Northridge Richer Despite 27-20 Loss : Matadors Gain Valuable Experience Against Division I Foe Fullerton

What price success?

For the first two opponents on the Cal State Northridge football schedule, it came at a cost of $15,000 each.

That’s how much Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Long Beach forked over for what was supposed to be a next-best-thing-to-an-automatic-win over their Division II brothers to the North.

Sure enough, each got its win.

And each got more than it bargained for.

For the second week in a row, Northridge battled a Division I foe on even terms into the fourth quarter only to wind up on the short end of the score. Fullerton, the second-place finisher in the Big West Conference last season, scored 13 points in the final period to edge CSUN, 27-20, Saturday before 2,909 at Santa Ana Stadium.

Michael Pringle’s third touchdown of the game, a two-yard run with 7:44 left, broke a 20-20 tie and enabled the Titans to even their record at 1-1.

Pringle, who played at Kennedy High in the middle of the decade, finished with 164 yards in 28 carries.

Northridge, which hadn’t lost its first two games in a season since 1979, made a last-ditch effort to forge an upset, but it was the Matadors who ended up getting their pockets picked. Titan cornerback Terry Tramble, who had been beaten for a touchdown early in the game, picked off a Sherdrick Bonner pass intended for Joe Rice in the end zone with 3:09 left.

Whether Tramble simply stepped in front of the pass, or pulled himself into position using Rice’s jersey as his anchor, was the subject of some postgame debate.

“I saw Joe Rice coming back and I threw the ball right where he was coming and I saw (Tramble) grab his arm and pull himself in front,� Bonner said.

“It was a good pick,� Tramble said.

Bonner threw three second-half interceptions--including two inside the Fullerton five-yard line--to dim an otherwise sparkling effort. Bonner completed 29 passes--three shy of the CSUN single-game record--in 44 attempts for 303 yards and a touchdown. In addition, he scored on a two-yard option run.

“Now we’ve seen him play,� said Northridge Coach Bob Burt, who has been predicting great things for Bonner, a 6-foot-5 junior, ever since he was signed out of Azusa High. “He played just a fantastic football game.�

The game was of special significance to Burt, defensive coordinator for Coach Gene Murphy at Fullerton for six seasons before moving to Northridge.

“I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but I’m proud of the way our kids played,� Burt said. “If I’ve got to lose one, I’ll lose to Murph and bite the bullet.�

Murphy, too, was complimentary. “Cal State Northridge is a good football team,� he said. “I said the same thing on Monday, but nobody believed me then.�

The Matadors won over some believers during a first half they dominated while building a 20-7 lead.

Bonner, who completed passes to nine receivers, cut the Titans down to size with a precise short-range attack. He completed 10 of his first 11 attempts, and 15 of 20 in the first half for 178 yards.

Northridge ran 42 plays in the first two quarters--twice as many as Fullerton--and held a 227-67 edge in total yardage.

The Matadors methodically marched 85 yards in 10 plays to score on their first possession.

Bonner, maneuvering easily and confidently in the pocket, completed five passes on the drive, including one to Anthony Harris for 11 yards and a touchdown.

Pringle scored from four yards to tie the score, 7-7, just before the end of the first quarter, but the Matadors responded with 13 unanswered points.

Abo Velasco kicked field goals of 41 and 37 yards and Bonner converted David Benefield’s second interception of the game into a touchdown with 34 seconds remaining in the half.

Fullerton didn’t score again until Pringle, a Washington State transfer, broke loose on a 76-yard run midway through the third quarter.

Phil Nevin, a freshman who chose to kick for Fullerton rather than pitch for the Dodgers after being drafted in the third round of the amateur baseball draft last June, tacked on field goals of 42 and 54 yards early in the fourth quarter to draw the Titans even, 20-20.

And then there was Tramble’s interception that iced the game.

“We lose the ballgame, but I’ll tell you what, if we play that way the rest of the time, we’re going to be somebody to reckon with, I believe,� Burt said.