BURNABY, B.C. -- Saturday was another day of milestones for the Simon Fraser football team.
SFU (1-4, 0-2 GNAC) scored 30 unanswered points to beat Montana State-Northern (0-7, 0-6 NAIA Frontier) 30-3 in a non-conference game in Havre, Mont.
Mike Rigell, the leader of Canada's NCAA team, recorded his first career head coaching victory.
Placekicker
Kristie Elliott became the first Canadian woman to kick a field goal in a university football game after converting on a 23-yard attempt with 5:47 left in the second quarter.
It is the program's first victory since a 24-17 triumph at Azusa Pacific (Calif.) on Oct. 19, 2019. The squad did not compete in 2020, Rigell's first season as interim head coach, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The defence setting the tone and playing great like they have been all season was one of the keys to the game," said Rigell. "The defence played lights out and
Drew Nicholson's interception for a touchdown capped just one of the many highlights on that side of the ball. Our special teams stepped up with the touchdown by
Isaac Muckian."
"It feels great to get my first victory as the head coach at SFU. It's was a great team effort and I am very thankful for how hard our staff and team have continued to prepare week in and week out-esp after such a long layoff. This was a great win for the SFU program."
Offence, defence and special teams all contributed points for SFU, which fell behind 3-0 in the first quarter but responded with a dominant 20-point second period.
SFU intercepted four MSU-Northern passes and stopped the Lights on all seven fourth-down attempts.
Brendan Lowry's interception and return with 2:16 left in the opening quarter gave SFU the ball at the MSUN 26-yard line. Less than a minute later, quarterback
Justin Seiber rolled to his right, and found receiver
Riley Morrison at the back of the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown pass. SFU went ahead 6-3 and never trailed again.
On the next drive, SFU forced a three-and-out drive from the hosts, and pressured the Lights into a bad punt that went off the back of an MSUN player into the end zone.
Isaac Muckian jumped on the loose ball for the touchdown.
The visitors forced another three-and-out, before moving the ball into the red zone on offence. The drive ended with Elliott's historic field goal from 23 yards out, and gave SFU a 16-3 edge.
The next MSUN drive didn't last, as
Drew Nicholson intercepted a second-down pass and returned it 28 yards for the touchdown with 5:04 on the clock in the opening half. It was the linebacker's second pick of the season, and the ensuing convert capped off an 11:18 span where SFU posted 23 points.
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The final score of the day came with just over four minutes remaining in the contest. From the SFU 37, Seiber completed a pass to
Aidan Pearce at around the MSUN 30 near the far sideline. Pearce, the junior wide receiver, cut towards the middle and beat two defenders to the end zone.
For the game, Seiber completed 12 of 30 passes for two touchdowns and three interceptions. Running back
Somto Anyadike rushed 13 times for 77 yards, and Morrison led the receiving corps with 81 yards on five catches, which included his TD.
Griffin Barrett had 13 tackles (seven solo and six assisted) for the SFU defence.
Isaac Evans had two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.
Kimo Hiu (six solo),
Kolby Buljevic (four solo) and
Jakob Mozill (two solo) contributed eight tackles each.
Next Saturday, SFU will travel to Angelo State (Texas), before completing the season with conference games at Western Oregon (Oct. 30) and Central Washington (Nov. 13).
Follow SFU Athletics on Twitter and on Instagram @SFU_Athletics.
--@SFU_Athletics--
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