Playing with the big boys for a full 60 minutes is a lesson SFU Clan head football coach Dave Johnson has to keep drilling into his young squad.
After handily beating Pacific University in Oregon last week, it was the opening game of the Clan's Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule and after holding Central Washington to only a 21-14 halftime lead, the Clan fell apart in the second half en route to a 56-28 humbling at home Saturday afternoon.
"We got physically thumped today," said Johnson. "We played with them for a half but that's not good enough. ... It's a great lesson that we have to play the full 60 minutes and we, as coaches, have to continue doing a better job preparing our players."
The Clan got their touchdowns on receptions by Lemar Durant and two from tight end Jamal Kett - all thrown by quarterback Trey Wheeler - and a garbage time rushing touchdown from Tarrance Crawford.
The unstoppable force for the Central Washington Wildcats was running back Johri Fogerson, a transfer from the University of Washington who had three second half touchdowns to put away the Clan.
"He was an absolute pain in the butt for us," said Johnson. "But as well as he played, it was their linemen who really opened up holes for him to get through."
Johnson was particularly impressed with a couple of the Wildcats Twin Towers, right tackle Mike Nelson, listed at 6-4 and 312 pounds and left tackle James Meeks, listed at 6-5 and 315 pounds.
Meeks and Nelson opened up holes for Fogerson and Demetrius Sumler, who transferred from the University of Colorado to Central Washington.
Johnson was disappointed his squad took stupid penalties and shot themselves in the foot by dropping passes.
"We're a really young team," he said. "We have 52 freshmen or redshirt freshmen ... and being so young and dumb, we tell them that we need to have short memories. A lot of our guys haven't playing at this level and we have to teach them how to play and compete at this level."
The Clan go on the road next week to Arcata, California, where Humboldt State awaits them at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15.
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