SACRAMENTO, Calif. (October 23, 2021) – Unable to generate yards consistently in the first half, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks fell into an early hole they couldn't climb out of Saturday night against the No. 19 Sacramento State Hornets.
After receiving a lucky bounce on Sacramento State's opening drive with a fumble by the Hornets bouncing out of the end zone for a touchback as they neared an early touchdown, Northern Arizona couldn't come up with another break. Sacramento State scored on six consecutive drives in the first half en route to the 44-0 victory.
Northern Arizona snapped Sacramento State's run of scoring drives just before halftime, as
Trejan Apodaca picked off a Jake Dunniway pass at the NAU 1-yard line for the team's second takeaway of the first half.
RJ Martinez finished with 136 yards through the air and
Tyson Grubbs added 24 yards on the ground to lead the Lumberjacks, all coming in the fourth quarter.
Hendrix Johnson, who caught his 100th career pass during the game, finished with 53 yards on five catches.
Punting eight times for 315 yards,
DJ Arnson broke Northern Arizona's all-time record for career punt yards. Now at 9,769 yards plus the game total, Arnson broke Terry Belden's record of 9,759 set in 1993.
The Lumberjacks finished with eight tackles for loss as a team, led by
Eloi Kwete's 3.0 and
Carson Taylor's 2.0, but the Hornets' large gains throughout the night kept Northern Arizona's defense in unfavorable situations.
Sacramento State finished with six passes of more than 20 yards, as well as two rushes longer than 20. Cameron Skattebo rushed for 117 yards while Dunniway finished 21-of-25 for 328 yards passing and a pair of touchdowns. The Hornets other quarterback, Asher O'Hara added 82 yards through the air and another 34 on the ground while accounting for two touchdowns.
Driving into the red zone twice in the second half, Northern Arizona was stopped on fourth down by Sacramento State as it tried to break its scoreless drought.
A 37-yard completion from Martinez to
Jamal Glaspie helped the Lumberjacks move into the red zone near the end of the third quarter, but a fourth-down completion to
Coleman Owen on the Sacramento State 9-yard line was ruled short of the marker.
Jeff Widener also led a drive to the Sacramento State 17 in the fourth quarter, but a pass on fourth-and-3 fell incomplete.
The Lumberjacks (3-4, 2-2 Big Sky) head back out on the road next week as they face the Idaho Vandals (2-5, 1-3) in Moscow, Idaho. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. with the game available on ESPN+ as well as the Lumberjack Radio Network.
