After dropping four straight games to start the season, the Clan finally put one in the win column.
In St. George, UT, SFU defeated the winless Dixie State Red Storm (DSU) by a score of 29-19. In spite of the end result, though, the Red Storm put up the first few points.
With 3:44 left in the first quarter, DSU quarterback Ben Longshore threw an 11-yard touchdown pass, after previously rushing the ball 27 yards on the same drive, to claim the first lead. However, perhaps as an omen of things to come, they missed the extra point kick, leaving the score at 6-0 for DSU.
On SFU’s side, second-string quarterback Tyler Nickel got his first start in place of Ryan Stanford, who finished the game. On his third drive of the day, immediately after the Red Storm touchdown, Nickel threw his first touchdown pass for 12 yards to wide receiver Kyle Kawamoto.
“Well, I thought Tyler [Nickel] did well when he went into the game against Central [Washington] and that he deserves an opportunity,” head coach Jacques Chapdelaine said. “From my point of view, the Central [Washington] game was challenging for [Stanford] so it was good for him to take a step back.
“Ryan [Stanford] did play in this game, and he played very well, and so did Tyler [Nickel],” he added.
The game was now in the Clan’s control. After a fruitless drive by the Red Storm, SFU kicker Tiernan Docherty kicked a 42-yard field goal to bring the score to 10-6 in SFU’s favour.
Despite completing 28- and 32-yard passes, the Clan were able to prevent the Red Storm from converting for points during the final drive of the half.
Dixie State started with the ball for the second half, but, just 17 seconds in, middle linebacker Jordan Herdman forced a fumble, which his brother Justin recovered and ran in for a 27-yard touchdown.
Jordan would also end the day with 10 tackles, second only to Mitchell Barnett.
On their next few drives the Clan would not fare as well, with Nickel throwing an interception and being sacked twice in a row on the next drive, before Stanford stepped in. However, SFU would gain two points off a safety, after sacking DSU quarterback Longshore in his endzone.
The Clan would continue to struggle offensively, though, as a completed pass to Lemar Durant was ruled a fumble, giving Dixie State the ball.
Luckily for the Clan, they were able to keep the Red Storm from scoring and SFU snapped their offensive rut with a 61-yard punt return by Earl Anderson for a touchdown, gaining a dominant 26-6 lead.
The Red Storm would not go quietly, however. They scored a touchdown at the end of the third quarter, off of a goal line play, which was made possible by a 37-yard pass from Longshore, whose arm was a major thorn in SFU’s defence.
The Clan and the Red Storm would manage one more scoring play each in the fourth quarter.
SFU made their final mark on the scoreboard with 6:06 left in the game, notching a 43-yard field goal, a season best for Docherty, while Dixie State scored another touchdown on the back of a 46-yard pass with 3:48 left.
DSU would attempt both a two-point conversion and an onside kick, but would be unsuccessful in both attempts with Bobby Pospischil recovering the onside kick. The game ended 29-19.
Clan cornerback Bibake Uppal and safety Matt Isherwood both managed interceptions in the fourth quarter.
“The guys played hard, they certainly played with a lot of intensity,” said Chapdelaine. “Defence made some key plays and the offence was able to win the time of possession.
“The biggest thing as a team is the process of learning and improving upon overcoming the negative plays that can occur early in the game,” the coach added.
“I don’t think we did that very well last week but I thought we did that better this weekend. Dixie had the first points scored and despite that, they never looked back, worked hard and overcame that,” he observed. “Overall, it was a great team win.”
Now the Clan move to 1-4 overall and are 1-1 within the GNAC.
