Coconino News

With Collin Robbins' 40-yard field goal sent through the uprights with just 1:27 left on the clock, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks needed just one last stop to secure yet another Family Weekend victory.

Backed up to their own 39-yard line with 49 seconds still on the clock, Northern Arizona's defense held up against the No. 6 passing offense in the FCS with the Cal Poly Mustangs throwing four consecutive incompletions to close out a 31-29 victory for the Lumberjacks at Findlay Toyota Field.

"I just loved the way our guys hung in there today," said Lumberjacks head coach Chris Ball. "Give them a lot of credit, they are a good offensive team. We knew that coming in here. They do a good job of throwing the ball, obviously Coach Baldwin knows what he is doing. When we had to come up with a play there at the end, we did."

After a fast start, with 27 points scored in the game's first 20 minutes, a pair of touchdowns capped off a 41-point first half before Northern Arizona (2-4, 1-2 Big Sky) and Cal Poly (1-4, 0-2 Big Sky) traded the lead with just 19 second-half points. While Hendrix Johnson broke free for a 73-yard touchdown, the longest play of the season for Northern Arizona's offense, early on in the third quarter, the game went without a score for more than 21 minutes of play.

A 31-yard touchdown reception by Josh Cuevas from Spencer Brasch on a fourth-and-2 set of a dramatic final stretch, as Cal Poly's two-point conversion came up short thanks to a crucial tackle by Morgan Vest at the 1-yard line. Still trailing 28-26, the Mustangs scooped up a Lumberjacks' fumble in their own territory and needed just a field goal to pull back ahead.

A 23-yard run by Adam Garwood put the Mustangs 12 yards away from the end zone, but a short gain on first down and a pair of incompletions by Cal Poly left Jaden Ohlsen to connect on a 27-yard field goal for a 29-28 lead with 4:18 left on the clock.

That set the stage for Robbins, who would need a go-ahead field goal of his own to snap Northern Arizona's three-game losing streak and give the Lumberjacks their first Big Sky Conference victory of the season.

"I kind of knew coming down to the wire it was going to come to that. I knew once they got in field goal range, I knew they were going to make that field goal," Robbins said. "I trusted RJ and I knew the offense would go back down and we were going to get that opportunity."

Aided by a 41-yard pass from RJ Martinez to Jamal Glaspie down the left sideline, Northern Arizona's offense drove to the Cal Poly 23 before stalling as the clock slipped under two minutes remaining. An incompletion sandwiched around a pair of runs resulting in no gain left Robbins to hit from 40 yards out giving the Lumberjacks the 31-29 advantage. Gaining 469 yards of total offense, Northern Arizona set a season-high while also breaking 30 points for the first time this season.

About a third of the yards and nearly half of the points came in the opening 15 minutes, as Martinez threw for 128 yards in the first quarter while connecting with Draycen Hall and Glaspie for touchdowns of 30 and 3 yards respectively.

Hall's score answered a touchdown drive by the Mustangs just five plays into the day, following up a 16-yard catch with the 30-yard score out of the backfield blocked perfectly by Isaiah Gerena and Stacy Chukwumezie on the outside.

While Northern Arizona only needed 2:13 to score on its opening drive, it took up 5:44 of game time on its next opportunity.

Backed up to their own 10 after forcing a punt from the Mustangs, the Lumberjacks proceeded to drive 90 yards in 13 plays with a trio of third-down conversions. While 10 of the 13 plays went for less than six yards, a 27-yard reception by Gerena and a 15-yard personal foul by Cal Poly helped Northern Arizona extend its lead to 14-6. Slipping out to the flats after motioning to the right, Glaspie gathered in Martinez's throw on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line.

"The past few weeks, we have gotten off to a really good start. Whether it was the first or our second drive, we would go down and score," Martinez said. "So for us, it was really more about finishing our drives and coming away with points when we got into the red zone."

Cal Poly trimmed the lead back to 14-13 with a 23-yard pass from Brasch to Chris Coleman early in the second quarter. After the teams combined for just 19 yards on the next three drives, the Mustangs retook the lead with an 8-play, 75-yard drive.

Leaving Northern Arizona just 1:52 remaining before halftime, Cal Poly's defense had the Lumberjacks pinned back at their own 10-yard line following a holding penalty on the resulting kickoff.

Hitting Gerena for 10 yards and Glaspie for 15, Martinez handed off to Hall on first-and-10 from his own 35. Slipping through a pile up in the middle of the line, Hall broke to the left for a 54-yard gain on the ground.

After three plays left the Lumberjacks facing a fourth-and-1 from the Cal Poly 2-yard line, Martinez pushed his way up the middle on consecutive plays to convert the first down and then score with just 18 seconds left in the second quarter.

"Very pleased with the way we played, we did a great job offensively," Ball said. "They moved the ball on us most of the game, so to come up with that stop says a lot about our kids and our culture."

Northern Arizona now heads out on the road for a pair of games before reaching its bye week. Facing the UC Davis Aggies (1-4, 0-2) and the Idaho State Bengals (0-6, 0-3) over the next two weeks, the Lumberjacks return home to face the Montana State Bobcats (5-1, 3-0) on Nov. 5 for Homecoming.

"Anytime you can win, it doesn't matter who you beat," Ball said. "It makes a big difference in your confidence and your program. This was a big, big win. We needed this one to get us back on track."

Original source can be found here.