Amerson Too Much For Vikings

Big Sky/Big West

Archie Amerson ran for a career-high 289 yards and three touchdowns Saturday in Portland as Northern Arizona defeated Portland State 38-24 in the first-ever Big Sky Conference game for the Vikings.

Amerson had 830 yards in four games for the Lumberjacks (3-1 overall, 1-0 in the Big Sky). Saturday, he had scoring runs of 22, 39 and 21 yards, the last of which sealed the game in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings (1-2, 0-1) jumped to NCAA Division I-AA from Division II this season. However, their conference games won’t count in the standings, and they won’t be eligible for postseason play for two years.

Portland State held a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, but Northern Arizona scored 17 second-quarter points, including a 67-yard scoring pass from quarterback Travis Brown to Ray Flores with 8:32 left in the period, to take a 24-21 halftime lead.

Brian Warner scored a pair of touchdowns for the Vikings, one on a 2-yard run in the first period and the other on a 21-yard pass from Eric Kiesau in the second period.

Kiesau was 25 of 45 for 306 yards and one touchdown.

Northern Arizona outgained the Vikings 530-385.

Northern Ariz. 38, Portland St. 24

N. Arizona 7 17 6 8 - 38 Portland St. 14 7 0 3 - 24

PSU-Warner 2 run (Brennan kick)

NAU-Amerson 22 run (Jagodzinski kick)

PSU-Johnson 55 pass from Holley (Brennan kick)

NAU-Galbreath 6 run (Jagodzinski kick)

NAU-FG Jagodzinski 30

PSU-Warner 21 pass from Kiesau (Brennan kick)

NAU-Flores 67 pass from Brown (Jagodzinski kick)

NAU-Amerson 39 run (kick failed)

PSU-FG Brennan 36

NAU-Amerson 21 run (Brown run)

A-10,137

NAU PSU First downs 27 26 Rushes-yards 50-302 35-43 Passing 231 361 Comp-Att-Int 15-32-1 26-48-2 Return Yards 221 205 Punts-Avg. 5-35.8 7-37.0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0 Penalties-Yards 7-93 11-103 Time of Possession 32:13 27:47

Individual statistics

RUSHING-Northern Arizona, Amerson 39-289, Galbreath 3-13, Brown 4-8, Carson 3-6, Jagodzinski 1-(minus 14). Portland St., Warner 10-88, Clemons 17-11, Kiesau 8-(minus 56).

PASSING-Northern Arizona, Brown 15-32-1-231. Portland St., Kiesau 25-45-2-306, Johnson 0-2-0-0, Holley 1-1-0-55.

RECEIVING-Northern Arizona, Pearsall 4-67, Flores 3-96, Black 3-45, Lockett 1-13, Galbreath 1-7, Amerson 1-5, Lemos 1-(minus 1), St. Paul 1-(minus 1). Portland St., Warner 8-87, Johnson 6-121, Holley 5-75, Clemons 2-37, Craft 2-19, Harris 2-12, Gallop 1-10.

Montana St. 37, Minn.-Duluth 0

At Bozeman, Mont., big plays from the offense, defense and special teams led to the Bobcats’ season-opening drubbing of Minnesota-Duluth.

Matt Engelking rushed 13 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns, including a career long 83-yarder, that put MSU up 24-0 early in the third quarter.

Scott Matthews recovered two fumbles, including one that set up Engelking’s 23-yard touchdown run with 5 minutes left in the first quarter.

Sacramento St. 27, UC Davis 24

At Davis, Calif., Tony Corbin’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Sheridan Mitchell with 2:20 to lift Sacramento State.

Mitchell’s scoring catch capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive for Sacramento (1-1). The victory snapped a four-game losing streak to Davis (0-2).

Weber St. 30, Cal Poly SLO 20

At San Luis Obispo, Calif., Roger Cook passed for 291 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Wildcats.

Cook, who completed 20 of 33 passes with one interception, threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Taurus McGhee and a 6-yarder to Richard Clarke in the second quarter, when Weber State (3-0) scored 20 points, and a 20-yarder to Cam Quayle with 13:42 left in the game.

Cal Poly (0-3) took a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard touchdown run by Mike Allshouse in the first quarter.

Idaho St. 47, W. Montana 0

At Pocatello, Idaho, Gary Anderson threw two touchdowns to lead the Bengals (2-1) over NAIA Western Montana College (1-2).

Big West Texas A&M 55, North Texas 0

At College Station, Texas, Branndon Stewart threw two touchdown passes and D’Andre Hardeman scored twice as the Aggies (1-2) rolled over the mistake-prone Eagles (1-2).

Stewart threw touchdown passes of 55 and 22 yards to Albert Connell, and D’Andre Hardeman scored on a 2-yard run after Rich Coady intercepted his second pass off Josh Gulley.

Stewart completed 17 of 30 for 275 yards. Gulley was 5 of 16 for 51 yards.

CS-Northridge 33, New Mexico St. 0

At Las Cruces, N.M., the Matadors (2-1) capitalized on four first-half turnovers and Aaron Flowers threw for four touchdowns to beat the Aggies (0-4).