Turnovers Carry Simon Fraser Over Whitworth

Small colleges

Offense … who needs it?

In the first half of their 34-15 non-conference college football victory over Whitworth Saturday afternoon, certainly not the Simon Fraser Clansmen, whose big-play defense carried them to their second straight win.

The Pirates had regular quarterback J.J. Green back in the lineup after two weeks away with mononucleosis, but two critical first-half offensive mistakes resulting in Clan touchdowns turned things Simon Fraser’s way.

The Clansmen (2-3) recorded only 22 yards of offense and two first downs in the second period, but they turned a 6-3 first-period deficit into a 20-8 halftime lead on Jason Clemett’s 59-yard interception return and Robert Kozikowski’s 84-yard return of a Whitworth fumble.

The young Pirates lost their third straight after an opening victory, although this one was only a final warmup for their first Columbia Football Association contest next week at Pacific Lutheran.

It was SFU coach Chris Beaton’s 50th - win, not birthday - Saturday at the Pine Bowl, where the Clansmen did plenty of celebrating on a sunny fall afternoon.

Whitworth had taken a 6-3 first-quarter lead, but even then the Pirates were whistling in the dark. Scott Sund recovered teammate Caleb Arceneaux’s fumble in the end zone after the latter’s 18-yard run, and the Bucs had also fumbled and recovered earlier in the drive.

The conversion try missed and Simon Fraser drove to Brett Anderson’s second field goal, a 41-yarder that tied the score at 6-all with 13:23 to play in the first half.

Whitworth took a short-lived 8-6 lead one play after Tony Jensen’s fine punt to the SF 2, when linebacker Jeff Baxter hammered running back Mike McLaughlin in the end zone for a safety.

That preceded Clemett’s pick, which came when Green’s pass bounced through David Glenn’s hands to the Clan linebacker.

Kozikowski’s long return up the left sideline came at a terrible time for the Bucs, who had driven to the SF 22. But Timothy Rust’s fumble at the end of a 5-yard run took one big hop into Kozikowski’s hands and he was off to the races.

Green passed the Pirates to the Simon Fraser 12 in the last minute of the first half, but Jensen’s second-down field-goal attempt was wide.

The Clansmen pulled away in the third period, when they enjoyed great field position, running only one play on their side of the 50. David Mattiazo ran 68 yards on SF’s first second-half play from scrimmage, and he finished the brief drive with a 1-yard plunge that made it 27-8.

Quarterback Trevor Martin stretched the score to 34-8 when he ran 28 yards on a draw play from the spread formation midway in the third period, and Whitworth running back Jon Olson finished the scoring when he went over the top from a yard away on the second play of the fourth quarter. Olson’s leap finished a picture-perfect 14-play, 97-yard drive which settled down the Pirates offense, although it consumed almost 7 minutes.

Simon Fraser 34, Whits 15

Simon Fraser 3 17 14 0 - 34

Whitworth 6 2 0 7 - 15

SFUAnderson 33 FG

WC-Sund fumble recovery in end zone (kick failed) SFUAnderson 41 FG

WC-Safety, Baxter tackled McLaughlin in end zone SFUClemett 19 interception return (Anderson kick) SFUKozikowski 84 fumble recovery (Anderson kick) SFUMattiazo 1 run (Anderson kick) SFUMartin 28 run (Anderson kick)

WC-Olson 1 run (Jensen kick)

A-1,276.

SFU WC First downs 12 24 Rushes-yards 38-200 44-180 Passing 105 269 Return Yards 166 8 Comp-Att-Int 11-23-0 16-39-2 Punts 6-36.2 6-34.7 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 5-1 Penalties-Yards 4-30 4-26 Time of Possession 30:37 29:23

RUSHINGSimon Fraser, McLaughlin 7-20, Lee 12-42, Martin 6-40, Mattiazo 8-79, Marquard 3-10, Bawa 2-9. Whitworth, Olson 10-105, Arceneaux 13-58, Rust 12-37, Parbon 3-17, Stanley 1-2, Wicks 1-0, Green 4-(minus 39).

PASSINGSimon Fraser, Martin 10-21-0-100, Weber 1-2-0-5. Whitworth, Green 13-29-1-233, Parbon 3-10-1-36.

RECEIVINGSimon Fraser, Clarke 3-29, Hamer-Jackson 2-29, Tyler 2-20, Lee 2-7, Fortier 1-19, McLaughlin 1-1. Whitworth, Glenn 4-127, Doughty 4-52, Ernst 3-35, Wicks 3-35, Sund 1-14, Olson 1-6.

WWU 20, Linfield 13

Running back Jon Brunaugh rushed for 70 yards and his 30-yard touchdown pass put the Vikings up for good in a CFA upset win over the No. 1-ranked Wildcats in McMinnville, Ore.

Western Washington, ranked No. 4, improved to 4-0. WWU opened a 14-5 lead in the second quarter when Brunaugh hit tight end Ryan Lahmann for a score.

Linfield (3-1) pulled to within 14-13 late in the second quarter, but Western used two field goals by Wade Gebers to build the winning margin.

CWU 52, Puget Sound 6

Quarterback Jon Kitna threw four touchdown passes as Central Washington defeated the Loggers in a CFA game at Ellensburg.

Kitna played just one series in the second half and finished with 23 of 32 attempts for 281 yards.