Nov. 17, 2007

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Greeley, COLO. - The University of Northern Colorado football team concluded its 2007 season today with a 31-21 loss to Portland State. The Bears end their season with a 1-11 record, while the Vikings conclude with a 3-8 record.

Senior tight end Clint Wright caught a career-best seven passes for 48 yards on the day, while senior wide receiver Andy Birkel led with 58 receiving yards on four catches. Senior quarterback Dominic Breazeale completed 17-of-30 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. He threw one interception and was sacked six times. Junior running back David Woods led the game with 55 yards rushing. Junior wide receiver Cory Fauver also tallied 74 yards of kickoff returns in the game.

"Our defense gave us opportunities to score," said Head Coach Scott Downing. "We just didn't cash in on some of them. Portland State was a good solid offensive team and we didn't get the ball in the end zone enough."

"Over the last four games, our kids realized we can play in this league. The expectations of victory are there. We feel like instead of being 1-3 over the last four games, we could have been 4-0. We had to say goodbye to our 11 seniors and we're going to miss them. Now we move up the juniors to seniors and being our off-season drills."

The Vikings were led by wide receiver Tremayne Kirkland with 30 yards rushing on four carries and nine receptions for 86 yards with two touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Drew Hubel completed 21-of-38 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns. He was also sacked once and threw four interceptions. Jimmy Collins completed 10-of-15 passes for 86 yards with one touchdown and one sack.

Portland State took the early lead, scoring a touchdown with 10:11 remaining in the first quarter on a four-yard pass from Hubel to Kirkland and the extra point by Danny Urrego was good. The Vikings added to their total with 13:48 left in the first half on a 37-yard field goal by Urrego to lead 10-0. Portland State scored another touchdown with 9:49 left in the second quarter on a nine-yard pass from Hubel to David Lewis to extend the advantage to 17-0.

The Bears scored their first touchdown of the day on a 33-yard pass from Breazeale to freshman Brandon Smith. The kick by Michael York was good to close within 10, 17-7. The 33-yard reception is a career-long for Smith. After the second interception of the day by Michon, the Bears marched into the endzone, scoring on a two-yard pass from Breazeale to Woods with a kick by York for the 17-14 score with 4:51 left in the half.

There was no scoring in the third quarter and at the beginning of the fourth quarter the teams traded fumbles setting up the Portland State touchdown by Kirkland for the 24-14 PSU lead. Kirkland caught a 17-yard pass from Jimmy Collins with 13:29 left in the contest. The Bears answered back with their own touchdown on a five-yard run by Breazeale. It is the first rushing touchdown this year for the senior. The five yard scamper came with 10:37 remaining and York's kick brought the Bears back within three, 24-21.

With just under five minutes left in the game, Ronnie Fa'avae scored on a 14-yard rush for Portland State to stretch the lead back to 10 where the final score was 31-21.

Northern Colorado concluded its 2007 season this afternoon and will begin off-season conditioning after the break.