Ewu’s Dreams Booted Field Goal Lifts Lumberjacks Past Eagles In Defensive Battle

It hardly seemed fitting that Northern Arizona, with so many wonderful offensive weapons at its disposal, would draw a cap pistol from its holster to shoot down Eastern Washington and its NCAA Division I-AA playoff hopes.

But that’s what the sixth-ranked Lumberjacks did Saturday in front of 3,915 Woodward Stadium fans when they used a 28-yard field goal by Mark Jagodzinski with 9 seconds left to hand the Eagles a crushing 13-10 Big Sky Conference setback in their regular-season home finale.

Forget Archie Amerson, the most prolific collegiate running back in the country, who gnawed at Eastern’s defense for 167 tough yards on 34 carries. And forget quarterback Travis Brown, the redshirt freshman phenom, who threw for 258 yards and NAU’s only touchdown.

When Lumberjacks coach Steve Axman went for the kill, he turned to Jagodzinski, who has been erratic all season. Jagodzinski’s decisive kick had plenty of distance and was more confidently struck than the 23-yard, slow-rising knuckleball that somehow staggered between the goal posts early in the fourth quarter to give NAU a short-lived 10-7 lead.

“Our kicking game is what really came through for us on that last drive,” Axman said. “(Jagodzinski) has had trouble off and on all season, but when he had to make the big kick, he got it done.”

The loss dropped 20th-ranked EWU to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big Sky, and assured that next Saturday’s road game against Cal State Northridge will be played for nothing more than pride.

Meanwhile, NAU can sit back and wait for the NCAA invitation that will make its playoff lock official after closing its regular season at 9-2 and 6-1.

“It was a great ballgame to watch and a great ballgame to be a part of, but we came up (nine) seconds short against a pretty darned good football team,” lamented EWU coach Mike Kramer after watching his team’s most inspired defensive effort of the season go to waste. “Still, I was certainly proud of the way we threw ourselves at it.”

The Eagles did a remarkable job in limiting NAU to 422 total yards and 13 points, which were 111 yards and 33 points below NAU’s season averages. Amerson, who came in averaging 191.2 rushing yards per game, finished with decent numbers but gained 99 of his 167 yards in the final quarter.

He went over the 2,000-yard mark for the season early in the final period making the Lumberjacks the first college team at any level to produce a 2,000-yard rusher and 3,000-yard passer (Brown) in the same season.

Amerson was also instrumental in NAU’s final drive, carrying seven times for 25 yards.

Still, the Eagles had the Lumberjacks facing a crucial third-and-2 situation from the EWU 37-yard line just five plays into the drive and might have forced Axman’s hand - and Jagodzinski’s leg - much earlier had defensive tackle Avont Grant not jumped offside to set up a first down at the 32.

“We made the kind of mistakes that a football team trying to win big games that has never won big games before makes,” Kramer said. “The big thing is that we learn from the experience.”

The Eagles smothered NAU’s offense throughout most of the first half, before letting the ‘Jacks loose on an 85-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown just before intermission.

Chris Warner got the score on a 6-yard pass from Brown, but the big play was made by Mike Lemos, who hauled in a Brown pass on third-and-25 from EWU’s 35 and broke three tackles to pick up the first down at the 5.

The Eagles were able to answer NAU’s late second-quarter drive and 7-0 halftime lead with a 14-yard scoring pass from Griffin Garske to Antwan Miller early in the third period. And they tied the game at 10 on a 31-yard Josh Atwood field goal with 4:16 left in the fourth.

The three points hardly seemed like a just reward, however, considering it appeared the Eagles had scored a touchdown just a play earlier when Garske connected with Miller again, this time from 13 yards out in the back right corner of the end zone.

The play brought an immediate roar that quieted almost as quickly when an official standing right next to Miller ruled he did not get a foot down before stepping on the end line.

“I couldn’t tell,” Kramer admitted when asked if he thought Miller might have made the catch inbounds. “I didn’t see it very close, but I hope he wasn’t in. That would be a shame.”

Game video shot by members of EWU’s athletic department showed the official made the right call.

N. Arizona 13, E. Washington 10

N. Arizona 0 7 0 6 13

E. Washington 0 0 7 3 - 10

NAUWarner 6 pass from Brown (Jagodzinski kick) EWUMiller 14 pass from Garske (Atwood kick) NAUFG Jagodzinski 23 EWUFG Atwood 31 NAUFG Jagodzinski 28 A-3,915

NAU EWU First downs 23 16 Rushes-yards 38-164 35-115 Passing 258 199 Comp-Att-Int 23-42-0 12-27-4 Return Yards 57 86 Punts-Avg. 6-34.7 4-40.0 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0 Penalties-Yards 5-45 4-33 Time of Possession 33:30 26:30

Individual statistics

RUSHINGN. Arizona, Amerson 34-167, Brown 4-minus 3. E. Washington, Sewell 20-108, Prescott 8-17, Miller 1-1, Garske 6-minus 11.

PASSINGN. Arizona, Brown 23-42-0 258. E. Washington, Garske 12-27-4 199.

RECEIVINGN. Arizona, St. Paul 9-119, Amerson 4-30, Flores 3-43, Lemos 2-32, Black 2-22, Pearsall 1-8, Warner 1-6, Carson 1-minus 2. E. Washington, Correa 2-42, Prescott 2-41, Ogden 2-36, Miller 2-22, Sewell 2-16, Johnson 1-30, Jackson 1-12.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo