Kane Takes St. Mary’s by Storm in 48-24 Win

It was just a few paltry decades ago that matching St. Mary’s against a team like Cal State Northridge would have been like matching Smokey the Bear and his lawn hose against a raging brush fire.

The Gaels--the Galloping Gaels in those days--were the Notre Dame of the West. They had players with nicknames like Squirmin’ Herman, Icehouse, the Dark Angel of Moraga, and the Hawaiian Hurricane.

Saturday night at North Campus Stadium, the Gaels, who do more turkey trotting than galloping nowadays, ran into into a full-force Northridge Hurrikane. Mike Kane.

The result was a 48-24 victory for Northridge, which for the first time has won six of its first seven games.

And what better time to do it than at homecoming, where a capacity crowd of 6,144 could watch. Some of those in attendance, understandably, must have been shocked.

Northridge, 6-1? Northridge, ranked No. 12 in the Division II? Northridge, playing before a full house?

And they were entertained too. Along with the 72 points there were 903 yards in total offense and, for the hockey fans, even a couple of fights.

But the main attraction was Kane, who rushed for 212 yards on 27 carries and set two records.

Kane’s rushing total was the second best in school history. The record is held by Tom Bonnell, who ran for 252 yards against something called Oregon Tech back in 1972. Let’s say Kane holds the modern-day record.

He also broke his season rushing record. He now has 914 yards this season with four games left. He rushed for 851 yards as a freshman.

Why, he even had the presence of mind to break off a 13-yard touchdown run a couple of seconds after the public address announcer told the crowd that senior needed only one yard to reach 200 for the game.

The touchdown, which came with 7:11 left in the game, enabled him to set a single-season scoring record, too. He has 72 points this season, one better than the record he set last season.

It was also the touchdown that gave the Matadors their final margin of victory and killed any hope of a comeback by the Gaels.

After dominating the first half only to lead by only 13, a poor performance by the Northridge secondary enabled St. Mary’s to stay close for much of the second half.

St. Mary’s freshman quarterback Tim Rosenkranz accounted for more yardage on two touchdown passes than Northridge had been giving up in an average game.

Rosenkranz hit Warren Parker with a 48-yard touchdown with no time remaining in the first half. Then, late in the third quarter, he wound up and hit Lane Hawkins with an 80-yard scoring pass right after Northridge had taken 15 plays to cover the same distance in taking a 34-17 lead.

Northridge had been allowing only 121.7 yards passing a game. St. Mary’s passed for 320 yards.

But while the Matador defense struggled, the offense thrived, racking up 498 yards and scoring 48 points for the first time since 1983.

Quarterback Chris Parker celebrated his return as a starter by throwing for 124 yards and two touchdowns and running for another in two quarters of play.

The Matadors held a 27-14 advantage at the half, but the game had been a little more lopsided than the score.

It was 17-0 Northridge less than 13 minutes into the game and St. Mary’s scored on a 48-yard Hail-St. Mary pass from Rosenkranz to Parker with no time left in the half to pull within two touchdowns. Rosenkranz completed 16 of 33 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted three times.

The Matadors had 133 yards rushing--including 109 by Kane--in the first half, and Parker and Danny Fernandez passed for 104 yards. St. Mary’s, which had won two of its past three games, had 188 yards, but only 28 on the ground.

Northridge scored on its second possession, driving 80 yards on seven plays with Mike Kane going over from two yards out for the touchdown.

Kane also did most of the damage the next time Northridge scored, which also happened to be the next time they had the ball. Subbing in as a punt returner, Kane took the ball at the Northridge 44, broke left into clear running room and went all the way to the Gaels’ 8, dragging punter Doug Beuerlein with him for the last seven yards.

Two plays later, Parker hit tight end Brian Bowers with a 10-yard touchdown pass.

Care for a triple feature? That’s right, the next time the Matadors had the ball they scored again as Kane--who else?--took off on a 37-yard run that set up a 22-yard field goal by Mike Doan and made the score 17-0.

Doan’s kick was set up by an interception by Dan Coleman at the St. Mary’s 41-yard line. It was Coleman’s fifth interception of the season, but give an assist to Kip Dukes. It was Dukes who flattened Parker, the intended receiver, as the ball touched his finger tips. Coleman picked the ball off as it popped in the air.