Matadors Will Again Aim High in Big Sky

It started with such promise in stifling August heat on blue artificial turf at a noisy stadium in Boise, Idaho.

It ended at home on a cool November night with a peek at what the future might hold and a taste of what could have been.

Sandwiched between was a disappointing football season for Cal State Northridge after the Matadors climbed to unanticipated heights in 1996 and expected to reach equally-high ground this year.

Perhaps those expectations were unrealistic, even unfair, but they weren’t without foundation.

The Matadors opened the season stocked with good returning players, prompting the team to believe it would challenge for the Big Sky Conference championship.

Their hopes turned to frustration with every loss, especially against teams they were supposed to beat, until there was nothing left to salvage but a 6-6 record and a 4-4 finish in the conference.

Several factors contributed to Northridge’s ho-hum performance.

There was, for instance, the three away games against Division I-A opponents to start the season.

The Matadors looked unstoppable in a 63-23 rout of Boise State in the opener but learned in setbacks at Hawaii and New Mexico State that I-AA programs with considerably fewer scholarships than I-A schools normally become road kill in those match-ups.

There was the transition to a new coach, Jim Fenwick, and an almost entirely new staff with new ideas and concepts.

There was the loss of key receivers Cameron Perry and Brian Comer to ineligibility, and the injuries that temporarily sidelined senior receiver Jerome Henry and senior quarterback Aaron Flowers.

There was an unstable defense that never managed to stop the run and wasn’t much better against the pass. Whether caused by poor defensive schemes or inadequate personnel, the reality is that the Matadors often sank because of their defense.

There was, at times, a palpable feeling that some players were more concerned about themselves than the team. Some privately lamented being shifted from their positions, even though they were still starting, and some talked about personal goals.

Maybe that’s what triggered Fenwick’s remark after Northridge’s 21-13 victory over Northern Arizona in the finale last Saturday, when he said, “We had to be unselfish and play real hard for our seniors.”

Flowers, owner of practically every Northridge passing record, was one of those seniors who dreamed of leaving with a championship ring.

So did linebacker Marc Goodson, the team’s emotional leader and one of the premier players in the division. They bled with every defeat.

Fenwick, too, took every loss hard, sometimes nearly coming to tears. But now, four days after ending the season with a victory he dearly wanted, Fenwick is waxing optimistic.

“We didn’t sneak up on anybody,” Fenwick said.

“For a first season, I feel content that we made progress and there were positives throughout. . . . I feel we’ve laid a foundation.”

Could be.

If nothing else, the Matadors have a good core of starters returning in 1998, although they’ll have to fill gaping holes left by Flowers, Goodson and Henry, among others.

They’ll increase their scholarships from 45 to 50, still a far cry from the 63 other Big Sky schools give out, but an allotment desperately needed to help the Matadors compete.

Throw into the equation the substantial loss of starters by most of the teams in the Big Sky’s upper echelon this season and the Matadors have reason for optimism.

Just as they had this time last year.