Oct. 29, 2005

GREELEY, Colo. - After a scoreless first quarter, the University of Northern Colorado football team exploded for 17 unanswered points in the second quarter on its way to a 45-14 Homecoming victory over in-state rival Fort Lewis College on Saturday at Nottingham Field.

In the first meeting between the teams since 1970, Northern Colorado (3-4) improved to 10-1 all-time in Homecoming games at Nottingham Field behind the arm of Nick Hager and the feet of Andre Wilson, Patrick Ealy and Jahir Waterman.

After two 3-and-out drives to begin the game, the Bears finally got on the board at the 14:18 mark of the second quarter when Justin Zaitz connected on a 29-yard field goal.

After Matt Thomas recovered a fumble, it was Hager's turn to get into the action, connecting on the first of his four touchdown passes on the day, the first coming at the 13:31 mark to Andy Birkel.

Later in the quarter, Hager found Cory Sleeth on a 13-yard strike to push the score to 17-0 in Northern Colorado's favor.

Fort Lewis (5-4) scored on its first possession of the second half, a four-yard run by Matt Gutierrez. But Hager and Birkel hooked up for the second time on the day four minutes later to give the Bears a 24-7 lead.

Hager's final touchdown of the day came early in the fourth quarter, when he connected with sophomore tight end Clint Wright for Wright's first career touchdown.

Following an 80-yard kickoff return by FLC's Reed Duvall, it was the redshirt freshman Ealy who scored his first career touchdown, this time on an exciting 65-yard run.

Ealy finished the game with 85 yards on only three carries, the same number of yards Wilson finished the game with. Waterman finished with 48 yards on 17 carries.

The Bears final score of the game came with 1:59 to play, as backup quarterback Cody Stone hit Bryant Jestes for a 43-yard strike.

Hager finished the day 14-for-21 for 206 yards and four TD's. His counterpart Gutierrez connected on 9-of-19 attempts for 122 yards.

Northern Colorado finished the day with 481 total yards of offense compared to the Skyhawks 235 yards.

Northern Colorado returns to action next weekend when they travel to Fargo, N.D. to take on Great West Football Conference rival North Dakota State at Noon mountain time.