FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Six turnovers were too much for the University of the Incarnate Word football team to overcome, as the Cardinals fell 38-28 to No. 24 Northern Arizona Saturday, despite a monster yardage day for the offense.
The issues started early, when the Cardinals, who finished with 606 yards of total offense, appeared to be inches away from an opening-drive touchdown.
On the 10th play of the drive, UIW used trickery to convert a fourth-and-3 at the Lumberjack 7, when
Jacob Emmers took a double reverse and was initially ruled down inside the 1-yard line. However, a review ruled that as he was falling to the ground, Emmers lost control of the ball, which rolled into the end zone and was ruled a touchback.
After surrendering a field goal, the Cardinals were able to get into the end zone to take a 7-3 lead, going 75 yards in just six plays and capping the drive off with a 4-yard
Jayden Hibbler touchdown run.
But after the defense got a stop, quarterback
Emmett Brown was hit in his throwing motion, which resulted in an interception that defensive back Jahaad Fort returned 33 yards to the UIW 9, setting up a Kenveon Stone touchdown run two plays later.
The rest of the half saw two more turnovers and a missed 23-yard field goal, with the second giveaway proving costly.
The Cardinal initially got a big defensive stop, when
D'Arius Carmouche punched the ball away from Lumberjack receiver Deuce Zimmerman inside the 10, which the Cardinals recovered at the 1-yard line.
But four plays later, Deliyon Freeman picked off a Brown pass and returned it to the UIW 24. Four plays after that, Ty Pennington found Myseth Curry for 13-yard touchdown to make it 24-7 NAU at the half.
Things followed a similar formula in the second half, as NAU answered every UIW run, highlighted by two big fourth-down stops.
Zach Phipps, who had 125 yards on four catches, made a spectacular 56-yard catch-and-run, grabbing the ball off the back of a defender, then shed another on his way to the end zone to make it 31-21.
The Cardinals got a stop then drove to the Lumberjack 36, only for Hibbler to get stuffed on 4th-and-1. This paved the way for a 30-yard Quaran Gossett touchdown run two plays later.
Incarnate Word made it 31-21 less than a minute into the fourth quarter, then after forcing a three-and-out, again got into NAU territory, getting a 4th-and-2 at the 25.
But under the pressure of an all-out blitz, Brown was crushed, losing both the ball and his helmet, with the fumble being scooped up and returned for a 47-yard Jordan Pilgram touchdown.
Brown finished the day with 426 yards through the air on 33-of-50 passing with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Phipps wasn't the only receiver to have a big game. Isaiah Champaign had 90 yards on 11 catches, his reception total tying for the fifth most in program history in a single game.
Price Morgan also hauled in eight passes for 76 yards.
Lontrell Turner (76),
Damashja Harris (53) and Hibbler (51) all topped 50 yards in the run game with each scoring a touchdown.
Defensively,
Christian Barney had 13 tackles while
Jeremiah Young had three tackles-for loss and a sack for UIW, which falls to 1-1 on the season.
The Cardinals will kick off Southland Conference play next Saturday at home, when they host Houston Christian at 6 p.m.
