SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (November 20, 2021) – Kevin Daniels entered Saturday's regular-season finale needing 136 yards to become the first Lumberjack to rush for 1,000 yards since 2015.
The freshman needed less than a half to achieve the feat against the Cal Poly Mustangs.
Breaking off a 90-yard touchdown, the longest run in program history, Daniels scored for the fourth time in the second quarter and hit the 1,000-yard mark. Finishing the game with a new career-high of 280 yards on the ground, Daniels' total ranks as the sixth-most in program history for a single game and makes the freshman one of just six running backs in school history to rush for 200 yards in a game twice.
Daniels' dominance highlighted a 31-point second quarter for the Lumberjacks (5-6, 4-4 Big Sky) as they wrapped up the 2021-22 season with a 45-21 victory against the Mustangs (2-9, 1-7 Big Sky).
While Northern Arizona's run game carried its offensive attack, it was the Lumberjack defense effectively blanking Cal Poly after falling behind 7-0 late in the first quarter.
Coleman Owen broke free along the Northern Arizona sideline for a 62-yard score just 29 seconds after Cal Poly took the early lead. Forcing four turnovers off of Mustangs quarterback Spencer Brasch in the second quarter alone, the Lumberjacks' defense wrapped up the season on a high note.
One play after Daniels broke through for a 3-yard touchdown, his first of the game to take a 14-7 lead,
Dyvine Wallace picked off Brasch to set up a 13-yard score for the freshman back. Scoring 14 points in the span of 40 seconds, Northern Arizona took a 21-7 lead and never looked back.
Luis Aguilar added a 40-yard field goal following an interception by
Morgan Vest to push the lead to 24-7, with Daniels scoring from 23 yards out on the first play of a drive following a 16-yard punt by Cal Poly five minutes later.
Once again, the Lumberjacks struck twice with Daniels as the freshman broke free for his 90-yard score a little more than a minute later. Pinned at their own 10-yard line, the Lumberjacks handed off to Daniels with 1:40 left on the clock before halftime.
Swerving through the middle of the Cal Poly defense, Daniels rolled into the end zone as he set a new freshman record at 1,146 rushing yards. The total lands 10th all-time for a single season at Northern Arizona and is the most since Zach Bauman's 1,456 in 2013.
Scoring slowed in the second half with Northern Arizona in control, with Daniels adding a fifth and final touchdown on a 45-yard run up the middle late in the third quarter. The huge effort on the ground relieved some pressure from freshman quarterback
RJ Martinez, who returned to start the finale after missing last week due to a knee injury sustained against UC Davis.
Martinez threw for 167 yards on 11-of-22 passing with his lone touchdown pass to Owen in the first quarter. The freshman receiver led the way with 99 yards on three catches, with
Jamal Glaspie adding 32 yards on three catches as well.
In his final game for the Lumberjacks,
Harrison Beemiller finished with 16 tackles to tie for the seventh most in a single game and added a pair of pass breakups as well as a forced fumble. Six different Lumberjacks finished with at least 0.5 sacks, with
Sheldon Newton recording a strip sack as well as the fumble recovery.
Beemiller's strip of Brasch wrapped up Northern Arizona's day at five takeaways as
Detrick Gammage fell on the loose ball, adding to the interceptions for Wallace, Vest and
Colby Humphrey.
Four of Northern Arizona's scoring drives came on two or less plays, with another three-play drive lasting only 37 seconds and a seven-play, 59-yard drive spanning only 2:09.
