Northridge Gamble Backfires in 28-9 Loss

Richard Ane felt the ball tickle and tease his fingertips but could only watch helplessly as it dropped to the ground.

“My heart dropped with it,” the Cal State Northridge tight end said of the third-quarter play. And so too did the Matadors’ hopes for an unlikely victory.

If a single play could illustrate what Northridge experienced in a 28-9 loss to Cal State Long Beach Saturday at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach before 3,102, it was Ane’s heartbreaking miss.

Northridge trailed at halftime, 7-3, but had advanced the second-half kickoff from its 20-yard line to the 49ers’ 15 in 19 plays. Facing fourth and three the Matadors, disdaining a relatively easy field-goal attempt to pull within a point, went for the first down.

Sherdrick Bonner, starting at quarterback for just the fourth time in his life, dropped back, saw Ane momentarily break free in the secondary and lofted the ball toward him.

Ane got a hand up to tip it, but before he could pull in the rebound, Marc Tourville, Long Beach’s free safety, dislodged it permanently.

“I touched it,” said Ane, a 6-3, 218-pound senior. “I should have had it.” Similar comments were echoed by his teammates.

Only they were referring to the entire game, one the Matadors felt was well within their grasp.

“We beat ourselves,” said Albert Fann, CSUN’s tailback who gained 110 yards in 24 carries. “We played pretty well, but we made crucial mistakes when we had chances to capitalize.”

Ultimately it was Long Beach, led by the passing combination of quarterback Paul Oates and split end Derek Washington, that lit up the scoreboard when it needed the points most--during the final quarter.

Oates, a senior who spent time as a minor-league pitcher before signing with Long Beach, completed 19 of 27 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown with one interception. Seven of those completions settled into the hands of Washington, a fleet 6-3 senior who accounted for 164 yards.

“If we’re going to play a better receiver than ‘17’, then I’m sure I don’t want to see it,” CSUN Coach Bob Burt said, referring to Washington.

Oates, a former Alemany High standout, connected four times with Washington on gains of 24 yards or more. “Northridge’s guys shouldn’t feel too bad,” Oates said afterward. “Our defense can’t cover him, either. And they see him in practice every day.”

In contrast with Long Beach’s big plays, Northridge chipped away. CSUN’s only play of more than 25 yards was a 34-yard touchdown pass from Bonner to Joe Rice with 36 seconds remaining.

The Matadors gained 350 yards and averaged just short of five yards a play, but most of it came between the 20-yard lines.

“I give credit to their defense for that,” Burt said. “But I also think we self-destructed a couple of times. We had a couple of drives when we should have gone in the end zone and we got stopped by dumb penalties.”

Indeed, Northridge was flagged nine times for 89 yards--most often on offside and holding calls.

But Burt couldn’t find much to complain about. CSUN, which plays in the NCAA Division II, led the Division I 49ers in rushing yardage, 218-111. Also, Bonner was never sacked.

“I didn’t think our offensive line could play that well,” said Bonner, who completed 14 of 28 passes for 132 yards in his first collegiate start. “There were only seven of them and they went the whole game, 73 plays, and did great.”

Only once in the first half did Northridge fail to drive into Long Beach territory.

The first time the Matadors had the ball they moved from their 23 to the 49er 26 but came away empty when freshman Marty Fisher couldn’t handle a low snap from center on what was to be a 43-yard field-goal attempt by Abo Velasco.

Shortly thereafter, Northridge was again knocking at the door. David Benefield intercepted an Oates pass to give the Matadors possession at midfield. Eight plays later, Velasco booted a 48-yard field goal, the longest of his career.

Long Beach countered with an 11-yard scoring run by fullback Herman Nash midway through the second period but failed to score again until the final quarter, even though it never relinquished the lead.

Northridge’s best chance to regain the lead came on the possession that ended with Ane’s near-miss. Even so, it marked an entertaining segment of the game.

Four times during the drive the Matadors converted third-down-and-long situations. In addition, Northridge elected to gamble on fourth and one from its 19 and fullback Jeff Obert responded with a six-yard run.

“We had to give our kids every opportunity to put a touchdown on the board and I did a couple of things that you’re not going to see me do later on in the year,” Burt said. “We had everything to gain and nothing to lose.

“It got a little out of hand the last nine minutes, but up to that point, it was a good football game.”

Long Beach’s final three scores came within a 14-minute span. Oates hit Sean Foster with a 22-yard scoring toss on the first play of the fourth quarter. The 49ers added to their margin on a one-yard plunge by Jim Bittner, a former Camarillo High and Moorpark College standout, and a two-yard run by Jeff Fassett.