Northridge Finishes on Big Sky High

In the wake of Cal State Northridge’s 49-27 victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday night at North Campus Stadium, James Woods could only shake his head in wonderment.

“If you would have told me in 1993 that we would be in the Big Sky Conference and finish third, I’d have said you were lying,” said Woods, a linebacker who is the only Matador to play each of the last four seasons at Northridge. “I didn’t think we’d win three games. To finish like this is so sweet.

“It erases all the bad.”

The Matadors, who went 2-8 last season and were picked to finish at the bottom of the Big Sky this year, went 7-4, 4-3 in the conference. Northridge finished third in the toughest conference in Division I-AA football.

“I’m lost for words,” Coach Dave Baldwin said. “When they dumped water on me, I started to cry.”

Baldwin, who admitted the Matadors surpassed even his expectations, have built themselves even loftier ones for next year.

Northridge gained 595 yards against Eastern Washington, ranked 24th in the nation, with an offense that played most of the night without a senior on the field.

Junior Aaron Flowers set a school single-game passing record for the second time in three weeks, throwing for 500 yards by completing 30 of 48 passes. He tied a record with five touchdown passes.

Flowers finished his first season at Northridge with 3,540 yards passing, also a school record.

Junior Jerome Henry caught 11 passes for 212 yards, junior Cameron Perry caught nine for 78 yards and freshman Aaron Arnold had six catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns.

“We’ve got to be [picked] pretty high next year,” Arnold said. “I think our offense has been dominant and we’ve got pretty much everybody back. We’re just going to get bigger and stronger and better.”

The Matadors got a glimpse of the offense of the future because senior David Romines, who was Northridge’s leading receiver and one of the nation’s best, missed the game because of a strained hamstring.

Senior running back Chad Marsalek has not played much since breaking his foot early in the season. He carried the ball five times for 17 yards on Saturday.

“I think the last four games we really developed Cameron Perry, Jimmy Greninger and Jerome Henry,” Baldwin said. “We’re not as one-dimensional as we were [with Romines as the main weapon].”

Northridge’s defense, which started four seniors, was also dominant. Though the Matadors allowed four touchdowns, one was on a 70-yard fumble recovery. Another came when Northridge defensive back Bennie Herron deflected a pass that was caught by Jerrold Jackson in the end zone and a third happened on the last play of the half when Steve Correa out-jumped cornerback Tayari Ferrell to catch a 55-yard Hail Mary pass.

The Matadors went into the locker room with a 28-27 lead but came out with a dominant third quarter that was similar to a 31-0 third-quarter outburst three weeks ago at Sacramento State.

The Matadors scored touchdowns on three of their first four possessions of the quarter, expanding the lead to 49-27. Northridge had two touchdowns nullified by holding penalties on one series.

Northridge’s defense was also spectacular in the quarter, holding the Eagles (6-5, 3-4) to 23 yards in five possessions, their only first down coming on a penalty.

“They stuffed us, crushed us, took away our run and pass,” said Eastern Washington Coach Mike Kramer. “When you go three-and-out three times, you’re pretty much under the table.”

Junior linebacker Marc Goodson added to his school record for tackles in a season with nine.

“It does look good [for next season],” he said, “but I don’t want to make any predictions.”