Weber State football dropped out of this week’s STATS FCS Top 25 after a 17-16 road loss at Lamar, essentially switching places with the Cardinals who debuted at No. 22 in the national poll after the victory.

Junior running back Damon Bankston became the 21st player in WSU’s history to reach 1,500 rushing yards in the contest.

The Wildcats gear up to travel east again to face Northwestern State (Louisiana) for the second of three straight games against opponents from the Southland Conference. The Week 4 depth chart remains unchanged from last week, except for a few notable shuffles at linebacker.

Junior Jayden Ah You, who was working back from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in January, is now listed as the starter at middle linebacker. Ah You has played some in each of the first three games. Mayson Hitchens remains the backup in the middle.

“The process has gone by faster than they thought so each week, I just get more reps and try to make those reps count,” Ah You said. “I’m feeling good.”

True freshman Aizik Mahuka is now listed as the starter at strong-side linebacker. Junior Alema Tupuola, who was starting in the middle, is now behind Mahuka on the strong side.

“If you watch the games, you can see he’s just a raw talent. He comes in and is hungry,” Ah You said about Mahuka. “Just watch him on kickoff, you’ll see somebody hit the ground when he’s running down.”

Senior Garrett Beck, who was starting on the strong side, is now starting at weak-side/rover linebacker, with sophomore Raimoana Tinirauarii sliding into the backup spot there. Beck went down injured early at Lamar but did return.

VOLLEYBALL SPLITS LAST FOUR

Weber State women’s volleyball had its six-game win streak over Utah Valley come to an end Tuesday night in Orem, seeing a 17-11 lead in the fourth set evaporate against UVU’s attack on the way to a 3-1 loss (25-22, 20-25, 29-27, 25-23).

Ashley Gneiting had 14 kills for WSU (3-6). Sami Blackett fired 22 for UVU and Madi Standifird (sister to WSU’s Kate Payne) had 12 kills.

That loss followed a near sweep in WSU’s trip to a tournament hosted by Missouri State. The Wildcats defeated Saint Louis 3-0 and Missouri State 3-2 before losing in five sets to UT-Arlington.

The Wildcats now prep for a big weekend to end nonconference play, hosting No. 19 BYU at 6 p.m. Friday and Utah State at 6 p.m. Saturday.

SOCCER GETS A WIN

After going a span of 24 matches with just one victory, Weber State women’s soccer (1-6-3) finally found the win column with a 4-2 victory on Sept. 12 at North Dakota State. Sayler Schlosser scored two first-half goals and NDSU equalized with two goals one minute apart (68th and 69th minutes).

Freshman Amanda Caswell picked up the win for WSU with her first goals of her career, scoring in the 78th and 85th minutes. Ali Swensen had two assists.

Weber State returned home Sunday and held a 2-1 second-half lead over undefeated Utah State on goals from Swensen and Lily Blum. But No. 7 Utah State flexed its muscles for a 4-2 victory. Bonneville High alum Summer Diamond scored the go-ahead goal for USU in the 63rd minute.

WSU finishes nonconference play this week by visiting Utah Valley on Thursday night and hosting Wyoming on Sunday, Sept. 22.