Northridge Gets Bouquet of a Half-Dozen Flowers

BOISE, Idaho —  What, me worry?

That’s exactly what Cal State Northridge’s first-year football Coach Jim Fenwick was doing before the Matadors walked into Boise State’s Bronco Stadium for the opener Saturday night.

Heck, he was doing it for days before the nonconference game.

He’s feeling a lot better now.

The Matadors opened the Fenwick era with a 63-23 victory in front of a stadium record crowd of 26,824.

Northridge did it after spotting the Broncos a 16-0 lead early in the second quarter and looking thoroughly outmatched.

“I was worried whether we would recover and bounce back,” Fenwick said. “I think our kids were just a little bit unsure [on the first few drives]. . . . We weren’t in tune and finally we woke up.”

Northridge broke the school record for points set in a 62-20 victory over Portland State in 1968.

But until quarterback Aaron Flowers caught fire and the defense adjusted to stop Boise’s option attack, the Matadors looked like their old Division II teams.

Flowers, a senior, added to his list of Northridge records by throwing six touchdown passes. He surpassed his own mark of five, established in a 49-27 Big Sky Conference victory over Eastern Washington last year.

“I don’t know what to say,” Flowers said. “I threw them and they caught them.”

Flowers completed 31 of 40 attempts for 442 yards.

The Matadors looked dumbfounded at the onset.

Boise’s Nate Sparks, a junior from Bakersfield College, finished with 77 yards in 20 carries and Reggie Etheridge, a senior from Hancock College in Santa Maria, rushed 17 times for 51 yards but the two did most of their damage in the first half.

Sparks threw touchdown passes of 19 yards to Jim Brekke and six yards to Eron Hurley for a 14-0 lead with 14:30 left in the half.

Boise blocked a punt by Brian Walker and the ball went through the end zone for a safety and a 16-0 cushion.

At that point, Boise Coach Houston Nutt replaced Sparks with Bart Hendricks and the momentum shifted dramatically.

“I just wanted to get [Hendricks] in there just for a series,” Nutt said. “I wanted to get his feet wet.”

Northridge rallied with a three-yard touchdown pass from Flowers to Brian Comer with 7:37 left in the half. The Matadors cut the deficit to 16-14 just over three minutes later on a two-yard run by Jahi Arnold that was set up by a 52-yard option pass from wide receiver Mike Ogas to Comer.

The Matadors went ahead, 21-16, on a 25-yard shovel pass from Flowers to Marcus Harvey with 1:04 left before halftime.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

CS Northridge 63, Boise State 23

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CS Northridge 0 21 21 21 -- 63 Boise State 7 9 7 0 -- 23

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FIRST QUARTER

BSU--Brekke 19 pass from Sparks (Belcastro kick)

SECOND QUARTER

BSU--Hurley 6 pass from Sparks (Belcastro kick)

CSN--Safety

CSN--Cromer 3 pass from Flowers (Marquez kick)

CSN--Arnold 2 run (Marquez kick)

CSN--Harvey 25 pass from Flowers (Marquez kick)

THIRD QUARTER

CSN--Cromer 10 pass from Flowers (Marquez kick)

CSN--Cromer 31 pass from Flowers (Marquez kick)

BSU--Smith 49 pass from Sparks (Belcastro kick)

CSN--Arnold 59 pass from Flowers (Walker kick)

FOURTH QUARTER

CSN--Harvey 1 run (Walker kick)

CSN--Arnold 13 pass from Flowers (Walker kick)

CSN--Arnold 22 run (Marquez kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

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CSN BSU First downs 30 18 Rushes-yards 31-132 49-177 Yards passing 511 261 Passes 33-43 13-25 Int.-yd. ret. 0-0 0-0 Plays-net yd. 74-643 74-438 Punts-average 3-26.3 5-39.4 Punts ret.-yd. 3-0 2-23 Kickoffs ret.-yd. 4-62 8-158 Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-2 Penalties-yards 8-79 7-65 Time of possession 28:25 31:35

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NORTHRIDGE NOTEBOOK: C10

BIG SKY ROUNDUP: C11