Saturday, October 1, 2011

Quarterback Mike Proulx had a huge first half in leading Humboldt State to a 56-27 Great Northwest Athletic Conference home victory over Dixie State Saturday before a crowd of 6,652 at the Redwood Bowl.

The Lumberjacks improved to 4-0 with the win, their best start since 1969 when they began the season with six consecutive victories.

In Saturday's only other conference game, Central Washington cruised to a 31-3 halftime lead before settling for a 37-17win over Simon Fraser at Tomlinson Stadium.

In a non-conference game, nationally 11th ranked Abilene Christian outscored Western Oregon 51-35 in a game that featured nearly a thousand yards in total offense.

Proulx completed 20 of 26 passes for 315 yards in the opening 30 minutes before the Lumberjacks, leading 28-14 at the break, went almost exclusively to their running game after the intermission.

Proulx tossed touchdown passes of two yards to Alex Hiebert and 13 yards to Chris Bolt in the opening quarter and of 12 yards to Bolt and 11 yards to Kevin Miles in the second period.

He finished the game with 24 completions in 35 attempts for 361 yards and wasn't sacked for the fifth consecutive game dating back to the 2010 season.

In the second half, running back Lyndon Rowells scored on runs of nine, 16 and five yards and Mike Campana scored on a 14-yard scamper for the Lumberjacks.

Rowells finished the contest with 102 yards - his third 100-yard game this season and the 10th of his career - on 25 carries as HSU gained 215 of its 591 yards in total offense on the ground.

Four receivers had 67 or more yards in receptions including Miles (76 on seven catches), Bolt (97 yards on four), Victor Spencer (75 on four catches) and Dirk Dallas (67 on three).

Dixie State had 360 yards in total offense as three quarterbacks combined for 317 passing yards. Stefan Cantwell completed 10 of 14 for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

Zack Fox caught six for 84 yards for the Red Storm, while Joe Don Duncan had 101 yards on four catches, including a 53-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.

Defensive leaders for Humboldt included linebacker Brian Sampson who had 10 tackles and defensive tackle Andrew Iupati who had two tackles for losses of 14 yards. In all, HSU had 11 tackles for losses totaling 52 yards.

Linebackers Skyler Fullmer and Cache Morgan led the Red Storm defense with 13 and nine tackles, respectively.

Central Washington 37, Simon Fraser 17

Central Washington's win, which came before 3,838 fans at Tomlinson Stadium, was its first of the season as it improved to 1-3 including 1-2 in the GNAC. The Clan fell to 1-4, dropping to 0-4 in the conference.

Redshirt freshman Levi Taylor rushed for 153 yards and Ryan Robertson completed 15 of 28 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns to key the Central offense.

Robertson tossed TD passes of eight yards to Justin Helwege in the first quarter and 49 and 26 yards to Helwege and Leon LaDeaux in the second period.

CWU also scored on a 14-yard run by Taylor in the opening period and a 48-yard field goal by Sean Davis in the second stanza.

The Wildcats got field goals of 27 yards from Davis and 23 yards from Josef Kistler in the second half before surrendering two touchdowns in the final 7:02.

Mathis Baumbach scored on a five-yard pass from Trey Wheeler and Joseph Iatzko returned a fumble 71 yards for SFU's two six-pointers.

CWU ended up with a 416-239 advantage in total offense. Helwege (81 yards) and Anthony Spain (61 yards) each caught five passes.

Meanwhile, Bo Palmer earned his fourth 100-yard rushing game for Simon Fraser netting 141 yards on 22 totes.

Defensively, Casey Chin led SFU with 14 tackles. Deionte Gordon had six tackles for the Wildcats.

Taylor Tanasse had five tackles including four for losses of 16 yards. Deshawn Gaisie had an interception to account for CWU's lone takeaway.

Abilene Christian 51, Western Oregon 35

Quarterback Mitchell Gale threw for 356 yards and two touchdowns and wide receiver Taylor Gabriel had two key punt returns to lead the Abilene Christian Wildcats to a 51-35 win against Western Oregon before 5,233 fans in the Texas city.

Western Oregon never led in the contest but hung close until Gale tossed a 47-yard touchdown pass to Darian Hogg with 6:56 remaining in the third period and Gabriel, who had 90 yards on six receptions and 93 on four punt returns, scored on a 55-yard punt return a minute later.

That quickly turned a 24-21 Abilene lead into a 38-21 advantage and the Wolves didn't get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Gale accounted for three of Abilene's touchdowns also scoring on a seven-yard run with 25 seconds left in the second period after a 35-yard punt return by Gabriel to give ACU a 21-14 lead at the break.

He also threw a 61-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to give his team a 45-28 advantage at that point.

The offensive slugfest featured 503 yards of total offense by the Wildcats and 474 by the Western Oregon.

Passing favored the Wolves 387-356 as WOU quarterback Evan Mozzochi completed 20 of 36 passes for 365 yards and three touchdowns.

Wide receiver Scott Buche, who averaged 43.3 yards on seven punts, caught a 23-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to tie the game at 14-14 and Josh McFarland scored on a 73-yard toss-and-run in the third period to close WOU's deficit to 24-21.

Tyrell Williams reached the end zone on a 14-yard pass from Mozzochi with four seconds left to cut the final deficit to 16 points.

Trevor Gates (7-111) and McFarland (6-114) each had 100-yard receiving games for Western Oregon.

Kenneth Haynes rushed for 81 yards, scoring on a two-yard run in the first quarter. Trevor Roush had 139 yards on six kickoff returns.

Defensively, WOU was led by DBs Patrick Tepea and Issaiah Buchanan with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively. Derek Odelusi had eight stops for Abilene, including a pair of quarterback sacks for losses of 22.

The loss was the second for Western Oregon (3-2) against nationally-ranked teams. Abilene (3-1) came into the contest ranked 11th. Grand Valley was ranked fifth when it beat the Wolves 44-20 on Sept. 1.