POCATELLO, Idaho (October 22, 2022) – With their defense recording 16 tackles for loss and six sacks of the Idaho State Bengals, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks entered the bye week on a high note.
Leaving Holt Arena with a 24-10 victory on Saturday afternoon, Northern Arizona bounced back from a disappointing performance at UC Davis a week ago and did so while missing a handful of regular contributors. Playing without starters
Heston Lameta and
Kamdan Hightower on defense, and
Stacy Chukwumezie and
Jamal Glaspie on offense, the Lumberjacks received timely performances from many who stepped into starting roles.
Most notable was safety
Sean Haymon, who started in place of Hightower and came away with the Lumberjacks lone takeaway against the Bengals.
Picking off a pass from Hunter Hays near midfield with less than a minute remaining before halftime, Haymon returned his first career interception all the way back to Idaho State's 23-yard line. Holding onto a 10-7 lead, Northern Arizona immediately cashed in the interception with a critical 5-play, 23-yard drive ending in the end zone.
A 6-yard run by
George Robinson, a 10-yard reception by
Hendrix Johnson and a 5-yard carry for
Draycen Hall quickly put the Lumberjacks just two yards from the goal line. After the Idaho State defense held up on Northern Arizona's second-and-goal run by Hall, the Lumberjacks turned back to what has worked in short-yardage situations throughout the season.
Lining up right behind center
Jalen Hooper, quarterback
RJ Martinez pushed forward into the pile with the clock ticking down to halftime for a 1-yard touchdown run.
Northern Arizona led by two possessions for the remainder of the day, stopping Idaho State on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter as the Bengals sought touchdowns over field goals to trim into the Lumberjacks advantage.
Opening the game with a 19-play, 71-yard drive to eat up the first 6:52 of the game, the Lumberjacks scored first on a 27-yard field goal by Colling Robbins. Converting six first downs on the drive, Martinez hit six different receivers on the drive while accounting for 71 yards through the air.
The early 3-0 lead went unchanged through the first 22:13 of the game, aided by Northern Arizona's block on a 32-yard field goal attempt by Idaho State just seconds into the second quarter. As they would later with the interception, Northern Arizona cashed in the big play with the game's first touchdown following another extended drive.
Aggressively seeking to extend their lead, the Lumberjacks sent Martinez up the middle on a quarterback sneak while facing a fourth-and-1 from their own 33-yard line. A pair of third-down conversions followed on receptions by
Coleman Owen and Hall, setting Northern Arizona up with a first-and-goal from the Idaho State 5. Stuffed on a run by Robinson, the Lumberjacks received another crucial play from a player thrust into a starting role.
Facing a second-and-goal from the 6, Northern Arizona brought
Elijah Taylor around from the left for a handoff. The freshman receiver took the end-around into the end zone for his first career touchdown.
Trailing 10-0, Idaho State chipped away with its lone touchdown of the game on its next drive as Benjamin Omayebu scored on an 18-yard pass from Hays. A quick three-and-out by Northern Arizona's offense put the Idaho State offense in position to tie or take the lead, but
Eemil Herranen's 47-yard punt took a perfect hop out of bounds at the Bengals 2-yard line and Haymon's interception followed seven plays later.
Idaho State punted on its first two drives of the second half, but Herranen's punt on the Lumberjacks first drive after halftime beat out Idaho State's pair of punts, 57 yards to a combined 48 yards.
Setting up their final scoring drive from their own 31-yard line, the Lumberjacks essentially reached midfield in one play as Hall broke free for an 18-yard run. The running back added two more first down plays on the drive, converting a third-and-3 with a 3-yard rush and a second-and-1 with a 6-yard reception.
Freshman
Chase Belcher entered the game for Hall in the backfield, breaking free for gains of 13 and 12 yards before Martinez connected with
Isaiah Gerena for a 6-yard touchdown and a 24-7 lead with just :56 left in the third quarter.
Holding the ball for just 2:58 the remainder of the game, the Lumberjacks leaned on their defense to close out the win. After a 19-play, 69-yard drive for the Bengals ended with just three points, the Lumberjacks closed out the final two drives with sacks to put the game away.
Logan Bayus and
Nehemiah Magalei sacked Hays on a second-and-7 from Northern Arizona's 10 to derail the drive with 2:58 left on the clock and
Cosmas Kwete stripped Hays on a fourth-and-10 from the Northern Arizona 21-yard line to take over on downs with just 45 seconds left.
Northern Arizona had 11 different players combined for the 16 tackles for loss, the most since at least 2010, led by 3.5 for
Eloi Kwete, 2.5 for Csomas Kwete, 2.0 for
Jhasi Wilson and 1.5 apiece for
Tommy Ellis,
Dyvine Wallace and
Logan Bayus. With six sacks, the most since November 2018,
Eloi Kwete led the team with 2.0,
Cosmas Kwete added 1.5 and Ellis recorded a solo sack of Hays in the second quarter.
Northern Arizona now enters its bye week at 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big Sky Conference, with No. 2/3 Montana State (7-1, 5-0) headed to Findlay Toyota Field on Saturday, Nov. 5. The Bobcats defeated No. 5 Weber State 43-38 in Bozeman on Saturday after trailing by as much as 15 in the second quarter.
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