Football Opens Season with Loss to 15th-ranked Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona football team opened its 2008 campaign with a 30-13 loss to 15th-ranked Arizona State at Sun Devil Stadium.

The Sun Devils built a 30-0 lead before the Lumberjacks got on the board with a third-quarter field goal by Robbie Dehaze to end the shutout bid. NAU scored again in the fourth on a 3-yard pass from Lance Kriesien to Brian Riley to cut the deficit to 30-10. Dehaze added his second field goal with 5:16 left. Overall, the Lumberjacks scored the final 13 points in the game.

"Obviously we're disappointed in the outcome of the game. When we look at our own performance, we practiced better than we played today," Head Coach Jerome Souers said. "I was pleased with the way the guys bounced back in the second half. At halftime, we said we were going to ignore the score and play like it was zero-zero and try to come out and re-establish some things that we can do well and I thought we did a better job of that in the second half."

Kriesien finished 17-for-31 for 152 yards and a touchdown. Alex Henderson led the rushing attack with 74 yards on 22 carries, while Shaun Fitzpatrick had three receptions for 59 yards.

NAU returns to Flagstaff to play host to New Mexico Highlands in the home opener in the Walkup Skydome, Sat., Sept. 6 at 3:05 p.m.