When Going Got Tough, Only CSUN Got Close : CS Northridge Misses Too Many Chances Against No. 6-Ranked Santa Clara, 21-19

You’ve got to figure that sometime in the last few weeks someone gathered the Cal State Northridge offensive players in a dark, musty room and told them of evils lurking in the end zone and to avoid that 10-yard strip of grass as if it were Cleveland.

And, based on CSUN’s performance in its last two games, you’ve got to figure the players believed the horror stories.

Saturday night, in their final home game of the season against powerful Santa Clara, the No. 6 ranked Division II team in the nation, the Matadors had bunches of opportunities to put the Broncos away. But in the end, as they did a week ago against even more powerful UC Davis, CSUN came up short because of an inability to get into the end zone.

The final score was 21-19, giving Santa Clara at least a tie for the Western Football Conference championship with a 4-0 conference record and an 8-1 overall mark. For the Matadors, the close score was nothing more than a moral victory for a team that desperately needed a real victory. They fell to 1-2 in the WFC and 4-5 overall.

Seven times CSUN marched inside the Santa Clara 26, and only twice could they get into the end zone. It came up empty three times and got only field goals out of two other solid touchdown opportunities. They accomplished this in a variety of ways, but none was more dramatic and typical than what should be henceforth known as The Great Retreat.

CSUN trailed 21-10 at the time and was threatening to cut the deficit to 21-17. But the Matadors and the officials then proceeded to turn in The Series, a side-splitting comedy of errors that found the Matadors with a first down at the Santa Clara seven, and then, because the officials dozed off and allowed the first-down marker to be planted three yards closer to the goal line, with another first down at the four.

One minute later, the Matadors found themselves not with a touchdown, not with a field goal, but with a fourth down and 40. By this time, players should have been requesting binoculars to spot the end zone.

A bad punt ended the not-ready-for-prime-time show, and the game was pretty much over with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Among the plays low-lighting the Great Retreat was a CSUN fumble and clipping penalty on the same play, and an apparent 30-yard touchdown pass from Parker to Charles Collins that was called back because of a holding penalty. A CSUN lineman had a Santa Clara linebacker in something resembling a combination of a half nelson and a headlock. This guy did everything to the Bronco defender but remove a foreign object from his trunks and rake it across his eyes.

“We didn’t score some TDs we needed,” said CSUN Coach Tom Keele. “We moved the ball well, but we came up short.”

Santa Clara built a 14-10 halftime lead as the Matadors found themselves only once in that off-limits end zone, but were kept in contention by a strong and stingy defense.

But on the second play of the second half, the Matadors were given the word according to Luke--Larry Luke, a junior fullback from Encino.

He crashed through the CSUN line for a 27-yard gain, and two plays later quarterback Greg Calcagno hit Eric Florence with a 24-yard pass. A 17-yard toss to tight end Brent Jones, a 6-4, 235-pounder who figures to be a high NFL draft choice, gave Santa Clara a first down at the CSUN one, and Mike Lee then crashed into the end zone, boosting the Broncos’ lead to 21-10 just 3:13 into the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter CSUN drove to the Santa Clara 25, but again refused to budge another inch towards the end zone. Mike Doan salvaged three points with a 41-yard field goal, cutting the deficit to 21-13 with 12:25 left in the game.

Once more the Matadors moved deep into Santa Clara territory with a Bronco face mask penalty giving them a first down at the 17. You could almost see the shield being raised at the goal line. But this time the Matadors forgot about all those lurking monsters. They moved to the three yard line and Chris Parker then scrambled out of trouble and hit Chris Moore in the back of the end zone, cutting the deficit to 21-19 with 2:59 left.

But on the two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the score, the terror in the end zone loomed up again and Richard Brown was cut down just shy of the goal line.

Santa Clara then ran the clock down to 41 seconds before being forced to punt, giving CSUN one last chance from the Matador 20, but the game ended on a complete pass at the 30.

The Matadors, with 12 seniors playing in their last game at North Campus Stadium before about 2,500 fans--about half of them rooting for Santa Clara--seemed to be planning a great big going-away party for them as they took the opening kickoff and marched 69 yards. Parker ended the drive by hitting Kenny Garrett, who showed a tremendous lack of fear of the end zone, with a nine-yard touchdown pass just 3:04 into the game for a 7-0 lead.

Parker’s first pass of the game was an 11-yarder to Garrett and the drive was also keyed by a 13-yard pass to Scott Colvin. On the seventh play he hit Garrett with a short swing pass and the junior from Berkeley eluded three defenders and roared into the end zone. It was Parker’s 15th touchdown pass of the season.

But Santa Clara came right back with a 67-yard march behind the passing of Calcagno, who riddled San Francisco State with six touchdown passes last week in a 55-30 rout. He hit Jones with a 22-yard pass early in the drive and ended it with a 23-yard strike to Florence for a touchdown, tying the score at 7-7 with 6:07 remaining in the opening quarter. It was Calcagno’s 15th touchdown pass of the season.

The Broncos’ offense continued to pick CSUN apart on their first possession of the second quarter as Calcagno this time guided his team 80 yards in 11 plays with Santa Clara grabbing a 14-7 lead on a four-yard scoring run by freshman Matt Shaw, who turned San Francisco State inside out last week with 178 yards in 25 carries.

Calcagno highlighted the drive with a 23-yard pass to Mike Monnard and Shaw contributed a 20-yard run on the third play of the drive.

The Matadors, whose offense had taken a brief respite to open the second quarter, was briefly brought back to life by Parker midway through the quarter. He broke loose for a 23-yard gain on the third play of the drive and then completed passes of 13 yards to Nick Uruburu and 15 yards to Collins to the Santa Clara 26.

But the Matadors then gave the first indication of the game that they believed the end zone was a leper colony, as Parker was sacked twice and CSUN had to settle for a 46-yard field goal by Doan, cutting the deficit to 14-10 with 4:26 left in the half.

CSUN got another good scoring opportunity late in the half when Shaw fumbled and Matador lineman Pat Cerruti recovered. Parker then reeled off a 21-yard run to the Santa Clara 37 and moved the Matadors to the 23 with a 14-yard pass to Colvin.

But again the Matadors behaved as though they’d rather spend a few years in San Quentin prison than a few seconds in the end zone. They jumped offside on the next play, which was much better than what happened on the following play as Parker’s errant pass was intercepted by Santa Clara’s Chris Hessler to end the threat.

It was a trend that continued all night.