Pie in Big Sky for Northridge

Cal State Northridge players and coaches ran around like children, whooping and hollering as if they had just won the biggest game in the program’s history.

Oh yeah, they had.

Northridge scored 28 consecutive second-half points and Norman Clarke, who began his college career at Weber State, took his anger out on his former teammates with 171 yards rushing, leading Northridge to a 35-28 upset of the 21st-ranked Wildcats on Saturday before 10,503 fans at Wildcat Stadium.

Northridge (4-2, 1-1 in the Big Sky Conference), doubled last season’s victory total and won in the conference for the first time.

“These guys started to believe three weeks ago when we beat New Mexico State,” Coach Dave Baldwin said, hoarse from celebrating. “At halftime [trailing, 21-7] I said we still believe. These guys are not intimated by anybody on the road.

“We’re here. You can no longer say Northridge isn’t a team.”

The Matadors fell behind by two touchdowns on two turnovers that led directly to points for the Wildcats (3-3, 1-2).

Weber State went with a three-man front to stop Northridge’s passing game, which led Division I-AA, and were still able to shut down the Matadors’ run with stunts and trick defenses.

But the Matadors, who wore “I believe” T-shirts under their uniforms, made a key adjustment on the offensive line--switching from zone to man-to-man blocking.

That keyed Clarke to 111 yards rushing in the second half. He was instrumental in three touchdown drives in excess of 75 yards.

“The O-line, what can you say about them,” Clarke said. “We’ve got big guys up front and they blew holes open. They just stepped it up and did their job. Without the line, the back couldn’t do nothing.”

Said left guard Toma Popescu: “We weren’t picking up their stunts in the first half. They were stunting everyone. In the second half, we said ‘We can pick this up. It’s not that hard. All we got to do is get back to fundamentals.’ ”

Northridge’s comeback began with 5 minutes 43 seconds left in the third quarter when Bennie Herron returned his fourth interception of the season 27 yards for his second touchdown in as many weeks. The score pulled Northridge to within 21-14.

On the Matadors’ next possession, Clarke carried the ball three times for 39 yards and David Romines caught a 28-yard floater from quarterback Aaron Flowers for a touchdown, tying the score.

Flowers completed 20 of 28 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns.

Romines caught six passes--his season-low--for 66 yards.

Cameron Perry caught 10 of Flowers’ passes for 91 yards and little-used Jimmy Greninger caught only one.

But Greninger’s second catch of the season came on Northridge’s first possession of the fourth quarter. He outleaped a Weber State safety to catch the long pass from Flowers, then ran the final 20 yards for a 62-yard touchdown when the defender fell.

“I just remember seeing Aaron’s eyes and seeing him look at me, then I remember catching the ball,” said Greninger, a junior who is not even listed in Northridge’s media guide.

There were a few tense moments after the play because there was a penalty flag on the field in Northridge’s backfield, but when the official signaled holding against Weber State, the Matadors went wild on the sideline.

Northridge added what turned out to be an insurance score on Clarke’s 10-yard run, capping another 80-yard drive with 5:44 to go.

Clarke, who scored two touchdowns, said he was glad to get revenge on the program in which he spent an unhappy redshirt season three years ago.

“[Weber State coaches] said a lot of negative things and I kind of took it to heart,” Clarke said. “When I left there I told the coaches I would be back. . . . This was a long time coming.”

After the Wildcats scored a touchdown to pull within seven points with 3:18 to play, Northridge was able to run down the clock. The key play came when Flowers picked up 12 yards on a third-and-seven keeper with under two minutes remaining.

Weber State got a last shot at the end zone from its 18-yard line, but Roger Cook’s desperation pass fell incomplete and Matadors melted into a giant mass of smiles and hugs.