FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 5, 2022) – Bookending Saturday's Homecoming game against the No. 2/3 Montana State Bobcats with a disastrous start and a heartbreaking ending, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks pushed the Big Sky Conference's co-leader to the brink.
With 452 yards passing from
RJ Martinez, 196 going to
Coleman Owen, the Lumberjacks (3-6, 2-4 Big Sky) put together 21 straight points in the first half before trading punches with the Bobcats (8-1, 6-0 Big Sky) through the game's final 30 minutes.Tying the game at 38 with 1:05 left on a 46-yard field goal by
Collin Robbins, Northern Arizona fell victim to a 64-yard pass from Tommy Mellott to Taco Dowler on a third-and-10 with Montana State securing a 41-38 victory on a 24-yard field goal by Blake Gessner as time expired.
"I was proud of the way our guys fought all the way to the end. We believed that we could win the game," Lumberjacks head coach
Chris Ball said. "I thought the kids did a great job of studying and knowing their opponent."
A 1-yard score by Mellott with 5:48 put the Bobcats back in front, setting the Lumberjacks up for a 15-play, 47-yard drive to tie the game.
Converting a pair of fourth downs thanks to a penalty and a catch by Owen, the Lumberjacks moved just outside the red zone as time ticked away. A short rush, an incompletion and a false start stalled Northern Arizona's potential go-ahead drive as the Lumberjacks settled for Robbins' kick after failing to convert on third-and-14.
The field goal capped off Northern Arizona's stretch of five scoring drives in their final six of the game after scoring just one on the first six drives.
Down 17-0 after a pair of Montana State strip sacks in their first three drives, the Lumberjacks got on the board with a 34-yard touchdown reception by Owen to finish off a seven-play, 75 yard drive.
Draycen Hall converted a third-and-5 with an 11 yard reception, adding a 20-yard carry three plays later to set up Owen's first score.
While the Lumberjacks failed to convert a fourth down and missed a field goal on their next two drives, the offense had started to find its groove.
Forcing four consecutive punts, Northern Arizona's defense stepped up to let the offense climb back into the game. Tight coverage along the sidelines by
Colby Humphrey and LJ Davis left Montana State's offense unable to pick up large chunks of yards on multiple third-and-longs. With the Bobcats scoreless in the second quarter,
RJ Martinez threw for another score and caught the first touchdown of his Lumberjack career.
Needing just three plays to score after Davis broke up a third-and-6 pass to force a punt, Martinez found
Elijah Taylor for a 15-yard gain with a personal foul tacked on making it a 30-yard gain in total. Finding plenty of space across the middle of the field,
Hendrix Johnson easily brought in a 48-yard touchdown.
As the clock ticked down to 2:21 remaining before halftime, Northern Arizona went on the attack again. Converting a third-and-6 on another pass to Owen across the middle, Martinez found his receiver for another 36-yard gain on the very next play. Set up at the Montana State 7-yard line with just 30 seconds left before halftime, the Lumberjacks broke out a trick play as
Xander Werner took a pitch to the left and threw back across the field to a wide open Martinez for a 21-17 lead going into halftime.
"Throughout the week, we obviously prepared for when they would make adjustments and we were able to execute," Martinez said. "Coach (Aaron) Pflugrad called a great game... We just came up short. Obviously this gives us momentum going forward to the next game."
Montana State finally answered, as Mellott finished a 10-play, 74-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run, part of his 26 rushing yards on the drive.
From there began the back-and-forth as neither side put together back-to-back scoring drives for the remainder of the afternoon.
Martinez achieved a feat few if any Lumberjacks have done with a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, giving him one on the ground in addition to his three total through the air and one receiving. The 11-play, 80-yard drive was answered back by Montana State's eight-play, 50-yard drive culminating in a 3-yard score for Derryk Snell.
Answering right back, Martinez needed just a little more than three minutes to connect with Owen for another 36-yard score.
With 452 yards on 34-of-46 passing, including five total scores, Martinez tied Travis Brown for third all-time in single-game passing yardage and recorded the most in a game since 2009. Owen's 196 receiving yards landed him ninth for a single game, with the most since Elijah Marks' 206 in 2017.
Hendrix Johnson added 108 yards from Martinez while
Draycen Hall finished with 83 through the air and 69 on the ground for 152 total yards of offense.
"People don't know how hard these guys work. I am really proud of the gameplan we put together and proud of the way our guys played," Ball said. "We would like to have some of those penalties back... but the way we played we shouldn't hang our heads."
With just two games remaining in the regular season, Northern Arizona heads to Greeley, Colo. to face the Northern Colorado Bears (2-7, 1-5 Big Sky) Saturday at 12 p.m. The Bears fell to the Portland State Vikings 35-21 on Saturday, their fifth consecutive loss.
Stay up-to-date on all NAU Football news this season by visiting NAUAthletics.com and following NAU Football on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook for updates throughout the fall season.
