FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Sept. 16, 2023) – Turnovers were costly in a 50-36 home opening loss for the Northern Arizona University football team against Utah Tech University this afternoon at Findlay Toyota Field at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz.
The Lumberjacks (0-3, 0-0 Big Sky) turned the ball over five times, two of which were returned for scores.
"We didn't take care of the ball offensively and we gave up too many big plays defensively. Obviously, when you give up five turnovers with two for touchdowns, it's really hard to overcome that. We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball and get back to work," said head coach
Chris Ball. "We're not canceling our season because we're struggling, we have eight more games and eight more opportunities to turn this thing around."
Utah Tech (1-2, 0-0 United Athletic) marched down the field and converted on a 22-yard field goal try. With 1:47 remaining,
Draycen Hall punched in a four-yard rushing touchdown for his first score of the season and the fourth rushing touchdown of his career. After
Marcus Lye's extra point attempt was good, Northern Arizona held its first lead of the season, 7-3.
From there, the Trailblazers outscored NAU 34-0 for the remainder of the half and took a 37-7 lead into the locker room.
Northern Arizona struck first in the second half on a two-yard rushing touchdown from
Devon Starling. It was Starling's first score for the Blue and Gold and he led all rushers with 111 yards on 15 carries. After
Adam Damante's two-point conversion attempt to
Hendrix Johnson was successful, NAU trimmed the lead down to 37-15.
NAU's
Kai Millner got the start for the third-straight game and completed 4-of-9 pass attempts with an interception, throwing for 34 yards and rushing for eight. In his second career game as a true freshman, Damante took most of the snaps, completing 22 of his 31 pass attempts for 247 yards and two interceptions.
The Trailblazers continued to pile it on, adding a 60-yard touchdown pass and a 48-yard field goal to extend the lead out to 47-15 at the end of the third quarter. Midway through the fourth, a 40-yard field goal attempt made it a 50-15 game in favor of UTU.
Showing no quit, Damante threw the first touchdown of his career to
Marcus Phillips Jr. for 23 yards, which resulted in Phillip's first career score for NAU as well. After Lye's extra point attempt went through the uprights, he contributed on the kickoff with a successful onside kick that was recovered by
Chase Belcher.
The Lumberjacks took advantage of their found opportunity, marching down the field in just 1:29 where Damante completed a 32-yard pass to Belcher for the score, the first of his career.
Lye put his extra point attempt through once again and NAU decided to try for another onside kick and Belcher recovered the ball. Belcher then capped a nine play, 58-yard drive with his second score of the game, this time on a 21-yard rush.
Belcher would lead NAU in receiving yards, racking up 80 yards after catching all five of his targeted passes. He also added 43 yards on the ground with six carries.
Coleman Owen caught nine passes for 75 yards, moving up to 13
th all-time on NAU's career receiving yards list.
With 1:10 remaining, NAU had trimmed the lead down to 50-36. Facing 3
rd and 6 at the NAU-44, the Trailblazers converted on third down and the Lumberjacks' momentum was put to a stop as they fell 50-36.
"There's going to be some positives, but you can't make those mistakes at this level and expect to win, I don't care who you're playing," added Ball. "We did come back in the second half, but the motto this week was start fast and finish strong and we didn't do that. We waited until the second half to get going, and that doesn't work at this level. It's too competitive. You have to start fast and take advantage of it; you can't turn the ball over. If you have five turnovers and two for touchdowns, you have no chance of winning, zero. Zero chances of winning when that happens, and we didn't get any takeaways defensively. It didn't balance it out. It was very disappointing."
For the second time this season, true freshman
Alex McLaughlin led the team in tackles, this time with nine along with
Heston Lameta. Jefferey Widener followed with eight and
Tommy Ellis racked up seven.
Malachi Williams led the squad with four pass breakups while
George Steele had two.
Nehemiah Magalei had 1.5 tackles for loss, including a sack.
Northern Arizona put up 449 total yards of offense, including 281 through the air and 168 on the ground. NAU limited the Trailblazers to 72 rushing yards, but they threw for 318 yards for 390 yards of total offense.
Both teams were called for seven penalties, as UTU was penalized for 73 yards and the Lumberjacks were penalized for 65. Both teams were also perfect in the red zone and NAU converted on first down eight of 15 times and the Trailblazers were eight of 16.
The challenging schedule continues for Northern Arizona, as they welcome Montana to town next week for a 1 p.m. Mountain Standard time kick in Flagstaff to start Big Sky Conference play. The Grizzlies are currently ranked No. 11 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and host Division II Ferris State this evening.
