By Chris Estrada
Like the miners who went to California in 1849, the Huskies searched and searched on Saturday. But as most of those unlucky panners found no gold, the football team found nothing to stop UC Davis’ one-two punch.
The offensive assault of quarterback Tim Plough (31-for-39, 313 yards, 2 TD) and running back Joe Trombetta (104 yards, 2 TD) was enough to beat Northeastern (1-3), 28-10, at Aggie Stadium in Davis, Calif.
Led by its two main men, UC Davis’ offense notched 26 first downs to the Huskies’ 13. They outgained NU 440-206 in total offensive yards, more than enough to overcome the 13 penalties the Aggies had on the day.
“UC Davis played very nicely,” said head coach Rocky Hager. “Their quarterback was much better than what we had seen … far more accurate and stronger. … I give credit to [Plough] for making a large number of middle-range passes. Initially, we were positioned too far away on some of them and on the times we actually contested throws, the receivers made some good catches.”
After Northeastern failed to score on an opening drive that had four offensive penalties, UC Davis went on a 80-yard drive capped with a one-yard touchdown run from Trombetta. The Huskies responded on the next possession as junior quarterback Anthony Orio (10-for-21, 92 yards) took the team into the red zone. But the drive stalled inside the Aggie 10, forcing sophomore kicker Mat Johnson to boot a 23-yard field goal to make it 7-3.
The Aggies increased the lead to 14-3 early in the second quarter, driving 66 yards in 11 plays and finishing the drive with a five-yard pass from Plough to Trombetta. The possession ate almost six minutes from the clock. Three of the Aggies’ four scoring drives went for at least five minutes.
UC Davis put the game out of reach in the third quarter. Opening the period, Plough engineered a 72-yard drive, ending with a seven-yard touchdown pass to receiver Bakari Grant. Northeastern got the ball back, but an illegal block penalty on third and six from its own 43 killed the drive.
Hager said the team’s problems with penalties on the day (11 for 107 yards) stemmed partly from getting used to the Great West Football Conference’s referees and their “interpretation of the rules.”
“I would say that there’s a challenge when you travel from one region of the country to another in that not every organization interprets rules the same way,” Hager said. “We must adapt to different interpretations on the field and once we did that, we didn’t experience those penalties as much on the offensive line. It was definitely a unique situation for us with this game.”
The next possession for the Aggies was a 58-yard march that finished with a 23-yard scoring run for Trombetta.
Husky senior running back Maurice Murray (18 carries, 88 yards) finished the scoring with a two-yard rush at 1:07 in the fourth quarter.
With the Huskies now 1-3 heading into a bye week before their Oct. 6 tilt with James Madison at Parsons Field at 12:30 p.m., Hager said he expects to use the open date as a chance to work the group on fundamentals and being in the “right position to make plays.”
“I still feel like this is a building project, a work in progress,” Hager said. “Hopefully, we’ll get in a position where we will improve.”
