Football Drops Season Finale at Eastern Washington

CHENEY, Wash. – The Northern Arizona football team failed to capitalize on an early 13-point lead before dropping its season finale at Eastern Washington 28-13 at Woodward Field.

“I am disappointed with the turnovers and mistakes especially in critical situations by our offense that kept us essentially from winning the ballgame,” said Head Coach Jerome Souers.

NAU finished the season 6-5 for the third consecutive season with a 4-4 mark in Big Sky play. Eastern improved to 5-5, 4-3 in league play heading into a matchup at Weber State to complete the season.

The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 13-0 lead with two field goals by senior Robbie Dehaze and converted a fumble recovery by Cyrus Igono into a touchdown by Deonte Williams. The Eagles responded with a 53-yard completion from Matt Nichols to Aaron Boyce inside the NAU 10-yard line. EWU punched it in on a two-yard run by Dale Morris.

The NAU defense picked off Nichols twice in the first half and recovered a fumble, helping the team hold a 7 minute, 50 second advantage in the time of possession.

The game changed on NAU’s second drive of the second half when Williams fumbled a handoff. EWU scored two plays later for a 14-13 lead. The Eagles marched the field on its next drive, scoring on a 35-yard play from Nichols to Shane Hoffman.

“We had a few big plays that went against us in the second half,” said Souers. “They have good skill players. They got us one on one and their quarterback bought themselves some time on a few occasions.”

After NAU missed a field goal at the end of a 12-play drive, EWU scored on an 11-play, 91-yard drive to seal the game.

Michael Herrick finished 34-for-47 for 283 yards, completing nine passes to both Ed Berry and Conrad Meadows. Berry finishes with a career-high 137 yards, while Meadows had 50 receiving yards.

Williams finished with 34 yards, totaling 950 yards on the season in first collegiate season. His touchdown score in the second quarter was the 12th of the season, the third-best single-season total in school history and most for a running back since 2000.

The NAU defense allowed 91 yards on 26 carries in the contest, finishing the season with a total of 658 rushing yards allowed. The season total set a school record, resetting the mark of 706 yards set back in 1957. The 59.8 single-game averaged allowed reset the Big Sky record of 65.3 set in 1994 by Idaho and season rushing yards allowed broke the mark set by Montana State in 1966 of 659 by a single yard.

“There is a lot to look forward to,” said Souers. “We wanted to get Michael Herrick the chance to run quarterback. At times he looked good today and at times you can tell he needs more work. As a football team we learned a lot. This year was two seasons. It was one when we had momentum and things were going well and one where we didn’t. We didn’t handle that well. What it showed us was some of the deficiencies we have and the strengths and deficiencies we have in the execution of running our scheme and being able to play good games. When you look at it going into the offseason, there are a lot of things we need to focus on. It has to do with sports psychology and retraining ourselves to the level we expect to be. We learned a lot this year there is no question about it.”

Senior kicker Robbie Dehaze finished his career with 56 career field goals, a NAU school record and the sixth-best total in Big Sky history and 16th best in NCAA history. He totaled 307 career points, the 10th-best total in Big Sky history.

NAU returns four of the five starting offensive lineman, top three receivers and top two running backs on offense. The defense returns seven starters, including defensive linemen Kyle Rath and Michael Battisti and all three starters at linebacker. Overall, the all eight linebackers on the depth chart return with starting cornerback Josh Luck and safety Matt Eastrada.

“It was a difficult year,” said Souers. “It was hard on all of us, coaches and players and anybody close to our football program. I know this. We built a solid foundation of young players that are getting better. We are performing better in the classroom and off the field. On the field, it has got to better. We are on the right track. I know we are. We have to stay on task and stay with a vision. I believe at the end of the line we will have a change of fortune.”