Quick Hitters
Bridge-Gadd’s 4 TDs lead N. Arizona past S. Utah
FLAGSTAFF — Daniel BridgeGadd threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth and Northern Arizona opened Big Sky Conference play with a 31-23 win over defending champion Utah State on Saturday night.
In his second start for injured star Case Cookus, the University of Washington transfer put the Lumberjacks (2-2) up 24-23 late in the third quarter when he connected with Brandon Porter for a 68-yard score. Bridge-Gadd secured the win by capping a 14-play, 78-yard drive with an 8-yard TD pass to Jonathan Baldwin.
Bridge-Gadd, who opened the scoring with a 6-yard run, finished 21 of 31 for 295 yards. His first scoring pass was a 4-yarder to Emmanuel Butler, the school record 29th of his career. Butler almost moved into second in career receiving yards with 2,812 and into the top five in receptions with 166.
Aaron Zwahlen’s 4-yard scoring pass to Nick Colson put the Thunderbirds (0-4) at 23-17 with 2:44 to go in the third quarter.
NAU had a 492-442 edge in total offense but Southern Utah’s two quarterbacks were picked off three times, twice by Khalil Cook.
Towns getting $190 million extension from Wolves
Karl-Anthony Towns is getting a new deal from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jimmy Butler is still waiting to get a new address.
Towns announced Saturday night that he is recommitting to the Timberwolves, securing his future there while Butler’s remains a mystery. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press that Towns will be signing a five-year super-max extension worth $190 million.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the team nor Towns publicly revealed the financial terms of the deal. Towns posted a video to social media with the wording “5 More” — a clear nod to the length of the contract.
“On June 25th, 2015, I was drafted to and committed to the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Towns wrote in an Instagram post. “On September 22nd, 2018, I made a recommitment to the Wolves and have the same feelings of excitement that I felt back in 2015.”
After four games, Arizona Western wouldn’t know what a blowout was if it was in the middle of one.
This time, the Mats couldn’t pull a rabbit out of their hat in the final minutes of Saturday night’s 2825 loss to Mesa at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
AWC’s first four games have been decided by a combined 11 points.
It was AWC’s (2-2 overall, 0-1 WSFL) first loss to the Thunderbirds (3-1, 1-0) on the field since 2007.
“We shot ourselves in the foot and we gave it away,” AWC defensive coordinator Jerry Dominguez said. “The ones that you give away are the tough ones. It was a close ballgame, congratulations to Mesa, but it could have gone the other way easily.”
AWC head coach Tom Minnick missed the game as he was out of town for a family emergency. It was the first game he missed in 11 seasons.
The Thunderbirds scored on the opening drive of the game when their up-tempo offense went six plays for 88 yards in about two minutes to set up a Terrence Roberts Jr. rushing touchdown from one yard.
“One of the big things every time that you face an up-tempo team is that you need to slow down the tempo,” Dominguez said. “There were times that we did that and times that we didn’t.”
AWC worked the ground all game while rushing 39 times. For stretches that worked to keep the Mesa fast-pace offense off of the field. Mats’ running back Kendon Walker scored first on a seven-yard zone read to the right to tie the game at 7 late in the first quarter.
The Mats recovered a fumble after and had an opportunity for a field goal, but that was blocked. They ended up with multiple missed opportunities in the redzone.
With Mesa leading 14-7 late in the first half, AWC thought it had tied the game up for a moment. Quarterback Logan Byrd found receiver Leshaun Potts on a throwback screen play with a bunch of open field. He ran 29 yards for what appeared to
CORVALLIS, Ore. — After an explosive game, Arizona running back J.J. Taylor was asked what was working well for him.
“The offensive line,” he responded, then chuckled. “All the stuff that we do at practice just showed up today.”
Taylor rushed for a Reser Stadium-record 284 yards and two touchdowns, including a 62-yard sprint, as Arizona ran wild over Oregon State 35-14 in the Pac-12 opener on Saturday afternoon.
Dual-threat quarterback Khalil Tate, hampered by be a touchdown, but that play was called back after a holding penalty and that score held at the half.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” AWC offensive coordinator Michael Orthmann said. “We had some things go against us. We had some offensive line injuries, so we had some inconsistency up front. Just based on personnel we had guys subbing and subbing out. You have to be able to overcome that.”
AWC kicker Alec Fonseca made a 27-yard field goal to start the third quarter and for a moment the Matadors had some momentum. They tried to follow up the field goal with an onside kick, which ended up backfiring.
Mesa picked up the onside kick and after a fum- an injured ankle this season, passed for 152 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats. Gary Brightwell added 113 yards rushing and a touchdown and Shawn Poindexter had 92 receiving yards and a score for Arizona.
Arizona coach Kevin Sumlin said there was no doubt this was his team’s best game of the season.
Safety Jalen Moore had 14 tackles, 13 unassisted, while Conor Blount threw for 137 yards and two touchdowns for the Beavers.
Arizona outgained Oregon State 594 yards to 238 yards.
“We never really found some rhythm out there. We really didn’t,” said Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith.
The Wildcats led 14-7 at halftime but missed scoring opportunities, in part due to penalties.
Arizona (2-2, 1-0 Pac-12) scored on the first posses-