The Big West : CS Fullerton Starts Out Quickly, Loses, 26-17

It felt good, Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said, but he didn’t trust it. Something in him knew better--knew how long a game is, knew how things can turn.

When their football season was two minutes old Saturday night, the Titans had a three-point lead.

With four minutes gone, the lead was 10.

For the first 18 minutes, Fullerton’s quarterback, Dan Speltz, didn’t throw an incomplete pass, finding his man on his first nine.

But--and you knew there would be a but--it didn’t last. Not for Fullerton. Not in a season-opener.

The Titans had lost four of those in a row before Saturday, and added a 26-17 loss to Northern Illinois before 8,235 in Huskie Stadium.

They started so surely, with Terry Tramble batting away a pitch out by Northern Illinois quarterback Stacey Robinson, then recovering it at the Huskie 11-yard line to set up a 21-yard field goal by Phil Nevin, the first by the freshman who turned down the Dodgers’ baseball offer to play at Fullerton.

Two minutes later, after getting the ball on the Huskie 32-yard line after a punt, Fullerton found the end zone on six plays and five complete passes by Speltz, including a five-yarder to Rocky Palamara for the touchdown.

The Titan offense had a night of prosperity and poverty. Prosperity in the passing game of short, quick routes. Speltz, who passed for 304 yards and two touchdowns, set school records for attempts (50) and completions (37).

But the ground game “was nonexistent,” Murphy said.

Fullerton was held to a net of five yards on the ground. Thirty-five gained. Thirty lost. Mike Pringle, the Titans’ leading rusher last season, had 14 yards on 10 attempts.

And as the game wore on, Fullerton found ways to foil itself. The Titans commited five turnovers, including an interception in the end zone with 49 seconds left that finally ended the Titans’ hopes.

“I think we moved the ball real well,” Speltz said. “But if you turn the ball over that many times, I think it will be difficult to win. At the beginning, we cashed in. But as the game went on, we stopped ourselves. It’s disappointing when you know you’re not being stopped by your opponent.”

Another interception, one of three Speltz threw, ended in a touchdown. Northern Illinois’ Ted Hennings easily picked off a pass at the Fullerton 15 and ran into the end zone to give the Huskies a 20-10 lead in the second quarter. The PAT was blocked.

The Huskies had scored two touchdowns on runs by quarterback Stacey Robinson.

Fullerton cut the lead to three in the third quarter on J.J. Celestine’s 27-yard reception from Speltz, but couldn’t score again.

Northern Illinois’ John Ivanic added field goals of 32 and 36 yards in the fourth quarter, the first set up by a 49-yard run by Brett Schroeder, and the second after Kevin Cassidy recovered Palamara’s fumble at the Fullerton 29.