Reilly's Wildcats up to No. 17

Ex-FHS quarterback ranked No. 4 in nation

By CARL HENNELL/The Daily Inter Lake

Since the last update two weeks ago, Kalispell native Mike Reilly has his Central Washington University football team rolling.

The Wildcats are now 17th in the nation after 49-14 and 24-7 victories over Western Oregon and Western Washington, respectively. The Wildcats have a 6-1 record and have garnered the interest of nearly every major newspaper in Washington.

Reilly is a 2002 Flathead High School graduate, who spent his redshirt freshman season at Washington State University before transferring to the NCAA Division II Ellensburg, Wash., college.

The game against Western Washington was the fifth annual Battle in Seattle at Qwest Field, where Reilly had a season-high 67 rushing yards and two interceptions (which gave him three on the season). He completed 17 of 26 passes for 218 yards and a season-low one touchdown.

The week before, against Western Oregon, he completed 20 for 29 passes for 268 yards and four touchdowns without throwing an interception.

On the season, Reilly has completed 150 of 226 passes (66.4 percent) for 1,989 yards and 20 touchdowns, with just three interceptions. His QB rating of 166.9 ranks him fourth in the country behind the quarterback from Grand Valley State, which just set a D-II record of 35 straight wins, and the North Dakota QB.

The Wildcats have three more regular-season games. They host Augustana for homecoming on Saturday before traveling to play Minnesota State. Then they host Nebraska-Omaha. The playoffs start on Nov. 17. The national championship is on Dec. 15.

Reilly, a junior mechanical engineering major with a 3.49 GPA, was the only quarterback on the preseason D-II All-American first team.

Reilly finished his prep career with the second-best passing season in Braves history.