OCR Text |
Show irds knock off sixth-ranke- d Sacramento 22-1- 9 BY JAY HINTON Thunderbud Sports Editor After trailing 13-- 0 at halftime, the SUU gridders scored 22 second-hal- f It had to be the biggest road win weve ever had in the WFC, said Bishop. points to outlast previously unbeaten and nationally ranked Sacramento State Saturday. I cannot believe how well the kids played and how well they came through. The game featured two high powered running backs in Thunderbird Zed There was a lot of adversity in the football game. We fumbled one away that we Robinson and Sac States Troy Mills, but the pair was overshadowed by stellar should have had; we missed a field goal chance in the first half; we gave them a defensive efforts as the axiom that defense wins championships seemed to hold touchdown with eight seconds to go in the half. It seemed like the calls werent true on a cool, breezy and wet night in Sacramento. going our way, but the kids seemed to get it going and made it happen. At no time during the game did that Two Jim Crouch field goals put Sac State up and with eight seconds point ring so true as when, with 5:02 remaining in the game, the Hornets remaining before intermisssion, Mills mounted a drive which took them to the raced 84 yards to put the Hornets ahead 13-SUU 29 only to be met by a clutch After the teams emerged from the defensive stand. locker room, the Thunderbird barrage The first crucial play came when Bird began. linebacker Clint Christiansen stopped With 6:10 remaining in the third Dan Bashman for no gain and the quarter, Ryan Moynier hauled in a clincher game when, with Sac State TD catch from Armendariz. Tim looking at a Jason Haslam nailed the PAT to reduce n Nicolodemos nailed Mills short of the deficit to 13-to end the threat. yardage On the ensuing SUU possession, You want to have your defense put d Robinson scored on a run to you in a position to win, said SUU put the Birds in front for the first time Head Coach Jack Bishop after the in the game, with 10:30 to go. victory, and that unit, he said, believed After Sac State took a 4 lead with in themselves and got the job done. 9:18 to go, the heroics of Christiansen After the two key defensive plays, and Nicolodemos stifled what would have Southern Utah marched 71 yards in ine been the clinching drive for the Hornets, plays to put up the winning score with setting the stage for the winning just 1:44 to go as James Armendariz Thunderbird drive. connected with fullback Scott Firestone Offensively, Armendariz went 11 for 19 for the eight-yar- d score. for 159 yards through the air. Robinson, Robinson leaped two yards for the as is the norm, led the ground attack 9 conversion for a lead. The with 204 yards. He was only slightly defense then rebuffed a furious Hornet overshadowed by Mills, who racked up comeback try to seal the win. 239 yards, but Robinson needs but just SUU now moves to 3 on the year 92 yards in the two remaining conference and 1 in Western Football Conference games to eclipse the WFC single-seaso- n action. The Birds will battle Cal State rushing mark. Northridge in another WFC road contest Bishop, riding the crest of what might Saturday and continue to hope the well be among the greatest wins of his league-leadin- g Portland Vikings, who career, said The kids believed all week beat the Birds in the conference opener that they could wear them down and Oct. 5, will falter and give SUU a beat them in the fourth quarter. We went chance for a piece of the crown. The 0 Thunderbird quarterback James Armendariz passed for 159 yards Saturday in the 22-1right to the things that failed us against Vikes host the d Hornets Saturday. SUU win over previously unbeaten and Sacramento Slate. Portland and they worked. 6-- 0. fourth-and-tw- first-dow- five-yar- 14-1- 19-1- two-poi- 22-1- 5-- 2-- 2-- 9 sixth-ranke- Armendariz says honors National Division II offensive player of the week. Western Football Conference Player of the week. The number two rated quarterback in the country. All of those things dont mean a thing to SUU quarterback James Armendariz. At least not yet. Right now, all Armendariz wants to do is win. For his performance against San Francisco State Sept. 28, a game in which Armendariz completed 15 of 19 passes for 313 yards and four touchdowns, Armendariz was awarded both the conferences and NCAA Division IIs offensive player of the week awards. Honors and numbers such as these might go to a lot of players heads, but not Armendarizs. He just wants to win the next game. All this stuff will be great to look back on when Im done, but right now I have other goals, he said. We want to win every game, one at a time, as they come along, we want to win the conference and get into the playoffs. Realistically, this is my last year playing football, so Im not spending a lot of time dont mean much; only wins enjoying these (rankings and honors), but later on, Ill be able to look back and have a smile on my face. Armendariz has had a quietly solid year. He has completed 84 of 146 passes, thrown for 14 touchdowns and run for another. He has been intercepted just three times. He is also among the national leaders in total offense. Coming into the year there was some doubt as to whether he would even be the Bird starter. Last spring Southern Utah signed Bret Barben out of Snow College to quarterback the Birds. Barben had a solid career as a two-yestarter for the Badgers, and the speculation was that he would leapfrog past Armendariz into the SUU starting spot. That was just the extra motivation Armendariz needed. Seeing himself as the heir apparent to graduated SUU signal caller Brad Mathews, he had already begun working out on weights and watching films, preparing for the 1991 season. Word of Barben forced Armendariz ask himself some serious questions, however. I understood Bret was from a passing school and was a good quarterback, so I asked myself how much do you want to be the starting quarterback? said Armendariz. It really worked out best for me; I already had a good work ethic, but having a guy like Bret pressing me made me work that much harder. If it had been anyone else, I dont think I would have worked as hard. I thank him for coming here. The offensive line does a great job, giving me the time I need. Coach (Kit) Janes and Lew (Jeff Lewis) do a great time with their techniques and gameplan, said Armendariz. Also, this is the best receiving corps I ve ever worked with. Bob Stookey, Ryan Moynier and Dan Silcox are all great athletes. They all work very hard and any one of them can break it at any time. It makes me a lot more confident to know I have receivers like that catching the ball. After graduating with a degree in business administration this spring, Armendariz hopes to get a job with a major corporation, but someday, he wants to go into business with hik dad, owning a sports bar and grill. Until that time, however, hes happy just to wait for the nextjmmediate challenge to come along. " |