Matadors Suffer the Ache, 24-17

Quarterback Aaron Flowers sat in his cubicle in the Cal State Northridge locker room with his face buried in a red football jersey in his hands. He conducted his postgame interviews with reporters seeing nothing but the top of his blond buzz cut.

He groaned.

“I just have a headache,” he said through his hands.

It was the perfect symbol of what the Matadors endured in a 24-17 loss to Montana State on Saturday night in a Big Sky Conference game played before a North Campus Stadium crowd of 5,631, the largest in nearly four years.

The fans saw Northridge take a 10-0 first-quarter lead, then struggle offensively and defensively for the rest of the game.

“They just outplayed us,” Flowers said. “They came to play and we didn’t.”

The Matadors (4-3, 1-2 in conference) entered the game with the second best rushing defense in Division I-AA. They held the Bobcats to only 139 yards--123 by Matt Engelking--but what hurt Northridge were a few big pass plays by Montana State (3-3, 2-2).

Seconds after Northridge had tied the score, 17-17, Montana State’s Kenyatte Morgan, a speedy 5-foot-7 receiver, took a short pass from Rob Compson, then darted through several missed tackles, sprinting 80 yards for a touchdown with 9 minutes 51 seconds to play.

“We missed too many tackles,” Northridge Coach Dave Baldwin said of the game in general, and Morgan’s run in particular.

After that score, the Matadors had three more cracks to tie, but mistakes cost them each time.

On one drive, the Matadors’ moved the ball to the 31 before Flowers’ lob into the end zone was intercepted by Dylan Tripp with 2:20 to play.

Northridge got the ball back for one more series in the final two minutes. Jerome Henry dropped a would-be touchdown pass. The drive ended when Flowers threw an incomplete pass just as he was buried by Montana State defenders. Again.

“I think they won the offensive and defensive lines,” Baldwin said. “They hit Aaron Flowers too much.”

Flowers was sacked only twice, but he was constantly on the run.

“I think our O-line handled their D-line,” Northridge left guard Toma Popescu said, “but we missed assignments.”

Flowers completed 19 of 41 passes for 215 yards. Receiver David Romines caught eight passes--giving him a Northridge-record 68 catches this season--for 104 yards. Running back Norman Clarke gained 98 yards in 20 carries.

Northridge scored on its first possession for the fifth time in seven games.

The Matadors took their opening drive 54 yards and settled for a 22-yard field goal by Manny Marquez. On Northridge’s next possession, the Matadors needed only four plays to go 60 yards. Flowers hit Romines with an 18-yard bullet into the corner of the end zone.

Engelking did most of the damage in a 20-play, 98-yard, 9-minute 11-second drive, eventually scoring on a two-yard run. Montana State had settled for an apparent field goal a few plays earlier, but holding was called against Northridge and the Bobcats gambled, taking the points off the board to take the first down.

The Bobcats tied the score, 10-10, with Geoff Groshelle’s 32-yard field goal.

In the third quarter, Engelking scored on a one-yard run to give the Bobcats a 17-10 lead.

In the fourth quarter, the Matadors had a five-play drive, with Flowers darting 21 yards untouched into the end zone.