Oct. 7, 2006
Final Stats
Greeley, CO --- Idaho State University cruised to a 27-0 halftime lead on the way to a 41-13 win over Northern Colorado, picking up their first Big Sky win and ruining the first-ever home Big Sky Conference game for Northern Colorado.
The game, never as close as the final score, was over basically at halftime, as the Bengals held UNC to just 33 yards until a final late drive in the half, and under 100 for the opening half overall.
Idaho State opened the game up in the second quarter with two long drives. On the first, the Bengals went 74 yards in 15 plays, helped by Turill Engelman, who converted a fake punt for a key first down in ISU territory. Josh Barnett capped the drive with a 5-yard scoring dash to make it 20-0. After a failed fourth down rushing attempt deep in ISU's end, the Bengals went 83 yards in six plays, helped by a season-long58-yard Barnett run, and capped by a perfect fade pattern to Akilah Lacey in the back corner of the end zone with 40 seconds left.
Lacey caught the opening score of the game on a 16-yard bullet from Matt Gutierrez, who didn't have to do all that much in the opening half, going 7-for-9 for 52 yards. The other touchdown came when D.J. Clark picked off his second pass of the season (and ISU's second of the season as well) and scored down the sideline from 31 yards out, getting hit at the goal line and flipping into the end zone for his first career score.
Idaho State's bid for their first road shutout since 1971 ended when Zac Carlson got behind everyone and hauled in a 78-yard scoring pass from Brian Weideman on the first play after Matt Gutierrez threw an interception, ISU's only turnover of the game. Idaho State responded however with a 37-yard hook-up from Gutierrez to Akilah Lacey, one of his three touchdowns on the day.
The teams traded scores in the fourth quarter, with Ken Cornist rushing four straight times to cap a four-play 36 yard drive with ISU's 6th touchdown of the day. The Bengals got a huge rushing day overall, netting 269 yards on 42 carries, including a 173-yard effort from Barnett and 76 from Cornist. Bryce Metcalf was the only newcomer to the starting line, taking over for Shawn Oram, but he meshed well with regulars George Yarno, Sam Downs, Clifton Buckway, and Evan Dietrich-Smith.
Gutierrez was 18-for-24 for 159 yards and three touchdowns, and he threw a pair of second half interceptions, which both led to UNC touchdowns. Punter Dan Zeidman set the tone early, averaging 50 yards on two first quarter punts, pinning UNC both times inside the 10-yard line.
The Bengals next travel to Portland State for a second straight road game. The Vikings were shutout 14-0 by Montana State in Bozeman on Saturday. The game will be broadcast nationwide on Sirius Satellite Radio as the I-AA game of the week.
NOTES: The game-time temperature in Greeley was an unseasonably warm 78 degrees ... the interception for D.J. Clark was his fifth career pick, coming in his 17th career game, and it was the first interception return for a touchdown since November 13, 2004 when David Beverly ran one back 70 yards against Northern Arizona ... Akilah Lacey's second touchdown catch of the game gave him 20 receptions, making him the fourth Bengal to have four 20-catch seasons, joining Sale' Key, Jeff Davenport, and Shedrack Okoebor, who were all teammates of Lacey at one time ... Josh Barnett went over the 1,900-yard mark for his career ... Anthony Henderson picked off a pass with 1:11 left in the game.
