Baldwin Turns Focus to Northern Arizona

Still glowing from Cal State Northridge’s 33-0 victory over New Mexico State and soaked from the obligatory ice-water dumping, football Coach Dave Baldwin sat in the postgame press conference Saturday night and talked about a milestone for his program.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It’s an indication we’ve come a long way.”

Now that a few days have passed, and Baldwin has turned his attention to the Big Sky Conference opener Saturday against 13th-ranked Northern Arizona, the significance seems to have faded.

“I don’t think there is any indication that this program has changed yet,” Baldwin said Tuesday. “The Big Sky Conference is better than any team we have faced so far. People ask if this is the biggest win and I say, ‘If we beat Northern Arizona [avenging last year’s 68-7 loss], that would be the biggest win in school history.’

“We only won two last year and we’ve only won two this year. As far as I’m concerned, we are at the same place.”

Baldwin may be slightly undervaluing the New Mexico State game to get his players to focus on this week, but it should be noted that several factors out of Northridge’s control contributed to the victory.

Besides New Mexico State (0-4) having one of the worst Division I-A offenses, it was made even weaker by the absence of leading rusher Denvis Manns, sidelined by a sprained ankle.

Also, Northridge (2-1) caught the Aggies on the schedule between arch-rival Texas El Paso and top-20 Louisiana State.

“If you wanted a scenario to play a Division I-A team and get a victory, that was it,” Baldwin said.

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James Romero, Northridge’s starting right tackle, sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee and will miss this week’s game. He will be reexamined next week.

The news was good for Baldwin, who thought Romero would be out for about a month after the junior was injured in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game.

“If we can get him back in three weeks I’d feel real good,” Baldwin said. “He’s played real well, very consistent. He’s gotten better and better each week.”

Backup linebacker Loren Bedwell, who also suffered a knee injury in the game, will be out one to two weeks.

Safety Steve Standifer is expected to play this week. He hasn’t played since pulling a hamstring against UC Davis on Sept. 14.

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Somewhat lost among the exploits of the Matadors’ passing game has been a solid start by senior running back Chad Marsalek.

Marsalek gained 665 yards last season, but showed no breakaway speed.

In the off-season, Northridge recruited Norman Clarke, a much-faster runner who gained 1,184 yards at San Bernardino Valley College last season.

But Marsalek has fought off Clarke as well as he has tacklers. He has started all three games and run for 273 yards, including two 100-yard games.

“He doesn’t possess great speed, he just makes people miss,” Baldwin said of Marsalek, whom he coached at Santa Barbara City College in 1993.

“He stepped up because he saw the other kids coming in were better. That’s the kind of kid he is.”

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Although Northridge quarterback Aaron Flowers had another strong performance (24 of 42 for 309 yards and four touchdowns), Northern Arizona running back Archie Amerson again stole the Big Sky Conference offensive player of the week honors. Amerson ran for 289 yards against Portland State, taking the award for the second consecutive week. . . . Flowers is fifth in Division I-AA in total offense, averaging 292.3 yards a game. . . . Northridge went from 191 to 151 in Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings, eighth in the nine-team Big Sky Conference.