Lumberjacks Roll Past Bengals on Family Weekend for 48-17 Victory

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (October 2, 2021) – Freshman quarterback RJ Martinez made quite the impression in his first appearance in front of Northern Arizona's fans in the Walkup Skydome, as the Lumberjacks rolled up more than 600 yards of offense and achieved a feat on offense for the first time since 2014.
 
After the Idaho State Bengals (0-4, 0-2 Big Sky) jumped out to a 7-0 lead just two minutes into the game, Northern Arizona (2-3, 1-1 Big Sky) absolutely dominated throughout the rest of the afternoon. Scoring 30 straight points from the end of the first quarter into the beginning of the third, the Lumberjacks eventually took a 38-point lead before wrapping up the day with a 48-17 victory over the Bengals.
 
"I'd really attest it to everybody on the offense, they were locked in obviously and took it upon themselves after last week's poor performance in our eyes," Martinez said after finishing with 369 passing yards and another 57 on the ground. "We really wanted to make a statement, so we just went back to work and we continued to prepare. This is the outcome we should always expect."
 
After Luis Aguilar cut into the lead with a 35-yard field goal with 2:49 left in the opening quarter, Martinez led an 8-play, 79-yard drive to take the lead five minutes of game time later. Granted a first down thanks to a pass interference call on Idaho State with Northern Arizona facing a third-and-8, the Lumberjacks took advantage behind a pair of passes to Jamal Glaspie to cover 28 yards and a 20-yard strike to Coleman Owen in the end zone.
 
An interception by Brenndan Johnson set up the Lumberjacks next score just six plays later, with Jeff Widener briefly filling in for Martinez due to a cut needing to be bandaged. Widener made the most of his lone pass, finding Glaspie for a 25-yard touchdown to take a 16-7 lead.
 
Glaspie finished with 11 receptions for 167 yards followed by Owen's 4 catches for 137 yards, with the duo the first pair of Lumberjacks to break the 100-yard mark since 2019. Glaspie's reception total was Northern Arizona's highest since 2017 and the yardage came in as the most for a player since 2019.
 
However, adding in Kevin Daniels' 118 yards on the ground really set the bar for how impressive the Lumberjacks' offense performed. With a pair of 100-yard receivers as well as a 100-yard rusher, Saturday marked the first time the Lumberjacks achieved the feat since 2014 at former Big Sky Conference member North Dakota.
 
"We all performed well," said Glaspie, who filled in for an injured Stacy Chukwumezie and served as a consistent target for Martinez with nearly half of the team's targets in the game. "We came out prepared, nobody was slacking off, everybody showed up in tune and was ready to go. It showed tonight."
 
The offense onslaught continued with one last touchdown pass before the break, as Martinez slipped in a pass to Owen through a few defenders and lead the freshmen receiver to break free. Catching the ball at NAU's own 35, Owen simply accelerated away from everyone else on the field for an 80-yard touchdown, once again the first for the Lumberjacks since 2019.
 
While the offense continued in the second half, with Glaspie catching a second score from Martinez midway through the third quarter and George Robinson punching in an 11-yard touchdown late in the fourth, Northern Arizona's defense halted any momentum Idaho State built early on in the day.
 
While Johnson's interception set up Glaspie's first score, the first of two for Morgan Vest directly preceded Owen's 80-yard touchdown. With Vest picking off Idaho State's Hunter Hayes a second time in the fourth quarter, the Lumberjacks rolled down the field in seven plays as Robinson cashed in the turnover.
 
Four sacks, including two by Carson Taylor, and another seven tackles for loss kept Idaho State in check. Converting just 2-of-13 on third down, the Bengals offense struggled against the Lumberjacks as teams have for weeks now. After holding Arizona to 21.4 percent and Northern Colorado to 27.8 percent, Idaho State's 15.4 percent marked an even more impressive season-best for Northern Arizona.
 
"Everybody was flying around, we had some big plays made out there," Taylor said. "I definitely think the defense is getting better week by week. That's our goal, each week we get a little better. I definitely think we took a step in the right direction, and we are really emphasizing getting them off the field on third down."
 
Northern Arizona now enters its bye week before hosting Southern Utah on Oct. 16 for Homecoming in the Walkup Skydome. 
 
"It's great, we are going to take some time to get healthy, but we still have to work," Ball said. "We'll practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Get these guys rested up, we've got six more conference games left."