GREELEY, COLO. (November 12, 2022) – Scoring 10 points in less than three minutes early in the fourth quarter, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks regained control of a game they led for much of the first half.
However, a 25-play, 96-yard drive by Northern Colorado to close the game continued Northern Arizona's struggles at Nottingham Field in Greeley, Colo. as the Bears secured a 21-20 victory on their Senior Day. Converting on fourth-and-2 and fourth-and-5 to extend the drive early on, Northern Colorado capped off the game-winning drive with a touchdown pass on fourth-and-15 before securing the win with a two-point conversion.
The Lumberjacks defense allowed just 239 yards of offense by the Bears across Northern Colorado's first 12 drives in the game, forcing seven punts, stopping a fake field goal, and picking off a pass to set up their own go-ahead touchdown with 7:50 to play.
Recording three sacks in the first half, two by
Cosmas Kwete and one from
Eloi Kwete, Northern Arizona's defense held Northern Colorado to just three points at the break on seven first downs and 109 yards. Just one Northern Colorado drive moved into Northern Arizona territory during the first half, coming primarily due to a 40-yard kick return from Elijah Dotson and a 30-yard rush by quarterback Dylan McCaffrey.
Meanwhile, the Lumberjacks recorded 218 yards of offense in the first half thanks to a 13-play, 82-yard drive for the game's first score with 7:45 left in the first quarter and a 14-play, 65-yard drive capped off by a 24-yard field goal by
Collin Robbins.
Completions from
RJ Martinez to
Coleman Owen of 14 and 18 yards, and a 13-yard carry by
Chase Belcher, set the Lumberjacks up in the red zone. With Belcher tackled just short of the end zone on a first-and-goal from the Northern Colorado 5, Martinez punched it in through the middle of the offensive line for a 1-yard touchdown.
After getting stopped on fourth down at the Bears' 43-yard line, a quick stop thanks to
Eloi Kwete's sack set the Lumberjacks up to take a 10-3 lead. With
Draycen Hall beginning to find space up the middle on the ground, Northern Arizona moved to the 6-yard line before stalling out and taking the three points by Robbins.
Northern Arizona's offense hit a lull across its next five drives, with a fourth-and-1 sneak stopped to set up Northern Colorado's first touchdown and a fumble at the Bears' 12 abruptly ending a potential scoring drive.
With Northern Colorado taking their first lead of the game, 13-10 with 3:23 to play in the third, thanks to a short field off a blocked kick, Northern Arizona finally found its groove behind Hall's work on the ground.
Carrying the ball on six consecutive plays, Hall rolled up 68 yards rushing to bring the Lumberjacks into field goal range. With Robbins converting on a 47-yard kick to even the game at 13-13, Northern Arizona's defense built on the momentum with
Eloi Kwete and
Kamdan Hightower combining to stop McCaffrey for a 1-yard gain before the quarterback threw up a deep pass that was intercepted by Alonzo Davis on the very next play.
With Hall adding another 11 yards on the ground, finishing with a career-high 145 rushing, Martinez found
Hendrix Johnson open for a 14-yard gain along the sideline before breaking off for a 14-yard touchdown run and a 20-13 lead.
Unfortunately for Northern Arizona's offense, it would not see the ball again until just 25 seconds remained as Northern Colorado ate up 7:25 with its winning drive where McCaffrey hit Ty Arrington for the 15-yard score on fourth-and-goal as well as Max Pierce on the ensuing two-point conversion.
The Lumberjacks impressively picked up 39 quick yards to set up Robbins for a potential game-winning field goal from 53-yards out, but the kick fell wide left as time expired.
Northern Arizona concludes its season on Saturday against the Weber State Wildcats with kickoff set for 1 p.m. at Findlay Toyota Field.
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