NCAA: 11th ranked Humboldt State tops the Clan

Arcata, CA- The Simon Fraser University football lost 41-21 on Saturday night to the 11th ranked team in NCAA division II football, and the defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference champions, the Humboldt State Lumberjacks.
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“I’m proud of the way our guys played,” said head coach Dave Johnson.Ā Ā “That’s one of the best teams in the country and until we made some mistakes late, we had them.Ā Ā We came in and played physical.Ā Ā We’ve seen their stuff, we know what they run and our guys gave them all they could handle.”

Wide receiver Lemar Durant (Coquitlam, BC) led the Clan receiving core, catching 11 passes for 159 yards.

Bobby Pospischil (Coquitlam, BC) was right behind Durant, with 10 catches for 73 yards.

Trey Wheeler (Seattle, WA) went 34-57 in the game for 310 yards and two touchdowns, but four interceptions hurt the sophomore quarterback.

Wheeler was also a threat with his legs in this game with three rushes for 51 yards.Ā Ā He finished the game as the Clan’s leading rusher.

Lumberjack runningback Nick Ricciardulli was a threat all day, carrying the ball 33 times for 204 yards and a touchdown.

The Clan were forced to punt on their opening drive, going three and out and Humboldt State responded, marching the ball 82-yards and capping off the drive with five yard touchdown pass from Alex Rump to Alex Hiebert, giving the Lumberjacks an early 7-0.

After a Humboldt touchdown early in the second quarter, the Clan answered back with a 80-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Wheeler who found Jamal Kett (Orangeville, ON) in the endzone to make it 14-7.

Kett just snuck his foot into the endzone for the six yard major.

The Lumberjacks Ricciardulli and Clan runningback Bo Palmer (North Vancouver,BC) traded touchdowns to finish off the first half as the two teams went to the locker rooms with HSU leading, 21-14.

Early in the third quarter, HSU added another touchdown after a 14 play, 71-yard drive that ended with a one-yard Bryson Hodges touchdown run. After a missed extra point, Humboldt State led Simon Fraser 27-14.

The Clan responded immediately, finishing a 10 play, 60-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown pass from Wheeler to Tanner Davenport-Thuet (Lynnwood, WA), making it 27-21 for Humboldt.

The six point deficit was as close as the Clan would get as four late turnovers cost SFU and Humboldt added 14 more points, to make the final 41-21.

“Our offence was churning but we turned the ball over four times in the second half, twice in the endzone, that killed us,” continued Johnson.

With the loss, the Clan fall to 1-2 on the 2012 season.

“If we can come out and play like that against the 11th best team in the country, we can win some games.Ā Ā We need to keep improving and correcting our mistakes, but we can win some games.Ā Ā I’m proud of how our kids played, they gave it everything they had on every play, regardless of the score,” finished Johnson.

Next weekend, the Clan will head to Monmouth, OR to take on the Western Oregon Wolves at 1:00 p.m.

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