Mustangs spoil homecoming for Bears

CAL POLY 28, UNC 7

Northern Colorado players react as the final seconds run off the clock in Saturday’s loss to Cal Poly at Nottingham Field in Greeley. PHOTOS BY JIM RYDBOM— GREELEY TRIBUNE

Northern Colorado’s Jacquez Robertson puts his arm around head coach Ed Lamb near the end of Saturday’s game against Cal Poly at Nottingham Field in Greeley.

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By Anne Delaney

Greeley Tribune

Big plays were the way Saturday for the Cal Poly football team.

The Mustangs relied on four big plays — plays of at least 20 yards — to score two touchdowns and set up two more in a 28-7 Big Sky Conference win over Northern Colorado at Nottingham Field in Greeley.

Cal Poly’s victory in front of more than 4,000 fans spoiled UNC’s Homecoming festivities in the Big Sky opener for both teams. The Mustangs’ win was their first Big Sky road victory since November 2019, also against UNC, when they defeated the Bears 28-21.

UNC’s loss kept the Bears winless in five games this season and extended the program losing streak to 17 games dating to the last game of the 2022 season.

The Bears’ struggles against Cal Poly were again on offense, and consistent with the issues the team has dealt with for much of the season. UNC started a new quarterback for the fourth time in five games because of injuries at the position.

Freshman Kaiden Box drew the start for the Bears, following in the footsteps of Peter Costelli, Jonah Chong and Hank Gibbs.

Costelli, a senior from California, was named the starter before the season began. He played at Incarnate Word in the opener Aug. 31 and at Colorado State a week later before suffering a knee injury late in the game.

Chong got the nod the following week for the home opener Sept. 14 against Abilene Christian. Chong, a 6-foot fifth-year transfer lacking the size of Costelli, was ineffective against the Wildcats. UNC late in the game turned to Hank Gibbs, last year’s backup, and he nearly led a come-from-behind win in the Bears’ most competitive game of the season.

Gibbs, a graduate transfer from Wyoming, earned the start last week at Stephen F. Austin for the final nonconference game of the season. He was knocked out of the game in the first series with a shoulder injury. He was on the sideline Saturday wearing a sling on his right arm. Costelli was also on the sidelines with a brace on his left leg while engaging with Box, the other quarterbacks and offensive coordinator Justin Walterscheid.

Box, a pocket passer who enrolled in January from Skyline High in Longmont, had a tough day in his collegiate debut. He finished 2 of 8 for 11 yards passing, a performance Bears coach Ed Lamb said “wasn’t all on him.”

Box doesn’t have the mobility of the other three quarterbacks, and eventually gave way for the majority of snaps to graduate student Kia’i Keone. Keone came in last week and quarterbacked the Bears for the majority of the game at Stephen F. Austin after Gibbs was hurt.

Lamb said the pre-game plan was to get Box 80-90% of the snaps against Cal Poly, but that changed as the game went on and the Bears were unable to move the ball.

UNC had 213 yards of total offense with 126 yards passing and 87 on the ground. Lamb said the run game was an area the Bears had to win against Cal Poly, though the Mustangs have been tough against the run all season.

Cal Poly (2-2) had 492 yards of total offense and it was a balanced showing with 290 yards on the ground and 202 yards passing.

“I think they had the luxury of patience, first of all,” Lamb said, noting the Mustangs’ 14-0 lead in the first quarter. “I think they improved their running game. … I was really impressed with their effort. They were coming off a bye week and it showed. They were fresh.”

Keone was 14 of 20 for 115 yards — the highest passing total for the team since Costelli went out at CSU. Keone also ended the day as the Bears’ leading rusher with 55 net yards on 16 carries.

“That’s our task, is to find a better way for our current players to win,” Lamb said including Cal Poly’s run game in his assessment. “We have injuries all over. We’re not unique. A lot of teams have injuries, but fairly unusual in the way we’ve gone through quarterbacks here early in the season.”

Lamb said Keone has shown the last couple of weeks that he’s the guy among the available quarterbacks to play the position. The Bears now have to figure out how to design an offense and game plan around him.

“That’s one thing we haven’t done,” Lamb said. “We put a lot of emphasis into Kaiden this week, and it’s a big task to get that done in a week.”

UNC plays nationally ranked Montana State on Oct. 5 in Bozeman. The Bobcats were 4-0 and scheduled to play at Idaho State late Saturday afternoon in Pocatello.