SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Sept. 15, 2018) – The Northern Arizona football team suffered a 40-8 setback on the road at Missouri State on Saturday afternoon despite forcing the Bears into five turnovers, all of which came during the first half.
Unfortunately for the Lumberjacks, they only turned those Missouri State miscues into six points and committed six turnovers of their own, including a crucial pair of muffed punts that each resulted in touchdowns for the Bears.
Missouri State running back Jason Randall also enjoyed a standout performance for the Bears as he churned out 181 rushing yards on 20 carries for an average of 9.1 yards per carry and two touchdowns. As a team, Missouri State registered 297 rushing yards and 441 yards of total offense.
It marked the second straight game that the 'Jacks gave up over 200 ground yards and 400 total yards in a loss.
NAU played the game shorthanded as the Lumberjacks were without a number of key players due to injuries including starting quarterback
Case Cookus, wide receiver
Emmanuel Butler, strong safety
Wes Sutton, linebacker
Taylor Powell and defensive end
Chauntez Thomas.
The defeat marked the Lumberjacks' second straight and dropped their overall mark to 1-2 on the season. Missouri State improved to 2-1 following the victory.
"Disappointment for our football team," NAU head coach
Jerome Souers said. "We are a better football team than we showed today. For as many good plays as we had today we looked just awful on others. We still have the opportunity to be a really good football team, but to come out and play as we did today was a big disappointment."
NAU also ended the game with over 400 yards of offense with 431 (163 rushing, 268 passing). Quarterback
Daniel Bridge-Gadd completed 25-of-42 passes for 257 yards along with a touchdown and three interceptions. Junior receiver
Stacy Chukwumezie hauled in four passes for 64 yards and freshman
Brandon Porter had five receptions for 56 yards. Freshman
Jacob Mpungi led the 'Jacks ground attack with 35 yards on five carries.
Senior linebacker
Jake Casteel led the Lumberjack defense with a career-best 12 tackles.
Kam'ron Johnson,
Khalil Dorsey,
Maurice Davison and
Brandon Worthy each recorded an interception and
Anthony Sweeney forced a fumble that was recovered by Tristan Vance.
Missouri State scored three plays into the first possession of the game as Randall took a handoff and gashed the middle of the NAU defense for a 47-yard touchdown burst just 1:12 into regulation to give the Bears an early 7-0 advantage.
After a 41-yard touchdown run by
Nate Stinson was called back on NAU's first offensive possession due to a chop block penalty on the opposite side of the field, Missouri State followed with an 11-play, 83-yard drive that resulted in a 19-yard field goal by Parker Lacina to give the Bears a 10-0 edge with 6:45 left in the opening quarter.
NAU had another touchdown called back due to a penalty on its second possession of the opening quarter. Bridge-Gadd connected with Porter after a nifty job of escaping pressure for a 55-yard score but it was nullified due to an illegal block.
Bridge-Gadd was intercepted by MSU's Tyler Lovelace on the next play, but Johnson bailed out the NAU defense with a pick of his own to turn the ball back over to the Lumberjacks after Missouri State had driven down inside the NAU 10-yard line with 2:41 remaining in the first quarter.
The 'Jacks squandered another scoring opportunity when Stinson fumbled the ball at the MSU one-yard line which was recovered in the end zone by the Bears. Fortunately for the Lumberjacks, Missouri State returned the favor one play later as Peyton Huslig was stripped following a 22-yard rush and the ball was recovered by NAU's Vance at the MSU 48.
Bridge-Gadd hit junior
Joe Logan on a swing pass one play later which he took up the sideline for a 48-yard score to get the Lumberjacks on the board and make the score 10-6 with 13:34 left in the second quarter after a missed extra point try by
Griffin Roehler.
Missouri State added a three-yard touchdown by Randall with 4:03 before half to cap off an eight-play, 86-yard drive and increase its lead to 17-6. Randall had a 28-yard rush and teammate Jordan Murray added a 27-yard burst to set up the score.
The Bears capitalized on a muffed punt by NAU's
Justis Stokes with under two minutes left as at the NAU 10-yard line with a play action keeper by Huslig for a touchdown from one-yard out to send Missouri State into the locker room with a 23-6 advantage following a missed extra point attempt by Lacina.
Jordan Murray added another score for the Bears 2:33 into the second half with a nine-yard reception that made the margin 30-6 one play after a second muffed punt by Stokes.
Lacina added another three points to the lead with 3:45 left in the third with a 38-yard field goal to make the score 33-6.
Donovan Daniels padded the lead to 40-6 with a 17-yard scoring run with 11:31 remaining in regulation.
The Lumberjacks will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 22 in a 4 p.m. MST kickoff vs. Southern Utah in the Big Sky Conference opener at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
The showdown with the Thunderbirds will be televised live on Your PHX CW (Suddenlink Channel 6 in Flagstaff), NAU-TV (Suddenlink Channel 4 in Flagstaff) and streamed on Pluto TV (Channel 239). It will also air on the Lumberjack Radio Network with
Mitch Strohman and Kevin Stephens on the call.
Postgame Notes – at Missouri State – Sept. 15, 2018
- Saturday's game marked the first-ever meeting between NAU and Missouri State in the sport of football.
- NAU played without its regular starters at quarterback Case Cookus, wide receiver Emmanuel Butler, strong safety Wes Sutton, defensive end Chauntez Thomas and linebacker Taylor Powell.
- NAU is 2-8 vs. Missouri Valley Conference opponents in the Jerome Souers era and 0-4 in road games against the MVC.
- Sophomore quarterback Daniel Bridge-Gadd made his the first start of his collegiate career in Saturday's game at Missouri State.
- Bridge-Gadd is the 21st quarterback to start for NAU dating back to the 1986 season.
- Junior Brandon Worthy picked off the first pass of his career with 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
- Senior Kam'ron Johnson nabbed his second interception in the first three games with his pick at the 2:41 mark of the first quarter.
- Junior Stacy Chukwumezie made the first reception of his NAU career with a 38-yard reception in the second quarter.
- NAU defense forced five turnovers in the first half (four interceptions and one fumble).
- Both teams combined for eight turnovers in the first half of play (five interceptions, three fumbles) and a total of 10 for the game (six interceptions, four fumbles).
- Sophomore Elijah Orr intercepted the first pass of his NAU career at the 9:57 mark of the second quarter.
- Missouri State's Jason Randall tallied 139 (13 carries) of his 181 (20 carries) rushing yards in the first half. He averaged 10.7 per carry in the opening half and 9.1 per touch for the game overall.
