Half-Length Victory for Northridge

Cal State Northridge wasn’t about to self-destruct against Idaho State this time. Although, for a while, the Matadors couldn’t be sure.

Northridge, mindful of a crushing, season-ending defeat at Pocatello last year, as well as a lackluster start this season, rallied for four second-half touchdowns and defeated Idaho State, 41-27, in a Big Sky Conference game before 3,569 on Saturday at North Campus Stadium.

The Matadors (2-2, 1-1 in conference play) trailed, 17-12, after a first half of foolish penalties and costly errors. But a second-half surge that featured inspired defense, creative play-calling and quarterback Marcus Brady at his best prevented a repeat of the 33-29 loss to Idaho State last season that cost the Matadors the Big Sky title.

Brady, ignoring a swollen ankle, engineered four second-half scoring drives, two of them lengthy, and threw three second-half touchdown passes.

Brady’s 20-yard scoring pass to Gil Rodriguez on the opening drive of the third quarter gave Northridge its first lead, 20-17.

Receiver Aaron Arnold capped a four-touchdown performance, a career high, with a 39-yard scoring run on a reverse with 1:28 to play.

For Northridge, which plays at defending conference champion Montana next week, the thought of losing to the Bengals in another must-win situation was unthinkable.

“I wouldn’t say we were desperate,” interim Coach Jeff Kearin said. “But we’re here to win the Big Sky championship, and for us to do it, we needed to win this game now.”

The Matadors entered the game having allowed 923 rushing yards in three games, including 476 last week against Eastern Washington.

Northridge held the Bengals to 89 yards rushing--minus-one in the second half. They sacked Kevin McCarthy six times and forced the Bengals to punt after three downs on their first three series of the second half.

Said Kearin: “That was the best defense we’ve played all year.”

Linebacker Brennen Swanson, who increased his pass-rushing role for the game, recorded 2 1/2 sacks to establish a Northridge career record with 22.

“The coach told us that we were [ranked] pretty low on total defense and that just kinda woke us up,” Swanson said. “I’ve never been on any team that was last in total defense.”

Idaho State (2-3, 0-3) appeared to be in control in the first half--with help from the Matadors. The Bengals led, 7-0, when Nick Whitworth ran untouched four yards for a touchdown with six minutes left in the first quarter. The drive was set up by a fumble by Alan Taylor of Northridge at the Bengals’ 27.

Northridge closed to 7-6 on a one-yard run by DeJuan Gilmore on the first play of the second quarter, but Idaho State went 67 yards on its next drive to take a 14-6 lead on a two-yard bootleg by McCarthy.

The drive was sustained by a roughing-the-kicker penalty against Chazz Moore of Northridge after Pete Garces missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt.

“That was a horrible call,” Moore said. “He stepped right into me.”

Garces gave the Bengals a 17-6 lead with a 39-yard field goal that culminated another Matador-aided drive. McCarthy was sacked by Swanson and Patrick Cwik on third and 17 near midfield, but cornerback Mel Miller was flagged for holding.

Kearin said the Matadors will work to eliminate the mistakes.

“There is no question that stuff has got to stop,” he said.