Ryan ChartrandCal Poly junior quarterback Jonathan Dally rushed for four touchdowns, one shy of the single-game school record, in the Mustangs’ 56-21 win over Big Sky Conference foe Northern Colorado Saturday at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
“The line had more to do with this than me,” Dally said.
Dally ran for 82 yards on 11 carries and went 6-of-8 passing for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
The game marked the first time this season that the Mustangs got more of their total offensive yards on the ground than in the air. Cal Poly posted 612 yards of total offense, with 416 rushing coming on 55 carries.
Leading the way for the Mustangs in the ground attack was sophomore Jono Grayson, who posted a career-high 127 yards with an average of 8.5 yards per carry.
“The scoreboard says that was easy, but there was nothing easy about it,” Cal Poly head coach Rich Ellerson said. “It was hard fought, they hit the heck out of us. We couldn’t stop them much.”
Ellerson cited a multitude of defensive injuries as some of the key elements in allowing the Bears to walk away from the game with 380 offensive yards.
“The dam broke tonight a little bit,” Ellerson said. “We had our fingers crossed and hoped and prayed that we could get though this game without setting ourselves back so we could get well . we incurred some stuff that’s not necessarily going to get better in a week.”
Offensively, Ellerson said that Cal Poly was “much more efficient” in running the triple option.
“What we’re finding is when we get it right, we’ve got people touching the ball that can really do something,” Ellerson said.
Cal Poly scored 21 unanswered points early in the game. The first touchdown came on a 2-yard dive by Dally with 11:52 to play in the first quarter. The Mustangs added to their lead when Dally connected with wide receiver Ramses Barden on a lob to the right side of the end zone.
Barden finished the game with 158 yards on four catches, marking the fourth time this season that he has posted a 100-yard game.
The Mustangs scored again on their third possession of the game when junior
Ernie Cooper turned the corner on the right side to complete an 11-yard run for six points. It was Cooper’s first score of the season.
The Bears got on the board with 4:24 left in the half when quarterback Michael Vlahogeorge found receiver Ryan Chesla for an 8-yard reception to cap a six-play, 48-yard drive.
Cal Poly was able to score one more time in the first half, with Dally scampering in untouched for his second touchdown of the night, this time from 14 yards.
Northern Colorado’s David Woods, who rushed for 131 yards for the Bears, cut the Mustangs’ lead to 42-21 in the third quarter when he wrapped up a 12-play, 87-yard drive with a 10-yard run.
Cal Poly scored on its next two possessions, with Cooper scoring his second touchdown of the night on a 10-yard pass from Dally. Dally followed up with his third of the night on a 1-yard keeper with 2:15 left in the third quarter.
Dominic Breazeale connected with Chesla for 30 yards in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to complete the Bears’ scoring for the night.
Dally and senior running back Kevin Spach scored Cal Poly’s final two touchdowns on runs of 7 and 3 yards, respectively.
Sophomore Fullback Jon Hall rushed for 89 yards on 10 carries but left the game in the fourth quarter due to injury.
Dally was third in rushing for the Mustangs and freshman Jordan Yocum rushed for 62 on eight carries.
Fred Hives II picked up 12 tackles and returned a force-fumble 12 yards while teammate, junior linebacker Mark Restelli, recorded 10 of his 11 tackles in the first half.
Cal Poly has a bye next week before embarking on a four-game road trip starting with The Horseshoe Classic against UC Davis Oct. 13.
“It gives you a great chance to recover,” Ellerson said of the bye.