Big Sky Drives Home Scholarship Point in Thumping Northridge, 52-0

You’d think Big Sky Conference officials might have winced when they saw that Cal State Northridge, which has applied to join the conference, lost to Big Sky member Idaho State, 52-0, last Saturday?

Well, they didn’t.

“To tell you the truth, it reinforced what we told them about the 60 scholarships,” Commissioner Doug Fullerton said, referring to a requirement that Northridge provide its football team with close to the Division I-AA maximum of 63 scholarships, as do other conferences schools.

“It really makes a difference. That’s why they absolutely have to commit to some scholarship level that is near 63 to be accepted, because we know what can happen.”

On the offensive: At 5 feet 7 inches, Erin Balderama lacks the height of an ideal attacker, but that didn’t prevent Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball Coach Lian Lu from using her in that role Saturday in the final two matches of the Idaho tournament.

A defensive specialist during her first two seasons at Northridge, Balderama typically played on the back row and was replaced when she rotated to the front.

The pattern held in the first 11 matches this season, but with freshman-dominated Northridge hitting an anemic .104, Lu let her play on the front row against Oral Roberts and Idaho.

The Matadors were swept in both matches, but Balderama’s performance was encouraging. She had a team-high 11 kills against Oral Roberts and added six--third on the team--versus Idaho.

Push comes to shove: Saugus High tackle Erien Hodge, through no fault of his own, was suspended for last Friday’s game against Palmdale. He was ejected during a 44-0 loss the previous week to Los Alamitos, Coach Jack Bowman said, because officials ruled that Hodge was fighting with Griffin Chris Bagley. Hodge and Bagley were not fighting; their face masks were locked together.

“They were just pushing each other away to get loose,” Bowman said. “There’s nothing we can do. We can’t appeal it.”

Quotebook

“We could have scored 80, but I don’t like to embarrass people.”

--Brian McNeely, Idaho State football coach, after his team defeated Cal State Northridge, 52-0, scoring its final touchdown with six seconds to play.

Statistics

If comparative scores mean anything, here is some disturbing news for Northridge football fans:

Two weeks ago, the Matadors defeated tiny Menlo College, a Division III team, 45-2.

Last week, Occidental, another Division III team, bounced Menlo, 53-16.

Compiled by Mike Hiserman. Contributing: Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, John Ortega.