ARCATA — After methodically forging a comfortable lead, Humboldt State ended its 32-13 win over Menlo College in a less that tidy fashion, improving its record to 2-1 overall Saturday in Redwood Bowl.
"We were very sloppy tonight," HSU head coach
Rob Smith said, after his team handed 2-1 Menlo its first loss of the season. "But none of our penalties were malicious. In many cases it was just true freshman being a little over eager."
Many of those freshmen saw playing time in Humboldt State's home-opener because of the Jacks' ability to control the game early. They put together two long drives – each featuring 11 plays – in the second quarter, finishing both marches off with quarterback dives to fashion a 14-0 lead at halftime.
They opened the third-quaurter with a 7-play, 31-yard drive that freshman kicker Matt Bruder completed by kicking a 21-yard field goal, and marched 64 yards in nine plays to make the score 25-0 on quarterback Mike Proulx's 10-yard scoring pass to Dirk Dallas.
With Humboldt substituting freely, Menlo managed an 18-play, 85-yard drive that opened the fourth quarter and finally got the Oaks on the scoreboard. Quarterback Cruz Castillo connected with Andrew Stevens on an 11-yard scoring pass to cut Humboldt's lead to 25-7 with 10:48 remaining.
Humboldt State answered with a quick 2-play drive that featured tailback Lyndon Rowells. Last week's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week rushed for 12 yards, and following a penalty on the Lumberjacks, broke off a 50-yard touchdown sprint that gave the Jacks a 32-7 lead with 5:22 remaining.
Rowells ended the night with 136 yards rushing in 21 attempts. Daniel Wyatt had 29 yards in four attempts, and would have added even more, but had two long runs called back due to Lumberjack penalties.
Humboldt State's big negative on the evening was exactly that - far too many penalties. The Jacks were flagged 17 times for 206 yards, including four penalties that contributed 50 yards to Menlo's 60-yard touchdown drive that ended the game.
"Some of it was because we were by far the more aggressive team," Smith said. "But being flagged like that isn't who we are, and is embarrassing. That's not the type of football team we are."
Statistically, the Jacks finished with 393 yards of total offense while holding Menlo College to 166 yards and only 24 yards on the ground. Proulx completed 14 of 26 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while his Menlo counterpart, Castillo, was 17-of-34 for 104 yards, with a touchdown and an interception.
Lineman Justin Hornsby led the HSU defense with eight tackles and a sack, while Chris Holmes had six tackles, including four solos, and a sack of his own.
"We have the makings of a team that could create some problems as we move forward to play more of the teams in our league," Smith said. "But we won't beat our conference teams with this type of play. That falls on me and the other coaches on our staff to get back to work and clean this up."
Humboldt State is on the road this week, resuming GNAC play with an afternoon game against Western Oregon in Monmouth. The Jacks return home the following week to battle defending league champion Central Washington on Oct. 2.
Box Score (Final) Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score ----------------- -- -- -- -- ----- Menlo College....... 0 0 0 13 - 13 Record: (2-1) Humboldt State...... 0 14 11 7 - 32 Record: (-1,1-0) Scoring Summary: 2nd 13:24 HSU - Bolt 1 yd run (Bruder kick), 11-80 4:27, MENLO 0 - HSU 7 01:09 HSU - Proulx 1 yd run (Bruder kick), 11-74 4:48, MENLO 0 - HSU 14 3rd 09:13 HSU - Bruder 21 yd field goal, 7-31 2:54, MENLO 0 - HSU 17 02:54 HSU - Dallas 10 yd pass from Proulx (Hiebert rush), 9-64 4:05, MENLO 0 - HSU 25 4th 10:48 MENLO - A. Stevens 11 yd pass from C. Castillo (K. Kurtz kick), 18-85 7:01, MENLO 7 - HSU 25 05:22 HSU - Rowells 50 yd run (Bruder kick), 2-47 0:31, MENLO 7 - HSU 32 00:58 MENLO - R. Smith 5 yd pass from T. Congdon (T. Congdon rush fumbld), 9-60 4:13, MENLO 13 - HSU 32 MENLO HSU FIRST DOWNS................... 14 20 RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 29-51 36-194 PASSING YDS (NET)............. 115 199 Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 38-19-1 26-14-1 TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 67-166 62-393 Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0 Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-5 4-32 Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 6-59 2-67 Interception Returns-Yards.... 1-40 1-20 Punts (Number-Avg)............ 6-40.5 4-44.5 Fumbles-Lost.................. 0-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards............... 7-54 17-206 Possession Time............... 32:17 27:43 Third-Down Conversions........ 7 of 19 6 of 14 Fourth-Down Conversions....... 2 of 3 1 of 1 Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-3 4-4 Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-7 4-19 RUSHING: Menlo College-P. Bell 21-49; T. Congdon 3-12; N. Acosta 1-minus 2; C. Castillo 4-minus 8. Humboldt State-Rowells 20-136; Wyatt 4-29; Shinaba 2-18; Proulx 7-14; Bolt 3-minus 3. PASSING: Menlo College-C. Castillo 17-34-1-104; T. Congdon 2-4-0-11. Humboldt State-Proulx 14-26-1-199. RECEIVING: Menlo College-K. Cavness 4-30; M. Alexander 3-13; A. Stevens 2-23; D. Young 2-15; K. Campas 2-7; P. Bell 2-4; D. Vigil 1-6; C. McGuffie 1-6; A. Welch 1-6; R. Smith 1-5. Humboldt State-Dallas 6-72; Bolt 3-35; Wyatt 2-23; Gondkoff 1-50; Streck 1-10; Henry 1-9. INTERCEPTIONS: Menlo College-J. Dye 1-40. Humboldt State-Sims 1-20. FUMBLES: Menlo College-None. Humboldt State-Bolt 1-0. Stadium: Redwood Bowl Attendance: 3010 Kickoff time: 6 p.m. End of Game: 8:53 Total elapsed time: 2:53 Officials: Referee: Bret MacRae; Umpire: Kurt Renstrom; Linesman: Brian Michelson; Line judge: Ken Leffle; Back judge: Greg Toler; Field judge: Brent Baumann; Side judge: Craig Miers; Scorer: Ed Matthews;
