Sept. 16, 2006

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SAN MARCOS, Texas - After a week filled with adversity, the University of Northern Colorado football team pulled together for a 14-13 upset over No. 23 Texas State at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday night.

Texas State (1-2) dominated in virtually every offensive statistical category, but Northern Colorado (1-2) made the big plays when the game was on the line. The one that sealed the victory for the Bears was when sophomore linebacker Casey Herron and senior defensive end Matt West sacked Texas State quarterback Bradley George on a third-and-22 from the Bears' 47-yard line with 59 seconds left in the game. Junior safety D.J. Craft also made a crucial play seconds before when he broke up a deep pass from George to Morris Crosby that would have put the Bobcats inside the red zone.

West also ended up giving the Bears the winning score when he recovered a blocked punt and ran it into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown that put the Bears up 14-0 in the second quarter.

The Bears came out firing with a chip on their shoulder in the first half. In their first offensive drive, junior quarterback Dominic Breazeale went 4-for-5 for 60 yards and a touchdown. Breazeale sparked the drive when he completed a nine-yard pass to sophomore running back Patrick Ealy for a first down. Texas State helped the Bears march further down the field on the play when the Bobcats' Shola Obafemi committed a personal foul face mask penalty when he tackled Ealy.

Two plays later, Breazeale slinged a 20-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Brian Barmann. To cap off the scoring drive, Breazeale gunned a 30-yard touchdown pass to Ealy, who dove into the end zone and stretched the ball just inside the pylon.

West's blocked punt recovery and score occurred with just seven seconds left in the second quarter, and the Bears were able to go into halftime with a 14-0 lead.

Texas State came out and put the pressure on in their first drive of the third quarter. George tossed a 73-yard bomb to Crosby and James Aston ran it in for a 3-yard touchdown to pull the Bobcats to within 14-7.

In the Bobcats' next drive, they were able to get the ball down to the Northern Colorado 32-yard line when senior defensive tackle Jacob Carlson chased down George for the first Bears sack this season. On the next play, Carlson was responsible for breaking up the third down pass, which forced Texas State to kick a field goal. TSU's Kyle Bronson converted on a career-long 49-yarder to pull the Bobcats to within 14-10.

Texas State then drove it all the way down to the Bears 4-yard line when senior cornerback Sirwestly Williams broke a third-and-goal pass by George, which forced Bronson to kick a 21-yard field goal that made the game 14-13 in favor of the Bears.

The question of the night was how would the chosen Northern Colorado punter fare? Senior safety Jason Hildenbrand, who finished with six tackles, stepped into the role and made clutch plays. After a rusty looking attempt at first, he recovered to get off punts in high pressure situations and averaged 29.3 yards per punt with a long of 51.

But later in the game, Hildenbrand was injured on a roughing the punter play, which allowed backup placekicker Michael York to step up. York, who had practiced at punter during the week, got off to a rough start with only seven yards on his first attempt. But his two punts late in the game that pinned the Bobcats inside their own 20 were what allowed the Northern Colorado defense to make big plays and prevent Texas State from coming back.

Breazeale finished 17-of-27 passing with 168 yards and one touchdown. Ealy had a game-high seven receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown snag. The most important number on the night for the Bears was zero - turnovers that is. After committing nine turnovers in their previous two games, the Bears were able to take care of the ball and allow their defense to play without a short field.

Texas State also didn't help itself when they had opportunities, as they committed 13 penalties for 111 yards, while the Bears only committed four for 30 yards. It was the third consecutive game Northern Colorado had less penalties than their opponent.

Sophomore linebacker Joe Kenney had a team-high eight total tackles and snagged a crucial interception in Texas State's first offensive series of the fourth quarter.

Northern Colorado snapped a 12-game road losing streak with the win. Their last win on the road occured on Nov. 23, 2003, in a 35-28 win at UC Davis.

The Bears will hope to keep their momentum going as they come back home to Nottingham Field for a 1:35 p.m. showdown next Saturday, Sept. 23, against Western Illinois from the Gateway Conference. The Leathernecks defeated the Bears 28-23 in a closely contested battle last season.