The Simon Fraser Clan football team traveled to Arcata, CA on Sept. 15 to take on the Humbolt State Lumberjacks. The Lumberjacks are the defending champions of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and are currently ranked 11th in all of Division II football. After conceding the game’s first touchdown at 9:27 of the first quarter, and then another at 13:58 of the second quarter, it didn’t look good for the clan. Clan quarterback Trey Wheeler connected with tight end Jamal Kett less than two minutes later to pull the Clan out of the depths. Bo Palmer managed to pound in a touchdown before the half, and the Clan only trailed by one score going into the second half, 21–14.

The Lumberjacks scored again in the third quarter, but failed to convert. Wheeler tossed a pass to freshman offensive lineman Tanner Davenport-Thuet to pull the Clan within the smallest margin of the game. Unfortunately, the offense started to break down late in the third quarter and early into the fourth. Wheeler threw four interceptions over this time, including a pick six that all but ended the Clan’s hopes of a comeback. Wheeler finished the game 34–57 with 310 yards and two touchdowns, but the four turnovers late were costly.

“I’m proud of the way our guys played,” said head coach Dave Johnson in a media release. “[Humbolt] is one of the best teams in the country and until we made some mistakes late, we had them. We came in and played physical. We’ve seen their stuff, we know what they run, and our guys gave them all they could handle.” The loss drops them to 1–2 on the season.

The next game for the Clan will take them to Monmouth, OR to take on the Western Oregon Wolves. The Clan will need to be on their best game to win, as the Wolves are still winless in 2012 and will be hungry. In the 2011 season, it was the Wolves who won the season series 2–0 with a 35–28 on the road and taking it to the Clan 34–10 at home.