Central’s football team begins conference play with a new permanent starting quarterback after junior Jake Nelson left the team Monday, Sept. 26.

The team is coming off back-to-back blowout home wins, most recently using a two-quarterback attack to topple Simon Fraser 40-7.

“Obviously being at home has helped the guys,” head coach Ian Shoemaker said. “The guys have really fed off the crowd.”

With a road game ahead against Azusa Pacific, the Wildcats will turn to junior Justin Lane after he asserted himself into a shared role at quarterback, after Nelson left the second game with a concussion.

“It’s not good when a teammate goes down,” Lane said. “But you just gotta be ready.”

Nelson seemed supportive of Lane’s play while he was out.

“I thought he controlled the offense really well and he made some good throws when he needed to,” Nelson said.

Nelson said he doesn’t remember the play and only knows what happened from film.

With a healthy Nelson back in the preseason finale, both quarterbacks split time behind center combining for 302 passing yards and three touchdowns.

“It was the plan coming in with Jake being out and Justin having a good game last week,” Shoemaker said.

The team has relied on Jesse Zalk, junior communication studies major, for a spark on special teams and in the passing game. He led all of NCAA Division 2 in kick return yards last season and has already ran a punt back for a touchdown this season. Zalk also leads the team with 236 receiving yards.

“We got some juice back in us and were ready to play,” Zalk said after bouncing back from the season’s start.

Zalk was on the ugly end of a huge collision against Simon Fraser and ended up with a concussion, but coach Shoemaker was cautiously optimistic about his status heading into this week’s game.

“He was sitting up and talking on the sidelines, which was a good sign,” Shoemaker said. “But I don’t get to make the call.”

However, Zalk did not participate in practice Tuesday, Sept. 29.      

On defense, the Wildcats are getting great contributions from their pass-rush and lock-down secondary, led by senior cornerback and three-time All-GNAC selection Cedrique Chaney.

They have led the GNAC allowing 137.2 passing yards per game, 44.1 percent completion rate and three touchdowns in four games.

“I attribute that to guys wanting to be the best out there like each one of our defensive backs and our defensive line being able to create pressure,” Chaney, a business major, said. “So it’s really just a full defense effort from every level of the defense.”

After holding Simon Fraser to just 111 yards, the Wildcats now have the number one defense in yards allowed in the GNAC at 323 yards per game. They also tied for the conference lead in sacks with 12.

The Wildcats will need to work on protecting the ball and the quarterback as they sit at the bottom of the GNAC in both turnovers and sacks.

The Wildcats next game is Saturday, Oct. 3 at Azusa Pacific and they return home the following week against the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.

“When you play us it’s gonna be a dogfight,” Chaney said. “Win or lose teams are gonna leave that game knowing they had to play as hard as they can to win.”