HAVRE, Mont. – College of Idaho capped an amazing midseason turnaround with their most dominant performance of the season, blowing past Montana State-Northern, 59-28, at Blue Pony Stadium.
The No. 24-ranked Coyotes (6-5, 6-4 Frontier) rolled up 515 yards of total offense – including 330 yards on the ground – closing the regular-season on a six-game win streak, their longest since 1953.
Darius-James Peterson rushed for 159 yards and two touchdowns, while
Nick Calzaretta surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his career in the victory.
C of I scored five first half touchdowns in a 13-minute stretch to blow the game wide open – handing the Lights (1-10, 0-10) their tenth-straight loss.
The Yotes forced four MSU-N turnovers – with a
Tristen Alesi interception on the Lights second drive setting the visitors up on the Northern 37-yard-line. Five plays later Calzaretta ran off tackle for 18-yards and a score – surpassing the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his career on the play.
C of I forced a 3-and-out on the ensuing possession and following a 14-yard punt return from Nik Lyons, the Yotes drove 42 yards in five plays – capped by a Peterson 21-yard scoring run for the two touchdown lead.
The Yotes made it 21-0 three plays later, as Alesi stepped in front of a Tommy Wilson pass for an interception, returning it 30-yards for a score.
A fourth down stop on Northern's next drive game C of I the football in Lights territory – with Peterson following his own 40-yard run with a 1-yard scoring plunge. After the Yotes forced a MSU-N fumble, Peterson hooked up with
Hunter Juarez on a 39-yard touchdown pass – pushing the lead to 35-0.
C of I made it 42-0 just before halftime – as Peterson went 4-for-4 for 54 yards in the two-minute drill – with
Dominic Garzoli finishing the drive with a 1-yard run.
Northern tried to battle back – as Wilson hit Bryce Baumgardner for two touchdowns and hit Keagan Stroop on a 63-yard scoring pass – but the Lights could not contain the C of I attack.
A Peterson 54-yard run set up a
Justin Hellyer 2-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, with Hellyer adding a 34-yard scoring jaunt in the fourth quarter – as C of I attempted just one pass in the second half.
Peterson finished 12-of-16 for 176 yards and a touchdown through the air – his school-record eighth-straight game with a touchdown pass. It marked the junior's 11th career 100-yard game.
Hellyer had 55 rushing yards and two touchdowns, with Calzaretta toting the ball 10 times for 53 yards.
Connor Richardson had three grabs for 61 yards and Juarez added two catches for 45 yards.
Wilson finished 12-of-25 for 224 yards and three scores, but was picked off twice. Jett Robertson rushed for 69 yards and a third quarter touchdown, with Baumgardner catching seven passes for 141 yards in the loss.
C of I will await their postseason fate tomorrow – as the NAIA will announce the 16-team field for the Football Championship Series tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m.
NOTES: Lyons capped his career with an eight tackle day, adding 63 yards on three punt returns…Danny Garcia had seven tackles, including a half-sack, establishing a new C of I single-season record with seven sacks…the Yotes scored 21 points off of four MSU-N turnovers, while not committing a miscue…C of I finished the day 9-of-15 on third down conversions…Peterson closed the season with 882 rushing yards and 1,998 passing yards, the second-most yards of total offense in school history…Calzaretta now has 1,031 rushing yards as a Coyote, the 17th player to rush for over 1,000-yards in a career…Juarez established a new school record, averaging 25-yards per catch on the season…the NAIA will take 12 automatic qualifiers to the 16-team Football Championship Series – based on winning their conference (but must be ranked in the Top-20) – with four at-large bids available, given to the highest ranked teams in the Top-25 not receiving an automatic bid.
