ARCATA – After losing last week to Western Oregon, Humboldt State bounced back in a 42-10 victory over the visiting Simon Fraser Clan Saturday night. The Jacks got an early 21-0 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it.

HSU improves to 7-1 on the season, 5-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with the win. Simon Fraser drops to 2-7 overall, 1-6 in conference.

"Credit to our guys for coming out and doing what they needed to do from the get-go," said head coach Rob Smith. "We're clearly a better team than Simon Fraser and you have to go out and establish that right from the beginning."

The Jacks came out a little shaky in the beginning, giving up a sack in the first offensive play of the game, but they quickly turned it around. Mike Proulx put the Jacks in scoring position when his pass found Dirk Dallas to put the Jacks just shy of the endzone at Simon Fraser's three yard line. Proulx finished the drive with a touchdown run to put the Jacks up 7-0 in the first quarter. 

"Mike was on with some long balls—and that was nice to see," said Smith. "It was a weakness we felt in our offense to get some balls over the top and defense, and we did that tonight. We had some nice takeaways early and that helped us. All-in-all, a good night."

The good night continued when Connor Waggoner blocked a punt from Simon Fraser, which Jamarie Sanders ran in for HSU's second touchdown of the night. 

"In the first half, I thought the energy level was really good," said Smith. "Even through pre-game, these guys were ready to go and ready to play. We sputtered a little offensively with that early sack, but then we got into our rhythm and starting making the plays we needed to make."

Proulx continued to find his receivers with long balls, connecting with Victor Spencer to again put the Jacks in red zone territory at the Clan's one yard line. Mike Campana ran the ball in the final yard to put the Jacks up 21-0 with two minutes left in the first quarter.

Chris Peterson intercepted Trey Wheeler's pass and returned it for 15 yards to put the Jacks, once again, back in scoring territory. In three carries, Lyndon Rowells rushed to put the ball at Simon Fraser's nine yard line as the first quarter came to an end. Kevin Miles finished the drive, snatching a 7-yard pass from Proulx to increase the Humboldt State lead to 28-0.

The Clan scored their only touchdown of the game in the second quarter of a six-play drive. Bo Palmer slipped past the Lumberjack defense and ran 46 yards before stepping out of bounds at the HSU nine yard line. Greg Bowcott then ran in the final yardage for the touchdown.

HSU responded in the next play when Dallas grabbed a pass from Proulx in the endzone to put the score at 35-7—which it would remain heading into halftime. 

In the second half, the Jacks capitalized first off a touchdown from Rowells, who rushed 96 yards on 21 carries on the night. The Clan responded the next play when Ian Sternau kicked in a 34-yard field goal to put the score at 42-10. Neither team scored again for the game, leaving the final score at 42-10.

"The second half, there was a lack of energy," said Smith. "A lot of times, when you're up big at halftime, that can happen. We got a lot of players playing time, which is always nice, but those players need to understand that they need to bring the same energy as the starters in the beginning of the game, and I don't think that happened tonight."

While Smith felt his team had some letdown in the second half, overall he was pleased with the Jacks. For a team that has dominated the running game, Humboldt State showed it also had a passing component to its game. The Jacks totalled 399 offensive yards and limited the Clan to 254 total offensive yards.

Jona Faraimo led the Humboldt State defense with six tackles on the night. Waggoner also contributed to the defense for the Jacks with the blocked punt and also had an interception and two tackles.

"How can you be disappointed about a 42-10 win?" said Smith. "It's a good place to be."

Smith is proud of his team for continuing to make progress, but he knows there's still a lot of football left to be played. The Jacks may see a conference championship on the horizon, but their last road trip of the regular season stands in front of them first.

"We're where we want to be—we're 7-1 and we got a big win here tonight heading into our last road trip of the regular season," said Smith. "Let's hope we take care of business and come home here for a gigantic game against Western Oregon. But first things first, we have to get things done down at Dixie."

HSU might be without a couple players who got a little knocked up tonight. Nick Campana and Campana both went down in the same play and could be questionable for next week's game. Matt Gorella suffered a head injury that left him on the sidelines for precautionary reasons. The Jacks were also without Guy Ricciardulli—out with a groin injury—but Smith hopes his return will be sooner than later.

"Late in the season you deal with these bumps and bruises—and we've certainly had our share—but for the most part I think we got out of this one relatively healthy and we'll be ready to go next week against Dixie," said Smith.

With two games left in the regular season, the Jacks are not looking at letting down any time soon. They have their eyes on the prize and are going after it.