Last-Second Touchdown Brings Grand Canyon Trophy Back to NAU

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 27, 2021) – Keondre Wudtee's first career start for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks may be tough to top for some time.

Trailing 33-28 with just two seconds remaining on the clock, Wudtee rolled to his left with Coleman Owen flying through traffic near the line of scrimmage. Breaking toward the end zone, Owen leaped, turned and reached to his right to bring in Wudtee's game-winning 2-yard touchdown pass as time expired.

"It was a sprint out, we were going to hit him from the get-go. It broke down and we just freestyle at the end," Wudtee said of the play.

It was the fourth of four receptions in the game for Owen, a redshirt freshman who played in just three games last season, as well as his first career touchdown as the Lumberjacks opened the season with a 34-33 victory against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Saturday in the Walkup Skydome that brought the Grand Canyon Trophy back to Flagstaff.

"They kind of rolled the safety down and it kind of got blown up, but I just sat in the hole and Keondre put it where I could get it," Owen said. "It was really emotional after the game."

While NAU's offense may have struggled early on, Wudtee opened up the second half with a perfect pass down the sideline to Stacy Chukwumezie and connected for a 55-yard score just 33 seconds into the third quarter. 

Wudtee finished 17-of-25 for 252 yards and his two second-half touchdowns, while freshman quarterback Jeff Widener added a touchdown drive of his own in the third quarter. 

Rolling down the field in 10 plays to cover 75 yards, NAU's offense led by Widener overcame a pair of penalties thanks to 24 yards on a pair of plays by Cole Fisher. Granted a fresh set of downs, Widener broke off a 10-yard run and then hit Chukwumezie for a 12-yard pass to reach the red zone. After Owen converted a third-and-9 with a 15-yard reception, Widener rolled right and into the end zone thanks to a strong fake handoff to George Robinson that caused the Thunderbirds to bite up the middle.

The three second-half scores edged out Southern Utah's two touchdowns in what turned into a back-and-forth battle through the final 30 minutes.

Trailing 13-2 early in the second quarter, a 5-yard touchdown run by Jeiel Stark trimmed NAU's deficit down to 20-15 just a minute before the half. Capping off a nine-play, 72-yard drive, Stark's score was the first on offense for the Lumberjacks.A bad snap by Southern Utah on a punt resulted in a safety, as Owen and Dyvine Wallace tackled punter Jake Gerardi in the end zone for NAU's first points of the day.

NAU's defense struck again in the second quarter, as Cosmas Kwete broke through to pressure Southern Utah's Justin Miller on a third-and-8, forcing an overthrow that landed in the hands of Kamdan Hightower.

The freshman cornerback took the ball back 58 yards for a touchdown and stifled the Thunderbirds' attempt to make it a three-score game.

"Huge, it was huge. He just did his job," said NAU head coach Chris Ball. "We put some pressure on him and he overthrew it. I told the guys in the secondary you get your hands on the ball, you've got to catch it and shoot, he went and scored."

A 3-yard touchdown pass from Miller to Landen Measom just 12 seconds into the fourth quarter put Southern Utah ahead 33-28. A missed field goal for NAU and a punt for each side left the score in the same position with 8:54 left, as Southern Utah attempted to run out the remainder of the game.

Putting together a 13-play, 71-yard drive, one similar to their first drive of the game that ate up 8:01 of play, the Thunderbirds ended up facing a fourth-and-1 at NAU's 19. Electing to hand off to Thomas Duckett, Southern Utah was stalled by Morgan Vest and Harrison Beemiller to end the drive and give the Lumberjacks life with just 53 seconds on the clock.

Back-to-back pass interference penalties on Southern Utah put NAU at their own 44 before Wudtee connected with Matthew Kempton for a pair of passes totaling 35 yards three plays later. One last pass interference call against Southern Utah, with two seconds left on the clock, set the stage for NAU's final play to Owen.

"It was emotional from the beginning, the start of the day was really emotional," Ball said of NAU's first game in more than 460 days. "The stuff we have been through to get to this point. We start thinking about all the people to make this happen. And I am talking work, long hours and late nights to put our players in this position to play a game and have some normalcy is amazing."

Now 1-0 in the shortened six-game spring schedule, the Lumberjacks will head out on the road for the first time to visit the Eastern Washington Eagles in Cheney, Washington on Saturday at 2:05 p.m.