Quarterback Dano Graves finished with 115 yards on a 11 of 22 passing and an interception as the Cal Poly football team dropped a Big Sky Conference game to Northern Arizona on Saturday.
Stephan Teodosescu
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After knocking Northern Arizona out of the playoff race and earning a share of the Big Sky Conference title and a trip to the FCS playoffs in the regular season finale this past year, the Cal Poly football team may have gotten a taste of its own medicine on Saturday night.
A 96-yard kickoff return by Northern Arizona’s Marcus Alford early in the fourth quarter handed Cal Poly a 17-13 loss in Alex G. Spanos Stadium and potentially knocked the Mustangs out of the hunt for their second consecutive conference title.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where it’s going to be awfully tough for us,” head coach Tim Walsh said. “We have good football teams to play and we can win them all or we can lose them all.”
With the loss, Cal Poly (3-5) moved to 2-2 in the Big Sky, while No. 19 Northern Arizona improved to 4-1. Both Eastern Washington and Montana State won Saturday, boosting their conference-leading records to 4-0.
The Mustangs began conference play with two straight wins before faltering at Montana this past weekend and against Northern Arizona on Saturday. Cal Poly’s defensive efforts in those games were overshadowed by the lack of points scored and by blunders on special teams.
“We’ve played championship caliber football and come up short,” Walsh said.
Injuries have also piled up for the Mustangs as Cal Poly’s leading rusher junior slotback Kristaan Ivory took one carry early in the ballgame against the Lumberjacks before being sidelined for the remainder of the contest with an injured ankle. Cal Poly already lost its top deep-ball threat in junior receiver Willie Tucker to a knee injury earlier in the year.
“We just take it from a standpoint where it’s our turn now to go and get the ball back for our offense,” senior cornerback Bijon Samoodi said of the offensive injuries. “We’ve got to help them out.”
But despite the physical setbacks, Cal Poly was given several opportunities to capitalize on Northern Arizona’s mistakes Saturday.
The Lumberjacks turned the ball over four times, but Cal Poly failed to score in each of its possessions following the takeaways. The Mustangs were forced to punt twice, turned the ball over on downs on a key drive in the fourth quarter and were intercepted with 2:04 to play in the game after the thefts.
“With the field position we had in the first half (off turnovers) to have 10 points was not great,” Walsh said. “But give their defense some credit.”
Sophomore quarterback and Air Force transfer Dano Graves led Cal Poly, throwing for 115 yards on 11 of 22 attempts, but was picked by Austin Hasquet to seal the game for the Lumberjacks. He also paced the Mustangs with 86 yards rushing.
Graves was also stuffed on a fourth-and-inches play with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when Ryan Reardon came flying over the top to sack the quarterback.
The Mustangs opened the scoring in that final frame when senior kicker Bobby Zalud nailed a 22-yard field goal on the first play of the quarter that gave Cal Poly a 13-10 lead. But the advantage was short-lived as Northern Arizona responded with Alford’s kick return for the game’s final advantage.
“I look at it as if we win, we’ll go where we need to go and, but tonight we lost and that probably isn’t going to help us,” junior wide receiver Chris Nicholls said. “I’m not sure where we rank in the whole playoff system or where we rank amongst the Big Sky, but I know we lost tonight and it’s not good for us.”
Nicholls, who played multiple positions due to the injuries on offense, scored Cal Poly’s lone touchdown in the second quarter. He took a 33-yard reverse to the end zone after a Cam Akins block sprung a hole to give the Mustangs a 7-3 lead at the time. He finished with 98 total yards.
The Cal Poly defense held Zach Bauman, the Big Sky’s leading rusher entering the game, to 91 yards on 24 attempts.
Samoodi had one of the interceptions for the Mustangs and Jordan Williams had the other.
The Mustangs head to UC Davis next Saturday to take on the Aggies in the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe. Kickoff is set for 4:05 p.m.