Saturday, November 5, 2011

Humboldt State built a 31-0 lead and went on to defeat Dixie State 45-30 Saturday to set up a showdown next weekend in Arcata with Western Oregon for the GNAC football title.

Both the Lumberjacks (8-1) and the Wolves (6-4) will bring 6-1 conference records into the contest. The winner will claim its first-ever GNAC football title.

Elsewhere Saturday, Simon Fraser (3-7, 2-6) scored 29 fourth-quarter points to defeat Central Washington 35-24, while Western Oregon lost to the University of Montana 32-7  in a non-conference contest.

Humboldt led 24-0 at halftime before adding a touchdown early in the third quarter to go ahead 31-0. Dixie scored 23 points in the fourth quarter, but never got closer that the final margin.

Lumberjack running back Lyndon Rowells rushed for 184 yards on 24 carries including a 61-yard TD gallup in the fourth quarter. It was Rowell's 13th 100-yard career rushing game, tying the GNAC record.

Rowells also caught three passes for 60 yards, scoring on a 28-yard pass from Mike Proulx in the second quarter.

That was one of five touchdown passes for Proulx who completed 26 of 42 for 328 yards. Dirk Dallas had TD receptions of nine and four yards in the second quarter.

Proulx also hooked up with Tommy Darcey on a seven-yard TD pass in the third quarter and with David Munoz for a 24-yard TD in the opening minute of the fourth period.

Humboldt's top receivers on the day were Kevin Miles, who had seven receptions for 50 yards and Dallas who caught six for 97 yards.

Dixie quarterback Stefan Cantwell completed 25 of 45 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns, including a 13-yarder to Joe Don Duncan in the final period. Duncan had seven receptions for 139 yards.

Humboldt ended up with 535 yards in total offense including 207 rushing. Dixie had 484 yards, 174 of it on the ground. Running back Jesse Ence had 93 yards on 11 rushes and Cantwell had 85 yards on 19 carries for the Red Storm.

Simon Fraser 35, Central Washington 24

What started out as a defensive struggle turned into a scoring shootout in the fourth quarter as the team combined for 43 points in the final 15 minutes.

Central led 3-0 at halftime on a second-quarter 37-yard field goal by Sean Davis and took a 10-6 lead into the fourth quarter before going ahead 17-6 on a 12-yard touchdown run by Levi Taylor.

Taylor, who netted 114 yards on 19 rushes, also scored on a four-yard run in the third period.

Simon Fraser, however, then put together two long drives to go ahead 21-17. Bo Palmer scored on a 15-yard run with 9:21 remaining to finish off a 64-yard, nine-play drive.

Quarterback Trey Wheeler then engineered a 73-yard, seven-play drive tossing a nine-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Pospischil with 5:20 left.

Nineteen seconds later Adam Berger returned an interception 43 yards to give the Clan a 28-17 lead. The Clan defense then got two sacks to set up a fourth-down gamble by CWU from its own one.

That quickly led to a one-yard touchdown run by Greg Bowcott to give SFU a 35-17 lead with just 1:58 remaining.

Central countered 21 seconds later on a 37-yard pass from quarterback Jose Mohler to Justin Helwege, but SFU then ran the clock out.

Wheeler completed 20 of 28 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns as Simon Fraser (3-7, 2-6) earned its first win over CWU since 1996. The teams did not play between 2002 and 2009.

Tore Corrado had six receptions for 105 yards including a 15-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. Palmer finished the contest with 132 yards, rushing for 75 on 24 carries. He also had 57 yards on four catches.

Central outgained SFU 359-340 in total offense, gaining 161 on the ground. Mohler, however, completed just 15 of 39 passes for 198 yards.

Casey Chinn led the Clan defense with eight tackles and a fumble recovery. Mike Reno had eight tackles, including a seven-yard quarterback sack for the Wildcats.

Montana 32, Western Oregon 7

Brody McKnight kicked six field goals to boot Montana (8-2) to a 25-point home win over Western Oregon before 24,984 fans at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula.

McKnight converted on field goals of 24, 21, 51 and 30 to stake Montana to a 12-0 halftime lead, then also had second-half three-pointers from 36 and 24 yards.

Montana also scored two second-half touchdowns on a one-yard run by Brett Kirschner and on a five-yard pass from Nate Montana to Antwon Moutra.

Western Oregon's lone touchdown came midway in the third quarter on a 27-yard pass from Cory Bean to Lucas Gonsalves.

Montana dominated the yardstick outgaining the Wolves 497 to 221, including 245-65 on the ground.

Peter Nguyen had 149 yards rushing on 22 carries for the Grizzlies. Three different quarterbacks combined to complete 24 passes for 252 yards.

WOU's signal callers converted on just 10 of 31 for 156 yards and were intercepted four times. Bean was five of 19 for 116 yards.

WOU's defense was on the field for 35 minutes, 18 seconds and for 96 plays from scrimmage, enabling linebacker Devin Wells the opportunity to earn a GNAC season-best 18 tackles, including one for a three-yard loss.