NAU Puts Up Fight, Bows to Cats
The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks gave the Arizona Wildcats all they wanted for a half, but the Wildcats proved to be too much, pulling away late for a 34-17 victory at home. The Lumberjacks trailed only 14-10 in the 2nd quarter, but Arizona outscored NAU 20-7 the rest of the way.
The Jacks had no answer for Arizona running back Nic Grigsby. Grigsby carried the ball 15 times for 207 yards and 2 TDs, with a long run of 94 yards in the 3rd quarter.
Micheal Herrick made the start at quarterback for the Lumberjacks, completing 20 of 30 passes for 2 TDs and 2 INT.
Grigsby led off the scoring with a 25 yard TD jaunt in the 1st quarter. After a 43 yard field goal by NAU kicker Matt Myers, Grigsby took it in from 30 yards out to give the Cats a 14-3 lead. The Lumberjacks then went on a 14 play, 79 yards scoring drive to cut the Wildcat lead to 14-10, early in the 2nd quarter. Micheal Herrick hit Ed Berry with a 4 yard TD pass to finish the drive.
The 2nd quarter was uneventful, until Matt Scott hit Terrell Turner with a 2 yard TD pass with 30 seconds to go before the half to give the Cats a 21-10 halftime advantage.
NAU’s last opportunity to get back in the game was foiled by a Terrell Wade INT near the Arizona goal line, stopping a Lumberjack scoring drive. Nic Grigsby went 94 yards on the next play to the NAU 1. Keola Antolin plunged in on the next play and the Cats took a 27-10 lead.
Arizona backup QB Nick Foles threw a TD pass early in the 4th quarter to make the score 34-10. Herrick and Berry teamed up again for a 19 yard TD completion to close out the scoring.
The Lumberjacks host Southern Utah on Saturday.
SCOREBOARD
Final 1 2 3 4 T
Northern Arizona (0-1) 3 7 0 7 17
Arizona (2-0) « 14 7 6 7 34
SCORING SUMMARY
AZ Nic Grigsby 25 yd run (Alex Zendejas kick)
NAZ Matt Myers 43 yd FG
AZ Nic Grigsby 30 yd run (Alex Zendejas kick)
NAZ Ed Berry 4 yd pass from Michael Herrick (Matt Myers kick)
AZ Terrell Turner 2 yd pass from Matt Scott (Alex Zendejas kick)
AZ Keola Antolin 1 yd run (missed kick)
AZ Juron Criner 5 yd pass from Nick Foles (Alex Zendejas kick)
NAZ Ed Berry 19 yd pass from Michael Herrick (Matt Myers kick)
Team Stats
NAZ AZ
First Downs 13 27
Third Down Efficiency 4-9 8-13
Fourth Down Efficiency 0-0 3-4
Plays-Net Yards 49-226 75-559
Rushes-Yds 19-67 47-365
Passing Yds 159 194
Kick Return Yds 88 84
Punt Return Yds 0 0
Passes 20-30-2 20-28-1
Punts 4-169 0-0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yds 1-5 5-35
Time of Poss. 24:8 35:52
Individual Stats
RUSHING
NAZ: Alex Henderson 14-56, Giovannie Dixon 2-13, Austin Shanks 1-6, Team 1–1, Michael Herrick 1–7
AZ: Nic Grigsby 15-207, Keola Antolin 9-60, Matt Scott 7-48, Greg Nwoko 9-32, Nick Booth 3-17, Terrell Turner 2-6, Nick Foles 1–2, Delashaun Dean 1–3
PASSING
NAZ: Michael Herrick 20-30-159-2
AZ: Matt Scott 14-20-150-1, Nick Foles 6-8-44-0
RECEIVING
NAZ: Ed Berry 7-71, Daiveun Curry-Chapman 4-34, Conrad Meadows 4-18, Alex Henderson 2-16, Mike Czyz 1-12, Austin Shanks 1-7, Curt Sweeney 1-1
AZ: Terrell Turner 5-46, David Douglas 5-43, Delashaun Dean 2-26, A.J. Simmons 2-21, David Roberts 2-17, William Wright 1-21, Nic Grigsby 1-12, Juron Criner 1-5, Chris Gronkowski 1-3
