Sun Devil Stadium - 104 degrees on the field over 50,000 fans, most of them in ASU Gold t-shirts. This is what the Lumberjacks saw as they came out onto the field right after the Sun Devil players had run through the 300 plus member contingent of cheerleaders, band and other ASU supporters. What they heard was a thunderous sound that made it impossible to hear a person speak that was standing right next to you on the field. What they knew was that they could and should beat the 24th ranked team in the nation. What they did was force ASU into a standoff that was not broken until a fourth quarter breakdown that was a Murrietta pass intercepted and ran back 35 yards for the go ahead TD by ASU's Chris Baloney. Division 1 schools use the early season to schedule non conference foes so they can get their timing in and work out the bugs, get "warmed up" so to speak. NAU, their warm-up games are ASU and Utah.
Not until the fourth quarter INT and TD did NAU, short handed on players, staff and fans finally get worn down by the overwhelming heat, cramps and noise. They did not quit, they hit a wall, one that ASU expected to crash NAU into on the first possession of the game. The Sun Devils fully expected to have their entire contingent of players into the game for at least two full quarters. Two missed field goals by NAU's kicker Robbie Dehaze were critical in the turnaround. The INT and TD by ASU would have been irrelevant footnotes in a Sun Devil loss had these two kicks sailed true. This is not to put the blame on one person, for it would be unfair and untrue. Rather, let me tell you about the NAU kicker. The one that was, until he came to NAU a soccer player and a golfer. In case it is not sinking in, Robbie NEVER kicked a football before college. He barely missed these two, likely he will never again miss what are easy kicks for him. Had he been given the luxury of playing before large, noisy, enemy crowds, he would have been fine.
Before I go any further let me quickly go over the scoring in this game. After ASU had moved quickly into scoring position at the NAU 4 yard line and after NAU had stopped successive run attempts and then after NAU's Adam Wright intercepted Carpenter in the end zone. Then after NAU gave them the ball back on downs at the NAU four yard line. Then after NAU stopped ASU on the ground four plays in a row, then NAU rumbled, bumbled, fumbled and stumbled right before Jason Murrietta, the Glendale, Arizona Ironwood High School graduate threw a pass as he was diving to the turf to THE fastest football player in the state of Arizona. That would be #3 Alex Watson, who made a leaping acrobatic catch before taking it the rest of the way to cap an 80 yard scoring drive.
Fifty Four Thousand people, 53,000 of them ASU fans heard the roar of the NAU fans as they exploded when their Lumberjacks scored first. AFTER stopping the Devils on two consecutive drives inside the NAU five yard line. The only sound coming from the home crowd was the start of the boos and the quite chants for a guy named Sam.
Wait. As you might expect the Devils came roaring back to "Give 'em Hell." Sort of, actually the Sun Devils punted the ball back to NAU, then NAU punted the ball back to ASU, sort of. The first quarter actually ended with no scoring by ASU, none, zip. The second quarter, however saw a resurgent Sun Devil squad, sort of. They did score on NAU, finally. This happened after the "sort of " punt by Rhian Madrid gave ASU a short field and the Devils used it to get a 13 yard TD pass from Rudy Carpenter to Shaun DeWitty to tie the game 7-7. The Sun Devils fans went crazy, the noise was back and ASU was a number 24 nationally ranked team again with the swagger to prove it. They knew they were back when Dehaze missed the 41 yard field goal and the Devils took the ball again with eight minutes to go in the half.
Surely NAU was done, after all the Lumberjacks had a great kickoff return by Ricky Wilson to start that last drive at the NAU 44 yard line only to see it end in no points. On top of that NAU quarterback Murrietta had been pounded on that same drive. He was sacked three times for 25 yards in losses and ran for one yard and was hit, pushed and shoved on nearly every play. They had to know that Sun Devil Law #1 WIN was now in force.
But three plays and a punt later the Lumberjacks had the ball again. This time at their own 40 yard line. A long ways from the endzone. The first play was a run, a sure sign that NAU was going to play conservative and go in at the half, if possible with a 7-7 tie. At least that is what the ASU faithful thought. After all the NAU run by Josh Sales gained no yards and Murrietta was being pummeled play after brutal play. Then THE fastest football player in the state of Arizona took a short pass, underneath coverage and tip toed on the sideline near midfield as the Sun Devils secondary came flying up to meet him. But Alex Watson was not in the mood for any ASU contact and he outran two thirds of the ASU team on his way to his second score. This one for 60 yards, after which he set the ball down in the endzone and ran back to his bench. If you had not seen him score, you would not know he had. Usually after a touchdown in a Sun Devil endzone there is a celebration, joyous, well populated and long lasting. A-Wats, team first, it is his job to perform well. Not to perform. He is good at his job. NAU 14 ASU 7.
Before the half was over ASU punted the ball back to NAU, and then NAU punted the ball back to ASU, sort of, this one going 12 yards and allowing the Sun Devils to start a drive at their own 40 yard line. It did not take Rudy Carpenter long to hit Ryan Torain for a 39 touchdown pass to tie it 14-14. The half ended with NAU at the line after a completion to Watson. The 14 all tie game at the half was a shock to most of the Sun Devil fans and in the Southwest corner of the stadium, a group of fans had spent almost the entire second quarter chanting for Sam and offering career and coaching advice for the ASU coach. It was amusing and confusing, but mostly funny. After all they were asking for a guy that had quit on them, at least be fair and ask for someone that had the courage to stay with his team.
The third quarter began with Murrietta taking the team into field goal range and getting pounded again as he was sacked twice. The second making the field goal a long 49 yard try which was just short. On this drive Skyler Moore pulled in a 34 yard pass soon after another great kick off return by Ricky Wilson. The NAU defense came up big on the next ASU drive. They forced a fumble, got a sack and made ASU punt. Then after picking up first downs, one by the other NAU quarterback, Lance Kriesen, NAU was forced to punt and this time Rhian Madrid's 41 yard punt had the Devils starting at their 27 yard line.
But after looking like the swagger had indeed risen in the Devils Domain the Lumberjacks KJ Gerard forced a Rudy Burgess fumble and NAU had it back with the recovery by Austin Martin. After a couple of plays the third quarter ended with the score still NAU 14 ASU 14. It was the first play of the fourth when ASU's Chris Baloney scored on the interception to make it ASU 21 NAU 14. After the kick NAU did pick up some first downs, in fact Alex Watson had receptions of 8 yards and 24 yards. But penalties the worst being a loss of down forced them to punt and Rhian Madrid sent this one 56 yards.
The Sun Devils started to get hot right about now and they moved the ball well against the cramping NAU defense. Devils Shaun DeWitty picked up 9, then 25 yards. Soon after a penalty Keegan Herring ran it in from 15 yards out to make the score ASU 28 NAU 14. After the kickoff, NAU struggled and had to punt. This time Madrid drilled this one for 68 yards. It was run out to the ASU 19 but a penalty on the Devils moved it back to the ASU 9 yard line.
This drive was bound to score as the Devils had much to prove to themselves. Dimitri Nance picked up 3 yards. Zach Miller caught a 23 yard pass followed by Nance runs of 4 and 2 yards plus a pass to Burgess for 4 yards. Another set of 4 and 9 yards by Nance then a 3 yard Carpenter run. Nance again for 17 then 6 then 6 again, 4 and finally the 6 yard touchdown to close out the scoring and make the score ASU 35 NAU 14.
The game ended with NAU moving the ball, as it had all game using the no huddle offense installed this off-season by the new offensive coordinator Keith Matheny. Keith has valley ties being a former coach on staff with Ken Giavondo at Scottsdale Community College. This is a team that currently has 30 Arizona players on its roster. The Lumberjacks are second only to ASU in promoting players into pro football. Three years ago a mostly senior team came into Sun Devil Stadium and played well. The Lumberjacks lost 27 players to graduation after that great season. After two years of building a program from the ground up NAU has a young but experience squad. This past weekend only a handful of starters for NAU were seniors, many young men got playing time that will help make this team strong for years to come.
Jason Murrietta has taken a lot of heat for the last two seasons. Much of the criticism of the program fell on him. Against the Sun Devils he took a seasons worth of heat in terms of sacks (9), hits, countless and pressure. Look for this young man, one that has been through the fire to come out and help lead this team well as they march towards a Big Sky Title. The Lumberjacks head coach has himself been under attack for the recent season, he said himself that 2005 was one of the hardest of his career. Against the Sun Devils, you got to see what Jerome Souers and his fine staff can do under pressure. As we head towards the Big Game that is ASU vs the UA, keep in mind that in Flagstaff there is a team full of Arizona players that will face any challenge. They are worth watching, the NAU Lumberjacks.
The Sun Devils host Nevada on September 9th at 7 PM at ASU. The Lumberjacks travel to Utah on the 9th to play at 5pm. ASU, despite this game is still a clear favorite to be fighting it out with a revived UA Wildcat program for a shot at a bowl game and the PAC-10 Title this season. Yes, this season. No matter what you think, the Devils have the tools and the coaching to get it done. It is unfair to believe that all the negative talk directed at this young team by the media, ASU boosters and more over the quarterback issue did not have an effect on their ability to prepare. Pressure like that is seldom handled at all. Yet coach Dirk Koetter and his staff and players have handled it with class. Expect them to get refocused on the business of football and for the Sun Devils to take control of their season.
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Jason Murrietta QB Sr.
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Alex Watson WR Jr.
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Lance Kriesen QB/H//WR So.
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