, but here goes.I bought a used truck toolbox at an auction recently. Evidently it had not been used for some time, as it had the sports section of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle from Sunday, October 14, 1996 in it. I thought i would share it with BobcatNation to provide some perspective.
Sports Section headlines from the Chronicle, 10/14/96
OUCH: 'Cats pounded by Northern Arizona
By Jeff Robinson
Chronicle Sports Editor
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It was midway throught the third quarter Saturday when a Montana State fan sitting near the Northern Arizona sideline hollered at NAU star running back Archie Amerson: "Sit down Archie, you've done enough."
Amerson certainly had. Running behind the Big Sky Conference's biggest and most physical offensive line, Amerson gained 205 yards on the ground and scored three touchdowns as the Lumberjacks embarrassed Montana State 49-18.
"They're better than we are." surmised Montana State coach Cliff Hysell. The homecoming loss in front of 12,967 fans, dropped the Bobcats to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in Big Sky Conference play. League-leading NAU, ranked 10th among NCAA Divison I-AA teams, is now 6-1, 3-0. Hysell's teams have not beaten NAU in five tries.
"We talked about how important this game was," Lumberjack coach Steve Axman said. "We knew that we were either going to be 3-0 or 2-1 in conference and MSU was going to be either 2-1 or 1-2. This was a very important game for both teams."
Defending national champion Montana is now 2-0 in league, and NAU travels to Missoula to play Montana in two weeks for a game that could well decide the league title.
"They're a good team," said Montana State wide receiver/return specialist Kenyatte Morgan of the 'Jacks. "They're going to go far."
NAU jumped all over the 'Cats early. The 'Jacks scored on their opening possession for the first time this year. They also scored on their second and fourth possessions on the way to a 21-3 lead just 42 seconds into the second quarter. The Lumberjacks did not let up either, outgaining the Bobcats 521 yards to 188.
"I was real surprised," said MSU defensive tackle Ty O'Connor. "I didn't think it would happen quite like that. I think if we would have come out better in the first quarter we would have played a much better game. But we weren't ready."
Amerson opened the scoring on a 48-yard screen pass from reshirt freshman quarterback Travis Brown. On the play Amerson bobbled the ball before making the catch and picked up a de-cleater block at MSU's 20 from Rian Weske against 'Cat linebacker Jeff Alexander to waltz into the endzone.
"When Brown threw it, it was really up in the air, and it seemed like it took forever to come down," said Amerson who padded his single-season touchdown record with three scores against MSU. "Once I got a hold of it, I looked up and saw the offensive line downfield already so I knew it was going to be a touchdown."
The play established the tone for the game.
Amerson eclipsed Allan Clark's NAU single-season rushing mark set in 1978 with his 205 yards Satruday, and also had 77 yards receiving. Amerson leads the nation with 1,444 yards rushing in seven games. He's also obliterated his own school record for TD's in a season with 21 this year - the old record was 12.
"Archie's every bit as good as I thought he was," Hysell said. "It does start with their offensive line. But we certainly helped him out - he would have gotten his yards, I don't want to take anything away from him - but I don't know how well we tackled this week."
True, it often took two, three or even more MSU defenders to bring Amerson down. He often gained many yards after MSU's initial hits.
"I've been doing that all year long," said Amerson, a compact 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior. "A lot of guys try to arm tackle me but I try not to give them much of a target to hit."
Aside from Amerson and the offensive line, credit must also go to NAU's coaching staff, which found a way to make the most of its league-leading rushing attack against one of the Big Sky's better run defenses
"In respect to Montana State, we didn't want to try to thug it out with them and run to their strength," Axman said. "We felt by stretching them out that their big, physical, thick players would be forced to run and not do what they do best.
"Going right at them is their strength. By stretching out that defense we wanted to create seams for our running game. The offensive line was just super. They pounded them."
Montana State's Matt Engelking, the Big Sky's No. 2 rusher behind Amerson, was held to a season low 44 yards, well below his average of 112 per game.
MSU did make some improvements in its passing game since last week's 61-yard performance in a loss at Eastern Washington, but still has plenty of room for more.
Quarterback Rob Compson, playing in place of injured starter Jeff Tuss, finished the game 10-of-23 for 104 yards with no TD's, but did scramble for a 17-yard TD - his first career rushing score - to cut NAU's lead to 35-11 in the third quarter. MSU's other scores were Geoff Groshelle's 42-yard field goal in the first quarter, and Morgan's 43 yard punt return in the fourth quarter. NAU's Brown was 21-of-34 for 278 yards and two TD's.
Montana State faces another tough game this week as it heads to surprising Cal-State Northridge, an upset winner at No. 23 Weber State, for a Saturday night game. CSN is 4-2, 2-1 in its first year in the league.
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CSN is no longer in our conference, and no longer has a FB program.
UNC has joined the conference.
NAU is not the powerhouse they once were.
ISU still has the dangerous offense but is somewhat of an enigma.
PSU has gone from pretender to contender, and if they could just quit scheduling more than one I-A a year, might make the playoffs (3 is freakin crazy...
).Weber is, well, Weber.....
Sac St. still sucks, but has 2 conference wins this year.
UM has come back to earth somewhat, no longer winning all their games by 20+ points (as it seemed they always did in the 90's)
EWU is in a definite rebuilding year this year.
And finally, MSU is now a program on the rise with hope for this season and the coming seasons. Gone is "The Streak" against the Griz. Gone is the winless streak in the Walkup Skydome. In fact, we have started a streak of our own at NAU's stomping grounds. We have beaten ISU 3 of the last 4 seasons. We have had winning seasons every year for the past 4 years, and it looks as if we will continue that this year. We have a good shot at making the playoffs this year, which would make 3 times in 6 years, after going more that a decade and a half without so doing.
I guess what I am trying to say is that we should be thankful for what we have, Bobcat fans. Keep up the good work, keep supporting the program, and most of all, GO CATS!
