Football | 9/13/2009 9:17:57 AM

Box Score [Box score]

ARCATA, Calif. - The Wolves defense bent but did not break as Western Oregon came away with a 17-16 win over Humboldt State at the Redwood Bowl in its Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener Saturday (Sept. 12).

With HSU facing a 4th-and-inches on the WOU 42 with just 1:42 remaining and down by one the Jacks went to the air to its star receiver Matt Smith but Western Oregon cornerback Miguel Gonzalez played the man perfectly and the ball fell harmlessly to the turf.

"We called timeout to check things and we knew they liked to throw or go off-tackle," said Western Oregon head coach Arne Ferguson. "If we held them there we knew we had a chance to win. Miguel Gonzalez did a good job covering a great wide receiver."

The Wolves offense did not commit a turnover in the game while its defense took the ball away from Humboldt from twice and stopped them on the crucial fourth-down play to improve to 1-1 on the year and 1-0 in conference as HSU fell to 1-1 and 0-1 in the GNAC.

"Getting a win down here is never an easy task," continued Ferguson. "It was a tough game and Humboldt State is tremendously improved from last season."

Ben Kuenzi paced the Western Oregon offense with 117 yards on the ground including 42 in the fourth quarter as the Wolves entered the quarter trailing 13-10. Josh Riddell passed for 213 yards and two scores on 14-of-27 passing. Justin Ore was on the receiving end of three of those passes for 105 yards including a 66-yarder. Andy Douglas and John Breza led the defense with eight tackles apiece.

The defense set the tone of the game on the first HSU drive of the game as the Jacks marched to the WOU 15 before Miguel Gonzalez stepped in front of the HSU receiver to pick off the Mike Proulx pass to end the threat.

A similar situation occurred on HSU's second possession of the game as it drove to the WOU 25 before Proulx coughed the ball up and it was recovered by Erik Hochhalter.

The Wolves got on the board first at 5:34 left in the first quarter on a 22-yard field goal by Kelly Morgan. The game would remain tied until 0:19 remained in the second quarter when HSU knotted it at 3-3 on a 36-yard field goal.

Humboldt State would then get the lead on the first possession of the second half as running back Bobby Thomas snuck in from one yard out to put HSU up 10-3.

The Wolves would respond in rapid fashion driving the ball 59 yards in 11 plays which was capped off on a five-yard strike from Riddell to Sean Fullerton.

After HSU took a 13-10 lead into the fourth quarter but Riddell found Jon Dowd on the left side of the endzone as Dowd toed the line for the touchdown to put WOU up 17-13, a lead it would not relinquish thanks to a defense which kept HSU out of the endzone the rest of the way.

The Wolves converted 7 of its 13 third down attempts while limiting the Jacks to just three third down conversions on 11 attempts. The WOU also sacked the HSU quarterback three times while not allowing a sack itself.

Western Oregon will return to Monmouth for its home opener against GNAC foe Dixie State Saturday, Sept. 19 at 2:00 p.m.