NCAA: SFU Clan win big in season opener

Bo Palmer (North Vancouver, BC) rushed for 71 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Sophomore Clan quarterback Trey Wheeler (Seattle, WA) finished the game completing 17 of 21 pass attempts for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

The Clan defence looked impressive, holding the Pacific offence to 14 points and just 40 yards rushing.

“It was an interesting opener in a pretty hostile environment,” said head coach Dave Johnson. “School just started here and the student section was packed, it’s a tough place to play. The environment is really exciting and our kids intensity matched the situation. I was pleased with how physical we were.”

Pacific threatened early on when, on the opening drive, Boxer quarterback T.C. Campbell hit Jordan Fukumoto with a 62-yard strike to put Pacific into the SFU redzone.

The Clan defence came up with a big goal line stand, and a missed 24-yard field goal attempt by Pacific kept the score at 0-0.

Trey Wheeler (Seattle, WA) then led the Clan on a 13-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Bo Palmer (North Vancouver, BC), to open the scoring and give SFU a 7-0 lead early on.

Clan special teams then made their first of many big plays on the evening with a blocked punt by Adam Berger (Surrey, BC) which SFU recovered; eventually leading to a Lemar Durant (Coquitlam, BC) touchdown. Durant’s score made it 14-0.

In the second quarter it was Durant with another touchdown when Wheeler found him with an eight-yard pass to make it 21-0, after a five play, 57-yard drive.

On the subsequent drive, Pacific marched into SFU territory but the Clan defence shut them down, and the Boxers were forced to punt. Bobby Pospischil (Coquitlam, BC) returned that punt 84-yards for the touchdown, making the score 28-0 and putting the Clan in the drivers seat.

The two teams traded majors late in the half, with another touchdown from Palmer and a Pacific touchdown from Fukumoto as the first half ended with the Clan ahead 34-7.

Pacific was not able to mount a comeback in the second half, as the Clan cruised to a 51-14 victory to open the season.

“Last year we had to fight and claw to get a win here. I think, in that game, they thought we got out of here with a win we didn’t deserve. I think this win shows we’ve come a long way. It shows the commitment of our players and that commitment is starting to pay off,” finished Johnson.

The season opening win in Forest Grove, OR is the second in as many years for SFU over Pacific, as the Clan start the 2012 season 1-0. SFU will head back to Burnaby Mountain for their home opener on Saturday, September 8 at Terry Fox Field when they host the Central Washington Wildcats at 2:00 p.m.

BOX SCORE:

Team, Score by Quarters, 1, 2, 3, 4, Score 

Simon Fraser 14 20 14 3 – 51 Record: (1-0)

Pacific (Ore.)…… 0 7 0 7 – 14 Record: (0-1)

Scoring Summary:

1st 07:49 SFU – Palmer 2 yd run (Berger kick), 13-80 4:57, SFU 7 – PAC 0 01:44 SFU – Durant 2 yd pass from Wheeler (Berger kick), 7-32 3:29, SFU 14 – PAC 0

2nd 13:02 SFU – Durant 7 yd pass from Wheeler (Berger kick), 5-57 1:58, SFU 21 – PAC 0 09:23 SFU – Pospischi 84 yd punt return (Berger kick), , SFU 28 – PAC 0 05:24 SFU – Palmer 2 yd run (Berger kick failed), 7-34 3:01, SFU 34 – PAC 0 00:35 PAC – Fukumoto 38 yd pass from Campbell, T.C. (Villareal-Gomez kick), 6-80 1:08, SFU 34 – PAC 7

3rd 13:22 SFU – Parker 4 yd run (Berger kick), 4-34 1:27, SFU 41 – PAC 7 05:51 SFU – Crawford 13 yd run (Docherty kick), 10-80 5:01, SFU 48 – PAC 7

4th 12:52 SFU – Docherty 27 yd field goal, 11-56 6:02, SFU 51 – PAC 7 07:54 PAC – McKinney, Deven 22 yd pass from Minaya, P.J. (Villareal-Gomez kick), 9-75 4:53, SFU 51 – PAC 14

Game Statistics: SFU, PAC

FIRST DOWNS: 22, 16

RUSHES-YARDS (NET): 47-250, 21-40

PASSING YDS (NET): 128, 345

Passes Att-Comp-Int:  22-17-0, 37-22-1

TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS:  69-378, 58-385

Fumble Returns-Yards:  0-0, 0-0

Punt Returns-Yards:  3-89, 0-0

Kickoff Returns-Yards:  2-86, 9-168

Interception Returns-Yards:  1-0, 0-0

Punts (Number-Avg):  1-14.0, 4-15.8 F

Fumbles-Lost:  1-0, 1-1

Penalties-Yards:  11-77, 9-76

Possession Time:  33:22, 26:38

Third-Down Conversions:  6 of 12, 4 of 11

Fourth-Down Conversions:  1 of 1, 0 of 2

Red-Zone Scores-Chances:  7-8, 0-3

Sacks By: Number-Yards:   2-12, 0-0

RUSHING: Simon Fraser-Blum 7-67; Palmer 13-65; Crawford 8-48; Parker 9-43; Pospischi 1-28; North 2-11; Spagnuolo 4-4; Wheeler 1-2; TEAM 1-minus 1; Deverill 1-minus 17. Pacific (Ore.)-Schultze 6-13; McKinney, Deven 4-12; Rocha, Steel 3-6; Roher, Caleb 1-6; Minaya, P.J. 1-4; Ladiges, Bobby 3-1; Campbell, T.C. 3-minus 2.

PASSING: Simon Fraser-Wheeler 17-21-0-128; Deverill 0-1-0-0. Pacific (Ore.)-Campbell, T.C. 12-20-1-237; Minaya, P.J. 10-17-0-108.

RECEIVING: Simon Fraser-Durant 5-28; Pospischi 3-37; Kawamoto 2-23; Uppal 2-16; Crawford 2-5; Corrado 1-18; Duckhorn 1-6; Palmer 1-minus 5. Pacific (Ore.)-Fukumoto 5-130; Kamealoha 5-64; Kawai, Kelson 3-17; Selvey, Brandon 2-39; Yip, Cameron 2-23; Lawrence, Jakob 2-16; McKinney, Deven 1-22; Schultze 1-21; Rocha, Steel 1-13.

INTERCEPTIONS: Simon Fraser-Lehtinen 1-0. Pacific (Ore.)-None.

FUMBLES: Simon Fraser-Deverill 1-0. Pacific (Ore.)-Roher, Caleb 1-1.