KALAMAZOO, Mich.  –  The Western Michigan football team cruised past Monmouth, 48-13, in the 2019 season opener at Waldo Stadium on Saturday night behind a 368-yard, five-touchdown performance from senior quarterback Jon Wassink.

The five touchdown passes for Wassink tied his career high, matching the five thrown at Miami on Sept. 29, 2018, and at Buffalo on Oct. 7, 2017. Wassink also moved his career total to 35, bumping him into a tie for eighth most in school history. He reached 300 yards passing for the third time in his career, and second consecutive season opener after throwing for 379 against Syracuse last year.

Wassink's favorite target against the Hawks was fellow senior Giovanni Ricci, who finished with five receptions for a career-high 97 yards and two touchdowns. Of Ricci's five catches, two covered at least 30 yards. In his first game in the Brown & Gold, redshirt freshman DaShon Bussell had five catches for 116 yards and became the second WMU freshman to have over 100 yards in his debut.

Defensively, senior D'Wayne Eskridge led the Broncos with eight tackles (six solo) and one pass break up in his first career game as a defensive back. The Broncos as a team had three sacks with fifth year senior Timothy Collins, redshirt freshman Braden Fiske and senior Antonio Balabani each recording one.

Graduate transfer Keith Mixon Jr., torched the Hawks on special teams, recording four returns for 169 yards. Mixon Jr., had three kickoff returns for 143 yards, the tenth most in a game in program history and the most since Dervon Wallace had 177 versus Toledo on Nov. 8, 2011.

As a team the Broncos totaled 458 yards to Monmouth's 322 with 368 coming through the air. In the red zone WMU was a perfect 7-for-7 with five touchdowns and two field goals.

Western Michigan got off to a fast start in the first quarter, out gaining Monmouth 174-68 en route to a 21-0 lead. The Broncos scored on their first possession of the season as senior LeVante Bellamy crossed the goal line from three yards out. WMU proceeded to score on its next two possessions with Wassink finding Ricci and sophomore Jaylen Hall for touchdown passes.

Wassink found Ricci once again with five minutes remaining in the second quarter to extend the Bronco lead to 31-7. Monmouth drove down the field to end the half and got to the one-yard line before the Bronco defense kept the Hawks offense out of the end zone to conclude the first half.

In the second half, Western Michigan outscored Monmouth 17-6 as Wassink connected on two more touchdown passes along with a field goal from junior Thiago Kapps.

Kapps was 2-for-2 on the night, hitting field goals from 45 and 19 and was 6-for-6 on extra points.  The fifth and final touchdown of the night for Wassink came on an 8-yard touchdown pass to freshman Skyy Moore to extend the Bronco lead to 45-13.

Monmouth scored two touchdowns in the season opener as running back Pete Guerriero rushed for a 14-yard touchdown to begin the second quarter. The Hawks crossed the goal line again midway through the third quarter on a 14-yard pass from quarterback Kenji Bahar to receiver Terrance Greene Jr.

The Broncos hit the road next weekend for a Big Ten match-up against Michigan State on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. WMU returns home the following weekend, Sept. 14, to host Georgia State on CommUniverCity.

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