No. 15 ASU too much for Lumberjacks

By DANIEL BERK  Sun Sports Staff   Sunday, August 31, 2008   

TEMPE -- If one play could wrap up NAU's opening game of the 2008 season against Arizona State, it was the first play of the second half.

Jacks quarterback Lance Kriesien fumbled a shotgun snap, picked it up frantically and scrambled for a one-yard gain. Seconds later, punter Robbie Dehaze started warming up his leg on the sidelines. That about sums it up.

The Jacks struggled all game to keep up with the 15th-ranked Sun Devils and lost 30-13 in the season opener for both teams.

"You have to credit ASU. They are ranked 15th in the country and they should maybe be even higher than that," Kriesien said. "At the same time, I didn't think we did what we're capable of. We had a lot of effort tonight, but for the most part, it seemed like 10 guys were doing their job and one wasn't and you can't play football with 10 people."

Trailing 27-0 at halftime, NAU managed to outscore ASU 17-3 in the second half to close the gap, however, ASU lifted most of their starters on both sides of the ball midway through the third quarter.

In the first half, ASU quarterback Rudy Carpenter had his way with the NAU defense and showed why he's a Heisman Trophy candidate, throwing for 388 yards and one touchdown in the rout.

The Westlake, Calif., native didn't waste any time getting to work either. On ASU's first drive of the game, Carpenter found sophomore Kerry Taylor for a 52-yard touchdown to give the Sun Devils a 7-0 lead just 2:06 into the game.

"He's a great player. He just picked our defense apart," tight end Shaun Fitzpatrick said. "He just got the job done today."

After holding the Sun Devils to two punts and a field on goal on their next three possessions, Carpenter got back to work in the second quarter and started to put the game out of reach.

On ASU's first drive of the second quarter, Carpenter, who went 3-for-3 for 46 yards and added 23 more yards on the ground on the drive, marched his team 99 yards down the field for a score. Running back Dimitri Nance capped off the drive with a 3- yard touchdown run to make it 17-0.

After forcing Dehaze to punt, Carpenter and the ASU offense decided to speed it up and the senior quarterback led his team on another touchdown drive, this time, needing just four plays to march 80 yards and again going 3-for-3 for 74 yards.

"We saw Rudy two years ago and that's not even the same guy," NAU coach Jerome Souers said. "He bought time and made some plays. That overwhelmed us, particularly in the second quarter."

While Carpenter flourished on one side, the NAU quarterbacks and the rest of the offense struggled on the other side, especially in the first half.

As expected, senior Lance Kriesien got the start for the Lumberjacks and played the entire first quarter. The Houston native frequently was flushed out of the pocket and forced to throw on the run, courtesy of the Arizona State pass rush.

He went 5-for-9 in the first quarter for 34 yards and led his team to three first downs. With the Jacks trailing 17-0 and struggling to get much going on offense, University of Mississippi transfer Michael Herrick got his shot.

Herrick played three series' and ended up going 2-for-5 for 17 yards. He also was on the receiving end of a vicious sack by ASU defensive end Dexter Davis.

Herrick's three series' closed out the first half and Kriesien re- entered for the second half and played the remainder of the game.

With Kriesien under center, NAU managed to get the offense going in the fourth quarter against ASU's second team defense and cut the deficit down to 17 points.

After Dehaze connected on a 21-yard field goal, Kriesien found redshirt freshman Brian Riley in the end zone for a three- yard touchdown pass. After ASU punted, Dehaze added another field goal, this one from 25 yards out to make the score 30-13 and holding up for the final.

"Obviously we're disappointed in the outcome of the game. When we look at our own performance, we practiced better than we played today," Souers said. "I was pleased with the way the guys bounced back in the second half. At halftime, we said we were going to ignore the score and play like it was zero-zero and try to come out and re-establish some things that we can do well and I thought we did a better job of that in the second half."