Good News Doesn’t Travel So Fast for Fullerton : Despite Confusion, Titans Stop Two-Point Try to Beat Northern Illinois, 21-20

When Northern Illinois running back Keith Hurley was forced out of bounds somewhere near the 1-yard line on his two-point conversion attempt with no time left in the game, it began a Cal State Fullerton celebration that, at first, spread very slowly.

It seems that some of the Titans didn’t know right away that they had won Saturday’s game, 21-20.

Chris Wright, the defender who forced Hurley out of bounds, didn’t know for certain that the Titans had won until he saw his teammates celebrating on the sidelines.

“He was very close,” said Wright, who finished with 18 tackles, 11 unassisted. “About a step. I didn’t know for sure.”

Another confused Titan was Eric Franklin. He had gone inside because he felt ill after being hit in the midsection on the drive that ended in his one-yard run to give the Titans a 21-14 lead with 54 seconds remaining. He heard the news from quarterback Ronnie Barber, who shouted play-by-play to him from the doorway.

One bit of play-by-play no one from Fullerton was happy to hear started with one second left when Northern Illinois (3-3-1) scored on a one-yard run by Kent Iwema to cut the Titan lead to 21-20.

The Huskies, who had scored a two-point conversion earlier in the game, shunned the tie and went for the win. The attempt failed when Hurley, who later told teammates he kicked the pylon as he was hit, went out of bounds.

“We were half a yard short in one of the best comebacks I’ve seen in 22 years of coaching,” Northern Illinois Coach Jerry Pettibone said. The Huskies, trailing, 14-3, late in the third quarter, tied the score, 14-14, with 6:01 remaining.

For Fullerton (4-4), the celebration had to be more from relief than jubilation. The Titans shouldn’t have had to cut it so close.

Fullerton squandered many a scoring opportunity. Barber had thrown three interceptions--two in Huskie territory and one in the fourth quarter--and receiver Mark Hill had fumbled the ball away at the Huskie 24-yard line in the third quarter.

But faced with necessity on their final possession, the Titans covered 64 yards in a five-minute drive. Todd White’s 31-yard run on a reverse keyed the drive, which ended with Franklin’s one-yard touchdown run.

Fullerton had fourth and one on the four in that drive, but Titan Coach Gene Murphy said later that although it was discussed, there was no question whether they would go for the first down instead of a field goal.

“Not the way they had been moving the ball on us in the second half,” Murphy said.

What followed proved the decision right.

The Huskies’ 61-yard, 54-second drive was in serious trouble only once--at fourth and eight on the Fullerton 34-yard line with 11 seconds left. Quarterback Marshall Taylor completed an 11-yard pass to Rodney Taylor for the first down, and then passed to Mark Clancy, who caught the ball at the one-yard line before going out of bounds.

Iwema scored on the next play, setting up the unsuccessful two-point attempt. It easily could have turned out differently.

Taylor rolled left and then pitched to Hurley.

Wright said Taylor hesitated before pitching and that Northern Illinois would have scored if he had pitched right away or if he had kept the ball.

“When I look back on it, if I could run that play again, I would have kept it,” Taylor said. “. . . I feel now I should have kept the ball. I just wish I would have.”

It was appropriate that the Fullerton defense, which accounted largely for the win, was on the field for the crucial last play.

The Titans held the Northern Illinois wishbone offense, which entered the game ranked eighth in the nation in rushing with a 289-yard average, to 103 yards in the first half and to three points through nearly three quarters.

Three times, Fullerton denied a touchdown after the Huskies drove to within the 10-yard line.

“The first half our defense played as well as we’ve ever played against a wishbone team since I’ve been here,” Murphy said.

The offense, however, continued to have trouble sustaining drives. Murphy terms it a tendency to “self-destruct.”

In addition to the interceptions thrown by Barber and the lost fumble, the Titans recovered their own fumbles three more times and were assessed 8 penalties for 75 yards, many of them against the offense.

It was the second consecutive week, though, that the Titans have had such difficulties and still won.

“The way we’ve been playing, it doesn’t make any difference how it happens if we have more lights on the scoreboard,” Murphy said. “A win’s a win. For us, that’s important.”

Titan Notes

The weather here--37 degrees and raining during warmups with a wind-chill factor of 26 degrees--was far from the usual for Fullerton, which has played in Hawaii, Florida and Louisiana in addition to California this season. “When I came out and it was raining . . . I expected snow,” said Chris Wright. “I said, ‘Oh, no,’ but the other teammates came out and we went psycho.” Wright finished with 18 tackles and was the key defender on the game-saving play. . . . Fullback Tim Byrnes--who usually splits time with William Robinson, who missed this trip with a knee injury--gained a career-high 59 yards in 11 attempts. His previous best was 23. . . . Kevin Henderson, filling in for Tom Phillips (broken hand) had eight tackles and blocked a punt in the first half at the Northern Illinois 27-yard line, giving the Titans position for their second touchdown less than a minute later.