Box Score
MONMOUTH, Ore. – Squandering their own opportunities while providing opponents with multiple chances, Humboldt State's Lumberjacks remained winless after falling to Western Oregon, 38-21, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference football game Saturday.
Humboldt State fell to 0-6 on the season and 0-5 in the GNAC while Western Oregon improved to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in league.
Sophomore running back Joe Harris fueled Western Oregon's ball control offense, rushing 24 times for 182 yards and scoring a pair of touchdowns. Junior quarterback Ryan Bergman maintained offensive balance, completing 19 of 37 passes for 295 yards and two touchdowns. Keeping him from an even better stats line were several potential catches dropped by his receivers.
After forging a 14-10 lead early in the game, Humboldt State's defense was victimized by both the Wolves' and its own offense. Western Oregon parlayed only one of six Lumberjacks' turnovers into points, but all of the giveaways forced the Jacks' defense back onto the field with very little rest.
Following a scoreless third quarter, the Wolves took advantage of the weary Lumberjack defense, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter to salt the game away. They started the period with Bergman's 5-yard touchdown run, extending the lead to 24-14.
Western Oregon built an insurmountable cushion, scoring touchdowns on a 17-yard completion from Bergman to tight end Dustin Herd and Harris' 24-yard run. The game ended as the first half had, with one of two HSU quarterbacks throwing an interception.
Selected to start for the first time as a Lumberjack, quarterback
Spencer Phillips finished 29 of 39 for 252 yards passing, throwing for one touchdown and accounting for one of the interceptions. He was sacked three times by the WOU defense.
Celebrating Western Oregon's homecoming, the Wolves found their stride early, finishing a 7-play, 73-yard drive with Bergman's 36-yard touchdown pass to Antoinne Wafer on the game's first possession. But the Jacks matched the march, moving the ball 70 yards on eight plays and finishing with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Phillips to
Kelechi Nwadibia.
Continuing to click on offense, the Wolves took the ensuing kickoff 72 yards in 11 plays before the Jacks' defense forced them to settle for Jesse Correa's 27-yard field goal. Only two plays later, Humboldt State turned the ball over for the first time when
Jamarie Sanders' fumble was recovered by William Kanongata'a.
HSU survived that miscue, forcing the Wolves to punt when linebacker
Cameron Buell broke through to sack Bergman on third down. Phillips then directed HSU's most impressive offensive set of the day, a 10-play, 80-yard drive that resulted in Sanders' three-yard touchdown run and the Jacks' only lead of the game at 14-10.
More courageous defense by HSU kept the Wolves from scoring on a 15-play drive that consumed more than six minutes before Correa missed a 39-yard field goal. The Jacks forced a punt after three plays on WOU's next possession, but the Wolves got the ball back on the HSU 9-yard line when HSU fumbled the punt. Harris needed only one play to power the ball in and give his team a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Nwadibia, a first-year junior transfer, had his best game as a Lumberjack, catching nine passes for 130 yards. Freshman
Chase Krivashei matched the total, finishing with nine receptions for 83 yards.
HSU is back home this week, beginning the second half of the season with a 6 p.m. game Saturday against Azusa Pacific in Redwood Bowl.
