Northridge Averts Bid for Upset by CLU, 34-33

Say what you want about Bob Shoup--many people already have--but the man is a master of the psych job.

Every season, it seems, Shoup heaps such a feast of praise upon Cal State Northridge that one might wonder if the Matadors aren’t Pro Bowl players in disguise.

Northridge is always just too big, too fast, and too darn mean for little old Cal Lutheran to fairly compete against, the cagey coach says.

And do the players believe him?

Well, his own don’t. But Northridge’s seem to swallow the story in one big, gullible mouthful.

True to form, Northridge defeated Cal Lutheran on Saturday night before a crowd of 2,822 in a nonconference game at North Campus Stadium.

And, true to form, the Matadors struggled to do it, 34-33, on a four-yard run by Albert Fann with 1:43 left.

Northridge has won seven in a row against Cal Lutheran--five times by four points or less.

“Obviously, we were very emotionally ready,” said Shoup, CLU’s coach of 28 years. “That’s about as good as we can play.”

That seemed to be of some consolation to Bob Burt, CSUN’s coach, who passed out a little praise of his own after the game.

“Give all the credit to Cal Lutheran,” he said. “They played out of their minds. That’s their Super Bowl. I’ve seen film of them and if they played like that in their first four games, they’d be 4-0.”

Instead, the Kingsmen are 1-4.

For Northridge (4-2), it was win No. 4 in a row and set up a showdown with Portland State, the two-time defending Western Football Conference champion, next week in the Great Northwest.

The Matadors have come from behind in all four victories.

“It’s good to know we can,” Fann said of CSUN’s last-minute tendencies. “But I hate doing it that way. It seems like we have to be down before we play hard, and that’s bull.”

A 30-yard interception return by Mike Sylvester with 5:35 left and Greg Maw’s extra-point gave Cal Lutheran a 33-28 advantage.

Northridge then marched 81 yards in 11 plays for the game-winning points.

Cal Lutheran’s final chance at an upset ended on the ensuing possession when Craig Ashley fumbled at the Kingsmen’s own 22 and Daved Benefield recovered for the Matadors.

It was a very unappropriate finale for Ashley, a freshman who almost tripled his season rushing output in 11 carries.

Ashley gained 151 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 66, 20 and 41 yards.

Ashley’s 41-yard sprint helped bring Cal Lutheran back from a 28-18 deficit early in the fourth quarter. Less than four minutes later, Slyvester’s interception put the Kingsmen in the lead.

Sherdrick Bonner, CSUN’s junior quarterback, threw two interceptions in what was perhaps his worst game of the season. He completed 10 of 23 passes for 147 yards.

The game started ominously for Cal Lutheran.

Clayton Bamberg returned the Kingsmen’s first punt 45 yards for a touchdown--a play Shoup later referred to as “a Christian act of charity.”

It was Bamberg’s first punt return of the season.

Expect to see more of him. In the third quarter, Bamberg took another punt back 59 yards for a touchdown, but it was called back because of a clipping penalty.

Northridge’s defense, rated second in the Western Football Conference, allowed 201 yards in the first half. Ashley accounted for a 105 yards in only five carries.

Fann ended up with 99 yards and two touchdowns. The Matadors had 301 yards to CLU’s 295.

The Northridge defense, a sieve in the first half, did not allow the Kingsmen a first down until Dan Nagelmann--CLU’s third quarterback--hit Tony Leogrande with a 39-yard pass with 9:47 to play.

On the next play, Ashley broke loose on his 41-yard scoring run.