Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Northern Arizona
NAU rallies for 29-22 win over Wildcats
11/1/2014 11:10:00 PM | Football
OGDEN – Northern Arizona scored 29 unanswered points to defeat Weber State 29-22 Saturday afternoon at Stewart Stadium, dropping the Wildcats to 0-9 on the season.
The Wildcats came out blazing and had their best first quarter of the season. Jadrian Clark rushed for a 7-yard touchdown on WSU's first possession and the 'Cats added a two-point conversion to jump out to an 8-0 lead.
After an NAU punt the 'Cats scored again as Bo Bolen rushed in from eight yards out to put WSU up 15-0, seven minutes into the quarter. Another NAU punt set up another touchdown run by Jadrian Clark, a 20-yard score, and WSU led 22-0 after the first quarter, the biggest lead of the season for the Wildcats.
However, things turned in the second quarter. WSU recovered a fumble on the first play of the quarter but Clark threw an interception two plays later. That set up an 80-play scoring drive for NAU that made the score 22-7. The Lumberjacks scored on both of their next two possessions and tied the game 22-22 at halftime.
The only scoring in the second half came midway through the third quarter as Nick Butler had a one-yard run for an NAU touchdown. The Wildcats came to life late in the game but could not convert on a fourth down with eight seconds left, giving the victory to NAU.
“Obviously another frustrating loss in a game that we could have one,” said WSU head coach Jay Hill. “You have to give NAU credit. They battled back and fought hard and played great defense. I'm really disappointed in the way we handled the last three quarters. We came out great but did not execute at a high enough level throughout the game.”
The Wildcats totaled 408 yards of total offense, compared to 396 for NAU but the 'Cats struggled to pass the ball. Clark finished the day 5-of-20 passing for just 90 yards, a season passing low for Weber State. NAU was 24-of-31 passing for 242 yards.
After totaling 221 yards of total offense in the first quarter, Weber managed just 67 total yards in the second and third quarters combined.
Clark had 122 rushing yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns. Darryl Denby had seven carries for 60 yards and Bo Bolen added 11 carries for 54 yards. Cameron Livingston led the receivers with four catches for 50 yards.
On defense Felix Woods had a career-high 14 tackles with three tackles for loss. Dustin Martin added eight tackles with four tackles for loss and had one forced fumble. The Wildcats totaled 13 tackles for loss.
Weber State drops to 0-5 in Big Sky play and 0-9 overall with three games remaining. The Wildcats now hit the road at North Dakota next Saturday at 11 a.m. Mountain time in Grand Forks, N.D. The final home game of the season will be Nov. 15 against Northern Colorado.
