CLAREMONT, Calif. - Football season has arrived for the University of Northwestern, albeit in a different time zone than usual. The Eagles made the trip out to California to open their season at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, one of the premier athletics programs in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. It's the third time the two programs have met, after a home-and-home series was played out in 2018 and 2019, with CMS winning both matchups. Saturday's tilt was the closest yet, but the Stags were able to parlay a strong start with the only two points of the second half to clinch a 19-14 victory in a climate surprisingly cooler than the Twin Cities.
The early returns from each offense would lead some to believe a shootout was in store, as CMS scored on the opening possession via a 26-yard run, and Northwestern answered back with points on their first try as well. Transfer quarterback
Elijah Alexander (Minneapolis, Minn./Andover) sparked the drive with a 22-yard run, then found tailback
Ashton Lofton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Colorado Springs Christian) for 22 yards through the air to enter enemy territory. Lofton then ran for 10 yards before Alexander connected with
Braeden Little (Ladysmith, Wis./Ladysmith) for 20 to set up first-and-goal at the Stags' six-yard line. Three runs later, two-way player
Michael Montoya (Pueblo, Colo./Central) plunged in from a yard out to even the score.
After the UNW defense forced a three-and-out on the next series, the offense appeared to be on its way to more points after another chunk run from Alexander and a 13-yard completion to
Trey Ulmer (West Melbourne, Fla./Heritage) put the Eagles in the red zone. But a holding penalty set the visitors back and they had to settle for a 46-yard field goal attempt, which was unsuccessful. CMS took advantage, using a 41-yard pass to set up a seven-yard touchdown run one play later and take a 14-7 lead.
The Stags' defense was able to force a turnover on the second play of the ensuing drive, and used the premier field position to tack on three more points via a 20-yard field goal and take a 17-7 lead with eight minutes remaining in the first half. Despite the turnover, Northwestern's offense rallied to put together another impressive drive, kick-started by yet another 19-yard run from Alexander. On the very next play, UNW's signal-caller found tight end
Isaiah Voss (Ogilvie, Minn./Ogilvie) for 33 yards across midfield, and went back to Voss again for a crucial third-down conversion moments later to set up first and goal at the one-yard line. Alexander called his own number and found the end zone to pull the Eagles within three with 2:56 left in the half. Both teams got one more crack at possession in the period, but both came up empty with the halftime score reading 17-14.
The third quarter came and went without a change in score, but certainly had action.
Alex Schultz (Staples, Minn./Staples-Motley) intercepted a pass on CMS's first series with the Stags in Northwestern territory, and Alexander moved UNW's offense into Stags territory by spreading the ball around to Voss, Ulmer and
Tate Westin (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie). Facing a third-and-18 after a sack, the senior QB again found open space and came up just shy of the line to gain, but a sack ended the promising drive. The Eagles would get the ball back just before the conclusion of the third quarter after a second missed field goal by CMS, but it would begin a string of three-and-outs from each side.
The Stags broke the streak by reaching the Northwestern 15-yard line with under eight minutes left, but
Gideon Cruver (Fayetteville, Ga./Landmark Christian) broke through and blocked a field-goal attempt, which was recovered by
Wes Schlabach (Spearfish, S.D./Rapid City Christian) at UNW's one-yard line. After a running-into-the-kicker penalty extended the drive, the Eagles fumbled the ball out of the end zone for a safety, CMS's lead increased to 19-14 with 4:54 left in the game. The Stags put together a long drive before punting the ball back to Northwestern with 19 seconds left, leaving
Matt Moore's squad needing 80 yards for the win. The Eagles ran out of time and fell short, 19-14.
Alexander led the Eagles in both passing (148) and rushing yards (85), adding a score on the ground, while Montoya scored the other touchdown. Voss led the pass-catchers with 57 receiving yards on four receptions, while Little and Ulmer each caught two passes for 28 and 25 yards, respectively, and Lofton one for 22.
Austin Ahrendt (Nevis, Minn./Nevis Public) tallied a team-high 11 tackles, while
Drake Lindberg (Keystone, S.D./Rapid City Christian) added seven and a tackle-for-loss. Cruver added 1.5 TFL and a half sack to his blocked punt, while
Ben Ballard (Egan, S.D./Homeschool) logged the other half of the sack and forced a fumble. Schultz logged the only interception of the game for either team.
