McGill earns offensive player of week after Rodeo Bowl win
MIKE MAYNARD | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 months AGO
Wildcats quarterback Kennedy McGill (17) runs through an opening in the offensive line during their game against Colorado Mesa in the Rodeo Bowl. Central Washington defeated CMU 41-14 in their opening game of the season.
COURTESY PHOTO/SHAYDEN HOOPAI-WAIKOLOA/CWU ATHLETICS
ELLENSBURG – Wildcats quarterback Kennedy McGill was named the Lone Star Conference Offensive Player of the Week, according to a statement by the conference. This comes after he aided the Wildcats to a 41-14 win over Colorado Mesa in the Rodeo Bowl.
“We are extremely proud of the efforts that Kennedy and his teammates put into our week one effort to garner this award,” CWU head football coach Chris Fisk said in a statement by Central Washington Athletics.
McGill is a junior for the Wildcats. Last year, he threw for 1,700 yards, 15 touchdowns and a 60% completion percentage. He was also a problem on the run with 1,200 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns.
McGill played a key role in helping the Wildcats' offense earn their first victory last Thursday. He accounted for four touchdowns, including three in the second half alone and helped lead the team to the highest offensive output in the conference with 516 total yards.
The Wildcats scored first on a four-play drive. McGill found a wide-open Jalen Grable for a 51-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
Beau Phillips opened the Wildcats' second half with a 20-yard gain. Shortly after, McGill followed it up with a 41-yard rush to make it to the Colorado Mesa 14-yard line, then three plays later McGill completed the final 14 yards for a touchdown to take a 14-0 lead.
On their next drive, Justice Taylor erupted with an 18-yard gain. McGill followed it up by finding a wide-open Mason Juergens for a 55-yard touchdown to take a 21-7 lead.
After leading the Wildcats downfield at the end of the third quarter, McGill opened the fourth by running the ball himself for a 23-yard touchdown, increasing their lead to 34-7.
After other key contributions on offense from Ryder Bumgarner and Camden Loidhamer, the Wildcats secured a 41-14 win over CMU.
“We are very excited to get a victory in the reboot of the Rodeo Bowl. We are excited about the potential of this team and can't wait to get back to work to fix our issues. We are very proud of the way the kids represented the university and alumni today,” Fisk said.
He finished the day completing 8 out of 13 passes for a total of 190 yards, including two touchdowns and one interception. On top of a great day in the air, McGill added 135 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 13 rushing attempts. McGill accounts for the highest output on the ground in the conference by over 30 yards after week 0.
McGill and the Wildcats will be back in action next Saturday when they face the ninth-ranked FCS team, the Montana Grizzlies. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. from inside Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula, Mont.
ARTICLES BY MIKE MAYNARD
Correia reflects on making All-State team
COULEE CITY — Multiple basin athletes qualified to play in the All-State Baseball Series from June 27-28 in Yakima, with Almira/Coulee-Hartline graduate, Caden Correia being one of them. Correia said he was initially selected for a feeder game ahead of his state qualification. “I was at practice one day, and my head coach (Hunter Lee) came up to me and he’s like, ‘Hey, you got selected for an All State feeder game,’” said Correia. “I actually got invited to two, the Central Washington one and the Spokane one.” Correia said he decided to go with the Spokane feeder game since it was taking place at Avista Stadium and he had a desire to compete at that venue. Once he played there, Correia was informed that he was also selected to play for Team Baker in the All State games, an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.
Quincy standout ‘Duckie’ Workinger returns home to lead Vikings womens wrestling
MOSES LAKE — Shannon “Duckie” Workinger was named the new head coach of women’s wrestling at Big Bend Community College on June 18, bringing one of the Basin’s own back to help build the next generation of women’s wrestlers. “I'm super excited,” Workinger said. “I spent some time wrestling at different places, and it feels really good to be able to come back to the community that I was born in and really establish more connections here and build on the ones that I already have, and just help grow our Basin into a great wrestling (community), even better than it already is, because we have some good wrestlers that come from here.”
ACH wrestlers earn All-American honors at women’s national duals
COULEE CITY — Karis Butler and Kyanna Garza from Almira/Coulee-Hartline earned All-American status after a strong showing in the 2026 Women’s National Duals in Westfield, Indiana that ran from June 16-20. “It feels really good,” Karis said. “It was very surprising last year when I got on here, and then this year they were like, ‘You can go to whatever weight class you want,’ and it made me feel very recognized for the hard work I've put in.” Wrestlers competed in freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman throughout the four-day tournament. Karis competed in both earning a 7-1 record in freestyle and 4-3 in Greco-Roman. Throughout her path in the tournament, she noted a lot of growth as a wrestler came out of it.