FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Zach Bauman rushed for 162 yards and a touchdown, leading Northern Arizona to a 48-27 win over North Dakota on Saturday night.
NAU (7-2, 5-1 Big Sky Conference) extended its winning streak to four games to remain third in the conference standings.
Bauman, meanwhile, became just the ninth player in FCS history to surpass 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons. He also became NAU’s career all-purpose yards leader, finishing with 180 yards on a day when he needed 175 to break the record.
“We are very happy to get a win today,” said NAU coach Jerome Souers.
“I thought at times, offensively, we looked great; defensively, we
created some turnovers and made some big plays. You have to hand it to
North Dakota. They had some great offensive weapons, and they gave us
all we could handle.”
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 14-point lead on a Chase Cartwright 12-yard touchdown pass to Alex
Holmes in the first quarter and a Kyren
Poe rushing touchdown early in the second quarter.
North Dakota (2-7, 1-5) responded, as Ryan Bartels connected with Kenny Golladay for a pair of touchdown passes in the second quarter to tie the score.
But NAU answered with 20 consecutive points to take control.
After regaining the lead on Bauman's touchdown run, the Lumberjacks faked a field goal attempt with three seconds left in the second
quarter, and holder and backup quarterback Jordan Perry took it into the end zone himself for the score to make it 28-14 at the half.
Andy Wilder continued NAU's scoring spree with a pair of field goals (32 and 35 yards) in the third quarter.
Kyren
Poe then connected with Holmes for his second touchdown of the day, this one a 3-yard score, for NAU’s first points of the fourth
quarter. Backup running back Casey Jahn finished the scoring when he found a seam in the North
Dakota defense and sprinted 44 yards for a touchdown.
Jahn complemented Bauman's performance with 106 yards rushing on the day. Poe and Cartwright combined for 204 passing yards and threw one touchdown pass each.
Defensively, Lucky Dozier and Harrison Johnson added to the Lumberjacks’
interception total with one each, giving NAU nine on the season.
Bartels had 367 yards passing and four touchdowns for North Dakota. He and Golladay connected on
all four of North Dakota’s scores, as Golladay finished with 134
receiving yards.
With the win, NAU extended its all-time series lead over North Dakota to 4-0.
