The No. 20 Arizona football team (2-0, 0-0 in Big-12) beat Northern Arizona University 22-10 on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. at Arizona Stadium.
Arizona is coming off a powerful season-opener win over the University of New Mexico Lobos on Aug. 31, where the Wildcats won 61-39.
Offense:
Arizona’s offense, which was less than optimal out of the gate, picked up during the second half of Saturday’s game. The first quarter opened with an incomplete pass from Noah Fifita to Tetairoa McMillan and McMillan would be held to only two catches for 11 yards.
Tyler Loop scored Arizona’s only points of the first quarter after a successful 33-yard field goal kick, giving the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
Arizona would respond to NAU’s scoring in the first half and reclaim the lead with a 17-yard pass from Fifita to Jeremiah Patterson to score a touchdown only a few minutes into the second half.
Loop would kick yet again to give the Wildcats a 13-10 lead that would remain 13-10 throughout the third quarter.
However, the Wildcats’ offense was still not done scoring for the night; later in the half, Kedrick Reescano ran the ball 56 yards to score his first college touchdown. The Wildcats came alive as this put them up 22-10 with under ten minutes remaining in the game.
After the game, head coach Brent Brennan said that he told the team at halftime to play each play and not think of the outcome.
“Stop worrying about the score [and] stop worrying about the outcome, just play this play right here […]. Just do what you’re supposed to do on this play right here and we’ll be fine,” Brennan said.
Defense:
Arizona came out with a dominating defense in the first quarter and never gave NAU a chance to score. The defense would not be enough to hold back NAU at the beginning of the second quarter as the Lumberjacks gained their first 25-yard touchdown from Xander Werner, who would score on a pass from Isaiah Eastman, giving them a 7-3 lead.
In the middle of the second quarter, one of Fifita’s passes was intercepted and shortly after, NAU added points to the board after a successful 38-yard field goal from kicker Marcus Lye, pushing the Lumberjacks’ lead to 10-3.
The Arizona defense responded in the second half by pushing back NAU’s offense, pinning them inside the 10-yard line. Two plays later, the Wildcats got a tackle in the endzone, forcing a safety to push the score to a 15-10 lead and getting the ball back to the Wildcats’ offense.
The Wildcats’ defense was able to work quickly and recover a fumble with under two minutes remaining in the game, sealing the final score as 22-10.
Looking ahead:
Arizona will be heading to Manhattan, Kansas to take on the No. 18 ranked Kansas State University on Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
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