Central’s men’s rugby team is no stranger to blowing teams out and they plan on continuing this practice in a rivalry game against Western Washington University this Saturday in Bellingham.

The Wildcats are prepared to show the Vikings why they are one of the best teams in the Northwest Collegiate Rugby Conference (NCRC).

Gavin Schag, junior hooker for the Wildcats said the team will make it a point to show the Viking’s who’s boss.

“We have ‘Western Week’ where we make sure to play our best,” Shag said. “I feel bad when we beat other teams by so much, but not with Western. Beating them to the point of no return is always great.”

The Wildcats have laid down a big marker in their first season as a D1A independent team ranking 6th in the NCRC while the Vikings are far behind in 23rd place, which may influence their confidence on the field.

“There are a couple of teams that just give up after halftime and don’t even want to play anymore,” Josh Bower, senior wing, said. “Eventually they know we’ve won and it gets to the point where they’re not even trying anymore.”

Despite the gap in ranking, the Wildcats remain humble and make sure to stay focused.

“Even though they may be a lower caliber team, we make sure not to stoop down to their level,” Schag said. “There’s always so much to improve on and still so much progress to be made.”

Head coach Tony Pacheco has incorporated film into the team’s practice this season and players say this has helped them learn from their mistakes.

“Before we would just try to outplay the other teams with athleticism but watching the films help a lot to see what we did wrong and how to improve on that,” Bower said.

With the addition of film, players have also been able to recognize areas of needed improvement that used to go unnoticed.

“There are so many different ways you can run plays and to be able to recognize certain situations in a game and act upon them,” Schag said. “I want to improve on attacking certain areas that I know are open, and reading the other team to see what’s available because there are so many options.”

The Wildcats have shown improvement and no sign of slowing down, the Vikings will need to be be ready for a tough game.

“Last year we beat them 94-0, this week we’re going for 100-0,” Bower said.