Quick Start Has Been Part of Script

Among the most remarkable and unexplainable aspects of Cal State Northridge this football season has been the Matadors’ quick starts.

In eight games, Northridge has scored six times--including five touchdowns--on its first possession. And the Matadors have made it look simple most of time, methodically driving down the field so easily that you wonder why they can’t score every time they have the ball.

Inevitably they come back to earth for the rest of the game, reverting to being merely good, instead of unstoppable.

Coach Dave Baldwin doesn’t claim credit for any rousing pregame pep talks, either. The only possible explanation Baldwin offers is that Northridge scripts its first 10 plays before the game.

Which gave Bob Bostad, the offensive line coach, an idea:

“We ought to script the first 70,” he said.

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Running back Chad Marsalek carried the ball just once for two yards in a 52-17 victory over Sacramento State last Saturday night. Marsalek, a starter until a broken right foot forced him to miss three games, was in pain even after being cleared to play last week. Baldwin used him sparingly.

Trainers have told Marsalek that he will have to deal with a certain amount of pain for the rest of the season even though there is no risk of risk of re-injuring the foot.

Marsalek’s playing time against Montana on Saturday will be determined by how he looks in practice this week. Baldwin expects him to split the carries with Norman Clarke, who has gained 387 yards in the last three games.

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Junior linebacker Mike McCord injured his elbow in the first quarter against Sacramento State. Baldwin doesn’t expect him to play this week.

McCord has been one of the team’s surprises. The Crespi High graduate played at Pierce College, then went to Utah last summer as a walk-on. He left during preseason workouts and showed up at Northridge, where his playing time steadily increased.

Cornerback Steve Forte will have his status determined this week. Forte, out most of the season because of a broken right leg, might be cleared to play. If he’s not, Baldwin said Northridge will probably apply for a medical redshirt for Forte, a sophomore.

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David Romines probably will finish his collection of Northridge season and career receiving records this week.

He needs one touchdown to tie the season mark of 11 set by Dick Billingsley in 1967 and equaled by Rick Corbonneau in ‘82, and the career record of 18 set by Billingsley (1966 and 1967). He needs three catches to tie the record of 131 receptions set by Duc Ngo from 1992 to 1994.

Romines has set single-season records with 77 catches for 1,065 yards and the career record of 2,024 yards.

Romines leads Division I-AA with an average of 9.63 catches a game. His 133.13 yards a game is second to Montana’s Joe Douglass.

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Fourth-string running back Adam Ortiz, who played in the fourth quarter against Sacramento, had his best game at Northridge, gaining 64 yards in six carries. . . . Aaron Arnold, a freshman receiver from Monroe, caught a 26-yard pass, his first reception of the season. . . . Northridge’s rushing defense, which has allowed 77.9 yards a game, moved up to third in Division I-AA by allowing only 56 yards on the ground against Sacramento. But the defense’s greatest accomplishment--holding Northern Arizona’s Archie Amerson to 92 yards--grows more impressive as Amerson continues to rip through other defenses. Amerson averages 197.1 yards a game, and his lowest total other than the Northridge game was 118 against Montana on Saturday. . . . Linebacker Marc Goodson was credited with nine tackles by Sacramento statisticians. Northridge coaches had him at 15 after watching film. Neither is official. The NCAA doesn’t recognize statistics for tackles because they are subjective.