VERMILLION, S.D. (September 11, 2021) – A slow start put the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in too deep of a hole Saturday afternoon as the South Dakota Coyotes came away with a 34-7 victory.
Scoring 17 points within the first 10 minutes of the game, South Dakota brought its crowd to life at the DakotaDome in Vermillion, S.D. while handing Northern Arizona a loss in its first road game of the season. The Lumberjacks slowed the Coyotes late in the first and early on in the second, forcing a pair of punts, but entered halftime trailing 27-0 as its offense struggled to find its footing.
An interception by South Dakota at its own 3-yard line spoiled Northern Arizona's first trip to the red zone, with the Lumberjacks failing to advance that deep in to Coyotes' territory again until midway through the third quarter.
Set up at the South Dakota 44-yard line thanks to a strip sack by
Tristen Vance and a fumble recovery by
Jhasi Wilson, quarterback
Jeff Widener capped off a 6-play, 44-yard drive by hitting
Hendrix Johnson for a 16-yard score.
A trio of catches by
Stacy Chukwumezie, totaling 24 yards, set up the Lumberjacks in the red zone. After an incompletion on first down, Widener found Johnson crossing the middle of the field and the receiver fought through a few tacklers to cross the goal line for the first points for the Lumberjacks and the final score of the game.
Chukwumezie led the Lumberjacks with nine catches for 95 yards, followed by Johnson's three catches for 51 yards and the score. In his first career start, Widener rushed for 54 yards on 14 carries while completing 22 of 33 passes for 202 yards and one touchdown.
With the Lumberjacks on the board, a
Carson Taylor sack of South Dakota's Carson Camp on third-and-14 set the stage for Northern Arizona's longest drive of the day.
Converting three third downs on the drive, the Lumberjacks marched down to the Coyotes' 10. However, a holding penalty pushed Northern Arizona back to the 20 while facing third-and-15. A pair of completions to
Matthew Kempton made up 14 yards, but South Dakota tackled the NAU tight end a yard shy of the marker on fourth-and-10.
Backed up in its own territory, South Dakota quickly went three-and-out before punting with just 4:33 left on the clock. Northern Arizona's penultimate drive ended in a fumble just five plays later, with South Dakota effectively running out the remainder of the game.
Defensively,
Morgan Vest led the Lumberjacks with 12 tackles, followed by
Harrison Beemiller's seven. Taylor finished with six tackles, 2.5 going for a loss, as well as his third-down sack.
Northern Arizona heads back out on the road again next week, with a trip to Tucson on tap for a meeting with the Arizona Wildcats. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday.
