Sacramento Shuts Off Fann, CSUN : Matador Back Held to Career-Low 34 Yards in 40-20 WFC Loss

There are certain things in sports that are almost embarrassingly predictable:

The Red Sox will fade in the pennant drive.

The Clippers will finish last.

Orel Hershiser will throw a shutout.

And Cal State Northridge will pitch, hand off or pass to Albert Fann on first down.

Matador coaches, jot this down: Opponents are beginning to catch on.

Fann, a first-team All-Western Football Conference choice as a freshman last season, was stuffed--on just about every down--along with the rest of the Matador offense in a 40-20 loss to Cal State Sacramento in a WFC game Saturday night at North Campus Stadium.

Fann had a career-low 34 yards in 15 carries and lost a yard on 3 pass receptions.

“We knew we had to stop Fann to stop their offense,” Hornet linebacker John Kilgariff said. “And that’s what we did.”

Northridge didn’t crack the 100-yard mark in total offense until 6 minutes remained in the game.

Happy homecoming. What the heck ever happened to the good ol’ run-and-shoot CSUN ran 3 years ago?

The Matadors finished with 178 yards, but most of them came on an 82-yard drive late in the game, long after the outcome had been decided.

Sacramento had 543 yards in offense--262 rushing and 281 passing.

The win kept the Hornets’ playoff hopes alive. Sacramento is 7-2 overall, 3-2 in the WFC.

Northridge, which has lost 4 in a row, dropped to 5-5, 1-4 in the WFC.

For the record, Sacramento almost gave CSUN as much yardage in penalties--144 yards on a WFC-record 17 violations--as the Matadors earned for themselves.

Sacramento’s strategy on defense wasn’t all that stylish. Sometime in the few seconds between the time Northridge broke huddle and lined up to run a play, Fann was targeted and marked by about half of the Hornets on the field. They trailed him until the whistle blew.

Still, Northridge continued to try to force-feed him the ball--particularly on first-down pitch plays.

And when the Matadors tried to pass, they didn’t have much luck then, either.

Rob Huffman, CSUN’s starting quarterback, completed 8 of 26 passes for 47 yards. In the second half, he was 1 for 10 for minus-5 yards.

Northridge actually led, 14-13, early in the third period after Bryan Kellen returned a punt 71 yards for a touchdown.

But Sacramento responded loud and clear, scoring 27 unanswered points.

Tony Trosin, Sacramento’s quarterback, had a hand in the Hornets’ next 3 touchdowns. He connected with Tony Young on a 31-yard scoring pass to give Sacramento the lead for good, 19-14, with 4:21 left in the third quarter.

The Hornets stretched that lead on Trosin passes of 4 yards to Matt Kirk and 70 yards to Zebedee Brye.

Don Hair, who led Sacramento with 88 yards rushing, added a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:50 left. Hair outrushed Northridge by 37 yards.

Northridge added a touchdown late on a 29-yard pass from reserve quarterback Sherdrick Bonner to Robert Guillen.

Sacramento’s lead at the half was only 13-7, although the Hornets didn’t allow the CSUN offense to cross midfield.

Northridge scored its touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Huffman to Kellen after Sacramento committed its second of 3 turnovers in the half.

With 57 seconds left, Northridge nose tackle Dennis McConnaughy stripped Sacramento’s Robert Martinson of the ball, then pounced on it at the Hornet 20.

On the next play, Huffman hooked up with Kellen, who made a leaping grab over Sacramento defender James Richards just inside the goal line.