ARCATA - (Nov. 11) Humboldt State capped a memorable season with a memorable win Saturday, defeating Western Oregon, 23-20 to close out the campaign with a 9-1 record.

Appropriately, it was s corps group of seniors who played major roles in the Jacks' victory, just as they had in helping the program to its best record since the 11-1 season of 1968. Among the standouts were Joey Stein, who hauled in seven passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns, quarterback Blake Moorman, who became the No. 1 HSU career passing leader by adding 351 yards on 16-of-36 effort, strong safety Kyle Killingsworth, who made eight tackles and hauled in an interception, and linebacker Brandon Wigton, who paced the team with 11 tackles on the evening.

And the list continues, with Josh Costa, who also made eight tackles, two for lost yards, and Todd Eagle, who came up with a huge quarterback sack to stop a Wolves' drive. Their efforts, and the contributions of several other seniors, helped the Jacks' rally from a 13-10 halftime deficit to hand head coach Doug Adkins his most successful season.

"Senior leadership made all the difference this year," Adkins said. "They discovered that winning is a whole lot more fun than losing, and they took it upon themselves to keep that going. After awhile, they just expected to win."

Those expectations provided some the impetus during a drive that began late in the third quarter with a 14-yard pass completion from Moorman to Stein. Moorman scrambled for 20 yards and completed two more passes, hitting Stein for 17 yards and Edwin Henry for 14, to move the ball deep into Western Oregon territory.

Stein registered his second touchdown of the day when he hauled in a four-yard connection from Moorman, completing a nine-play, 80-yard drive and putting the Jacks ahead, 17-13 with 13 minutes, 49 seconds remaining in the game.

"Joey (Stein) has been Mr. Everything all year, always doing whatever you ask of him," Adkins said. "And Blake (Moorman) has been outstanding all season. He certainly deserves the recognition for being our all-time passing leader."

Moorman ended his two-year HSU career with 4,684 passing yards, eclipsing the previous record of 4,489 achieved by Rodney Dorsett, who played four years for the Jacks from 1986-89. He also finished with 34 passing touchdowns, leaving him one shy of the career record 35 achieved by Jacob Kadle.

After helping his team to the lead Saturday, Moorman had to add another big hookup to help secure the victory, completing a 34-yard pass to Henry that put the ball on the Western 11 with 4:42 left to play. From there, Marcus Cox took over, rushing for three yards and then covering the final eight for a diving touchdown that gave HSU a 23-13 lead.

The Jacks needed the extra cushion that score provided, as the Wolves answered with a two-play drive that covered 50 yards in only 27 seconds. MarkThorson found Isaiah Smith for a 39-yard completion, then finished the short quick with a 11-yard pass to Sean Fullerton for the game's final touchdown.

Thorson ended the evening with a solid 20 completions in 37 attempts, good for 215 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Knudsen was his favorite target, catching seven passes for 52 yards for the Wolves, who finished their season with a 6-4 record that included two losses to HSU.

A battle worthy of two evenly-matched teams started with defensive dominance, both teams struggling to find the endzone in the opening quarter. The Lumberjacks put the first points up on the board, completing a 5-play, 73-yard drive with Ben Peterson's 34-yard field goal. Key to the drive was a 66-yard pass completion from Moorman to Stein on HSU's very first play from scrimmage.

After exchanging possesions with the Jacks for most of the first quarter, the Wolves put together a drive that featured a 24-yard completion from Thorson to Brad Ching. The march stalled and WOU settled for Bruce Voges' 29-yard field goal, tying the score at 3-3.

Turnovers turned the tide in the second quarter, including an interception by defensive lineman Matt Jirges that provided the Wolves with a short field at the HSU 10-yard line. Ben Kuenzi rushed the ball eight yards to set up Thorson's 1-yard touchdown run, moving WOU ahead 10-3 with 8:02 remaining in the half.

Humboldt evened the score again with its first touchdown, coming on a 31-yard completion from Moorman to Stein before Western Oregon again took the advantage when Voges booted home a 20-yard field goal with 39 seconds remaining in the half.

Statistically, the Lumberjacks nearly double the Wolves in every offensive category, including total yards, with 486 to 257. Humboldt State also achieved 21 first downs to only 11 by Western Oregon.

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