Harvin, Del’Andrae Help Portland State Over CSUN

Cal State Northridge, winner of four in a row coming from behind, tried to play front-runner Saturday night and was defeated at its own game.

Portland State won its 15th consecutive Western Football Conference game and took a big step toward its third conference championship in a row, defeating CSUN, 33-17, before a crowd of 10,723 at Civic Stadium.

Portland is 5-2 overall, 3-0 in the WFC. CSUN dropped to 4-3, 1-1.

The Vikings, dominated in the first half by a Matador defense playing short-handed, scored 20 unanswered points in the third quarter to wash away a 10-7 Northridge advantage at the half.

Portland’s Burnell Harvin, filling in for injured tailback Curtis Delgardo, rushed for 172 yards and two touchdowns in 31 carries.

It was his fourth consecutive game in excess of 100 yards after taking over as the Vikings’ starter since Delgardo, the WFC’s top offensive player last season, suffered a broken ankle.

Harvin set the tone for the second half when he broke loose on a 36-yard scoring run on Portland’s third offensive play of the third quarter.

Harvin, who rushed for 145 yards in the second half, added a four-yard touchdown exactly four minutes later as the Vikings opened a 20-10 lead.

A 26-yard scoring pass from Darren Del’Andrae to Ted Popson increased the Vikings’ lead to 27-10.

The touchdown capped a five-play, 63-yard drive that took place after the game’s most controversial play: the fumble that wasn’t.

Greg Evers, Portland’s return man for punts, appeared to let the ball slip through his grasp after signaling for a fair catch. Richard Ane was there to pounce on it for the Matadors, but the officials said Evers’ knee was down and that Ane had stripped the ball from him.

It was a decision that angered CSUN.

“It took all our wind out,” CSUN linebacker Daved Benefield said. “The officials determined the outcome of the game.”

The Matadors temporarily pulled back into contention when tailback Albert Fann scored his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard run with 12:42 left. Abo Velasco’s extra point made the score 27-17.

Fann finished with 164 yards in 28 carries, the fourth time he has run for more than 100 yards in a game this season.

But Portland put the game away on a six-yard pass from Del’Andrae to Don Finkbonner with eight minutes left.

Del’Andrae, a former Calabasas High standout, started slowly but finished with 14 completions in 25 attempts for 244 yards and three touchdowns. He threw one interception.

The Matadors, despite being ahead by only three points, held a big statistical advantage at the half.

Take away the Vikings’ only touchdown--a 58-yard pass play from Del’Andrae to Rinaldo Shackleford--and Portland gained all of 22 yards. This against a Matador defense playing without tackles Mike Meehan and Tom Gray, who didn’t make the trip because of injuries.

Northridge, conversely, ran almost twice as many plays as Portland and gained 154 yards. But the Matadors failed to capitalize on a couple of scoring opportunities that would cost them later.

Their first chance came quickly when Portland was forced to punt the ball away on its first possession and Clayton Bamberg returned it 38 yards to the Viking eight.

Three plays later, Northridge settled for a 19-yard field goal. Later, Velasco had a 21-yard attempt blocked.

“We had a couple of chances to score right there, and if we had, (the game) might have gone differently,” CSUN Coach Bob Burt said.

“As it was, they wore us down a little in the second half.”

On the Vikings’ scoring play, Shackleford broke away from CSUN cornerback Willie James and was 15 yards in the clear when he received a ball that Del’Andrae simply floated downfield.

After Shackleford’s touchdown, CSUN regrouped to drive 72 yards in 10 plays, Fann blasting over from the three to score.

Fann, who had 89 yards in 17 first-half carries, toted the ball seven times for 46 yards on the drive.