Northern Arizona football beats UNC to hand Bears 4th straight Big Sky Conference loss

The University of Northern Colorado football squad lost in blowout fashion for the second time in two weeks Saturday falling to Northern Arizona - in a Big Sky Conference competition in Flagstaff Arizona The loss was UNC s fourth straight in the Big Sky and drops the Bears to - overall and - in the conference with two regular-season games to play UNC lost to Montana State - last week at Nottingham Field in Greeley The Bears excursion to Eastern Washington for a Nov championship before returning to Greeley for the season finale Nov against Portland State NAU kept its Football Championship Subdivision playoff hopes alive with the win moving to - overall and - in the conference Northern Arizona scored twice in the final two minutes of the first half for a - lead including a -yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Kolbe Katsis Katsis return came with seconds left in the second quarter after UNC scored its first and only touchdown of the day to cut the Lumberjacks lead to - Katsis -yard run on the opening possession of the second half set up a Seth Cromwell tally and a - lead just two minutes into the third quarter Katsis finished the contest with all-purpose yards rushing receiving and kick return yards and a touchdown UNC played the competition without one of its best players in sophomore safety Cam Chapa Chapa who was named to the Big Sky preseason company in July didn t make the trip to Flagstaff UNC Athletics officers stated they were not given a reason why Chapa wasn t with the club as of Saturday afternoon The Lumberjacks went ahead - lead with two minutes to go in the first half to play on a -yard touchdown run by Quran Gossett UNC rallied for its touchdown after Gossett s sum The Bears went yards in plays over seconds capped by a -yard touchdown run from Brandon Johnson The touchdown was Johnson s team-best fifth rushing sum of the year Katsis took Leo Blumentritt s high kickoff near his own goal line and went yards for the touchdown return and the - halftime lead Katsis -yard run came on a double-reverse end-around play that brought the Lumberjacks to the UNC -yard line Cromwell scored three plays later from yards out for the - lead He scored a second touchdown on a -yard run with left in the third for a - NAU lead UNC quarterback Peter Costelli came into the encounter in the fourth quarter for starter Eric Gibson Jr Costelli was the Bears starter out of preseason camp but he suffered a fractured left collarbone in the season opener against Chadron State Costelli returned last week for a scarce plays of action against Montana State Northern Arizona Northern Colorado UNC - NAU - st Q NAU Jayson Raines yard pass from Ty Pennington Sam Hunsaker kick - st Q NAU Darvon Hubbard run Hunsaker kick - nd Q UNC Jacob Willig field goal - nd Q NAU Quran Gossett run Hunsaker kick - nd Q UNC Brandon Johnson run Willig kick - nd Q NAU Kolbe Katsis kickoff return Hunsaker kick - rd Q NAU Seth Cromwell run Hunsaker kick - rd Q NAU Cromwell run Hunsaker kick - th Q NAU Ryan Fontaine run Hunsaker kick -