OCR Text |
Show --- ------------------------,. , . .,=-- -,---=-PAGE 22 • THE THUNDERBIRD· SOlITHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY· TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1992 ·, MB•Bi~i Gridders top 'Jacks; lose to Wildcats ~~ Thunderbird gridders went 1.1 in early-season play prior to Saturday's contest hosting the Bron~h'os df ' Centtal Oklahoma. In their opener at Northern Arizona Sept. 5, the 'Birds topped the lumberjacks of the Big Sky Conference 20.17, then followed with a Sept. 12 loss to another Big Sky foe, Weber State, 34-28. In the NAU win, Mike Key returned a punt 69 yards with 3:54 remaining in the game to vault the T-Birds from a 17-13 deficit into the lead, then Darren De0racie' s second interception of the evening, with 2: 15 to play, sealed the victory for the TBirds. In a surprisingly defensively oriented battle, neither team surpassed 235 yards total offense, as the T-Birds generated just 218 yards of offense to 233 for the Lumberjacks. SUU Limited NAU QB John Bonds to 148 yards passing and running back Gerald Robinson to just 59 yards rushing. On the other hand, NAU Limited SUU QB Rick Robins to 63 yards passing and tailback Zed Robinson to 92 yards rushing. The offensive units accounted for just two of the game's five touchdowns, as each could mount just one score, a 3yard Zed Robinson run for SU and a 20-yard pass from Bonds to Alex Calderwood for the 'Jacks. SUU's remaining two touchdowns came on Key's punt return and a 35-yard fumble return by cornerback Lawrence Gilbert. NAU's other scores came on a 90-yard kickoff return by Len Raney and a 20yard Terry Belden field goal. SUU led for just 4: 11 in the game, the final 3:54 and the 17 seconds it cook Raney to return the kickoff, as his return came hot on the heels of Robinson's touchdown run, which had given the TBirds a 13-7 advantage. "This was a big win for us," Thunderbird Coach Jack Bishop said. . . "Anytime you qeat a Big Sky team you l ·• I,.__I have to r:eei good, but to win on their home field makes it even more satisfying. We struggled some on offense, but the offense didn't make any big mistakes either. We said going into the game that we had to play hard enough to have a chance to win it in the fourth quarter and we did just that." At Ogden last week in a game of contrasting halves, the T-Birds fell behind 28-6 at halftime before outscoring the Wildcats 18-7 and limiting them to 108 yards of offense aher the break. Weber drew first blood on a 73·yard Joel Williams punt return, then added scores on a Jamie Martin to T rcvor Shaw pass aml a 47-yard Tim O tton fu mble return before Robinson ran I ya rd for SUU's first score. The WilJcats aJ ded another score on a Yon Robinson run and scored first in the second half on a Martin to Shaw pass. The T-BirJs scored the final 18 points of the game on two more Robinson TD runs (3. and 5-yards) and on a 22-yard Robins to Key toud1down pass. SUU failed to convert an extra point in the game, but limited Martin to 246 yards passing, just one yard more than he totalled against Division I New Mexico State the previous week. Weber had just 80 yards passing and 28 yards rushing after balfiime as the SUU defense continued to impress. Punter Matt Gordon had another good game, kicking nine times for 421 yards, an average of 46.8 yards per punt. "Overall, I saw some good things, but we can't expect to beat Weber State if we're going to play just one half of good football," Bishop said. "I thought our effort in the second half was great, but we made way too many mistakes in the first half. I don't mean to minimize the talent of Weber's team, but we beat ourselves tonight. I don't know if I've ever seen as many mistakes on first down as I have in our last rwo games .. " \ . Darren DeGracie ... WFC defensitie player of the week for Sept. 5 Jared Hunsaker... WFC defensi t>e player of the week Jor Sept. 12 |