Box Score ARCATA – Only two plays into Saturday's football season-opener between Humboldt State and Simon Fraser, the entire game plan changed. Now, HSU will wait to see how much the season will be altered by the loss of standout running back
Nick Ricciardulli.
Ricciardulli, last year's Great Northwest Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, went down with a knee injury that kept him off the field the rest of the way in HSU's 41-27 loss to Simon Fraser. Further hindering Humboldt State's attack was the loss of backup running back
Daniel Wyatt, who was also forced to the sidelines after suffering a lower leg injury early in the second quarter.
"Your whole game plan goes out the window when you lose your top two running backs," HSU head coach
Rob Smith said. "It was like playing the game with one hand behind our backs."
Riccardulli and Wyatt will both be assessed further Monday. Also leaving the game with an injury was starting defensive lineman Jonathan Rowe, who was helped off the field in the third quarter and didn't return.
Having even more of an impact to the game's outcome was Simon Fraser's passing attack, which totaled 518 yards. Quarterback Ryan Stanford completed 33 of 46 attempts, with one interception and three touchdowns, while wide receiver Bobby Pospischil also got in the action, completing two long passes for touchdowns.
The Clan finished with 587 yards of total offense to Humboldt State's 370. Stanford's prime target was Lemar Durant, who caught 11 passes for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
"I thought the secondary was going to be a strength, but they showed a lack of discipline tonight," Smith said. "Our defense overall did not play a very good game."
The Lumberjacks' last chance to mount a comeback came when strong safety
Gianni Olivas intercepted a Stanford pass and ran it back to the SFU 19-yard line with 2 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. But HSU quarterback
Kyle Morris, who was playing in his first game since 2010, was picked of by the Clan's Casey Chin on the Jacks' first play of the ensuing drive, ending Humboldt's hopes.
Humboldt State opened the scoring with
Matt Bruder's 33-yard field goal, then added a 2-yard scoring pass from Morris to
Kelechi Nwadibia and a 2-yard touchdown run by
Ricky Sims. But big gainers allowed the Clan to remain close, putting up points on a 41-yard pass from Pospischil to Kyle Kawamoto and a 69-yard completion from Stanford to Durant that trimmed HSU's lead to 17-14 by halftime.
Simon Fraser dominated the third quarter, putting up 20 points to HSU's 7, but Bruder's 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter put the Jacks within striking distance at 34-27. But Stanford and his teammates answered with a 13-play, 65-yard drive that ended when the quarterback pushed the ball across the goal line himself with 5:51 remaining.
Morris carried the bulk of the Jacks' offense, finishing 20-42 passing for 203 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. He also was the team's leading rusher, carrying the ball 25 times for 119 yards.
Humboldt State goes on the road for the first time this week, traveling to play NCAA Division I FCS Portland State on Saturday in a non-conference match-up.
