falcons' new team record 17th interception of the season. That play helped breathe some life into the Falcons' sideline.

UTPB was limited to just one drive in the third quarter as CWU led 8-1 on first downs, 47-10 on rushing yards, 86-17 on passing yards and 133-27 on total yards.

Following the interception by Butler, UTPB made it a two-possession game (28-13) with 12 minutes remaining when Baker completed back-to-back passes of at least 10 yards to Aiden Serrano, went down the middle of the field for 34 yards to Suel to get the ball on the one-yard line, and then finished off the drive throwing the ball up for a six-yard touchdown pass to a leaping JT Seagreaves on a jump ball in the endzone. It was a nine-play, 80-yard scoring drive taking just 3:16 off the clock.

From there, the UTPB defense went to work. Back-to-back quarterback hurries by McKyle So'oto and David Walker forced a pair of incompletions on second and third down and helped force a three-and-out by CWU for the first time in the game and get the Falcons the ball back at the CWU 40-yard line after a short 24-yard punt.

Given a golden opportunity to cut it to a one-score game still with 11 minutes on the clock to start UTPB's next offensive drive, the Falcons started with 15 yards on two rushes by Navarrette to get the drive going with a first down. However, an incomplete pass off the hands of the Falcons' receiver on fourth-and-three instead ended the drive at the CWU 18-yard line as UTPB was unable to take advantage of the great field position.

For the second CWU drive in a row, the UTPB defense forced a three-and-out. This time the UTPB offense began at its own 45-yard line with 7:19 on the clock after a 32-yard punt by the Wildcats. Baker started with back-to-back 10-yard completions to Suel and Ryder Ribitzki, but after a seven-yard sack to make it third-and-17, the nail in the coffin for UTPB was a 75-yard pick-six by Omar Lazcano after Baker's pass hung in the air just a little bit too long. It was the first pick-six of the season for the Wildcats, but was the second year in a row CWU sealed the game with a pick-six in the fourth quarter against the Falcons.

Despite the lopsided score, the final statistics were closer than you would have thought. CWU picked up just eight more first downs than the Falcons (26-18) and finished below 200 rushing yards (191) for the game. The Falcons, meanwhile, finished only 69 yards behind the Wildcats overall (359-290) and led 176-168 in passing yardage.

However, one area the game was decided on was on third and fourth-down conversions. CWU was 10-for-16 on third down and 2-for-2 on fourth down, while UTPB was just 4-for-12 on third down and 0-for-4 on fourth down. Coming into the game, CWU ranked No. 6 in the nation in third-down conversion percentage (52.7 percent) while UTPB was last in the LSC (30.6 percent).

Baker finished by completing 14 of his 25 passes for 168 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Suel caught four of those passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, it was Navarrette leading the Falcons with 12 attempts for 63 yards. On defense, Eli Leiataua led the Falcons with 10 tackles while So'oto followed with eight tackles.

Next up for the Falcons will be Homecoming/Hall of Fame Weekend as UTPB hosts rival Angelo State University starting at 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 31 (Halloween), from Astound Broadband Stadium.