FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Oct. 6, 2018) – The Northern Arizona football team used a suffocating run defense and forced five turnovers to post a 28-24 victory over No. 6/7 Weber State on Saturday night before a sellout crowd at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
The win marked the highest-ranked opponent the Lumberjacks have defeated since Nov. 7, 2015 - when they bested No. 4/4 Eastern Washington by a 52-30 margin.
The game was a back-and-forth affair that was ultimately decided after senior
Kam'ron Johnson picked off his third pass of the season at the 13:29 mark of the fourth quarter with the game deadlocked at 21-21. The 'Jacks took possession at the Weber State 29-yard line and took just three plays and 42 seconds to score the decisive touchdown on an eight-yard burst by senior running back
Cory Young.
The NAU defense held strong for the rest of regulation, allowing only a 52-yard field goal by Weber State's Trey Tuttle.
"It was a big win for our program," NAU head coach
Jerome Souers said. "We came off a tough loss last week and our players left the game frustrated. We had a lot of things we needed to work on. I thought tackling was one of our biggest issues defensively and the run defense that the defensive staff dialed up today was a great plan. The players executed it. I'll say this about the mindset of our team, we competed regardless of whether positive or negative things happened to us. We kept coming back. It makes me proud to be their coach."
Defensively, NAU was a force for the entire game as it limited the Weber State offense to just 176 total yards and the nation's leading rusher, Josh Davis, who entered the contest averaging 166.3 ground yards per game, to just 52 on 12 carries. The 'Jacks' defense forced the Wildcats to punt a total of eight times, including six times on their first seven possessions and came away with three interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries.
Senior
Jake Casteel led the NAU defense with 10 tackles and became the seventh NAU player since the 2000 season to record 200 career stops. For the game, the Lumberjacks rang up four sacks and a total of 11 tackles for loss that cost Weber State 48 yards in field position.
The Lumberjacks (3-3, 2-1 Big Sky) overcame some mistakes of their own in the win as they committed a total of two interceptions and lost four fumbles. Four of those turnovers came when NAU was inside the Weber State 26-yard line or deeper in Wildcat territory.
NAU sophomore quarterback
Daniel Bridge-Gadd finished 18-of-35 through the air for a total of 228 yards. He completed passes to seven different receivers, including
Brandon Porter, who led the team with 65 receiving yards on three catches.
Chancellor Brewington hauled in a game-high five catches for 63 yards.
After neither team scored on the game's opening six drives, NAU got on the board when wide receiver
Justis Stokes connected with sophomore running back
Aramis Aldredge on the back-end of a double pass for a 30-yard touchdown to give the Lumberjacks the lead on the final play of the first quarter. The scoring toss marked the second touchdown pass for Stokes in as many games.
A pair of back-to-back big plays by the NAU defense set up the Lumberjacks deep inside Weber State territory with under two minutes remaining in the first half.
Chauntez Thomas recorded a sack and
Carson Taylor followed a play later with an interception to give the 'Jacks offense the ball at the Weber State 18-yard line.
NAU drove the ball down to the Wildcats' seven-yard line and then disaster struck as Bridge-Gadd was stripped of the ball as he avoided pressure and it was recovered by Weber State's Preston Smith, who returned it 86 yards for a score. The Wildcats' added a successful two-point conversion to go into the break with an 8-7 lead.
Another self-inflicted mistake allowed Weber State (3-2, 1-1 Big Sky) to increase the lead to 15-7 on its opening drive of the second half. After a big third-down stop by the NAU defense, an unsportsmanlike penalty was flagged on the Lumberjacks. The Wildcats took advantage of the second chance on the next play as quarterback Jake Constantine hit Daryl Darby for a 46-yard scoring strike.
Bridge-Gadd committed the 'Jacks fourth fumble and fifth turnover of the game on the following drive of the third quarter when he coughed up the pigskin at the NAU 15-yard line which the Wildcats converted into a 34-yard field goal by Tuttle.
NAU got back on track and trimmed the margin to 18-10 on a 21-yard field goal by
Luis Aguilar after a muffed punt by Weber State's Rashid Shaheed gave the Lumberjacks possession at the Wildcats' 10-yard line, which was recovered by junior
Marcel Myers.
The Lumberjacks' defense kept the pressure on as Thomas recorded his second sack of the game three plays into the next possession and forced a fumble which was recovered by NAU's
Jalen Goss who then took it 30 yards to the end zone for a score. Bridge-Gadd converted the ensuing two-point conversion to deadlock the game at 18-18 with 7:28 left in the third quarter.
Shaheed took the following kickoff back 80 yards to the NAU 18 yard line to set up another field goal by Tuttle, this one from 31-yards out with 5:45 on the clock in the third quarter, which made the score 21-18.
Aguilar tied things up once again at 21-21 with 3:17 left in the third on the next drive for the 'Jacks with a 38-yard field goal. The boot was set up by a 38-yard kickoff return by
Cam Denson and a 23-yard reception by
Brandon Porter.
The Lumberjacks will have a bye next week before returning to action on Saturday, Oct. 20 with a game at Northern Colorado that is slated for an 11 a.m. MST kickoff.
The matchup with the Bears will be televised live on ELEVEN Sports and streamed on Pluto TV (Channel 241).
The NAU-Northern Colorado game will also air on the Lumberjack Radio Network with
Mitch Strohman and Kevin Stephens on the call beginning with the pregame show at 10 a.m. MST.
Postgame Notes – vs. No. 6/7 Weber State – Oct. 6, 2018
- NAU senior linebacker Jake Casteel registered the 200th tackle of his career with his first stop of the game in the first quarter. Casteel is the seventh player in NAU career annals to record 200 tackles since the 2000 season.
- Sophomore wide receiver Justis Stokes tossed his second touchdown pass in the last two games when he connected with sophomore Aramis Aldredge on a double pass for a 30-yard score on the final play of the first quarter.
- The attendance of 10,000 marked NAU's largest crowd this season and the first sellout since Oct. 7, 2017 vs. Illinois State.
- NAU committed two costly turnovers in the red zone in the opening half. One came on the Lumberjacks' first possession of the game and the second on their final possession before halftime.
- Weber State's LeGrand Toia was ejected in the fourth quarter for targeting.
