Big plays help lead Northern Colorado Bears to season opening victory over Langston

GREELEY, Colorado – On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Northern Colorado senior quarterback Seth Lobato (Eaton, Colo.) hit junior wide receiver Dimitri Stimphil (Homestead, Fla.) for a 60-yard touchdown that extended the Bears lead to 17-3 and two drives later the pair connected on an 80-yard strike to lift the team to a 31-10 victory over Langston in the season opener for both teams.

"When you talk about football," Head Coach Earnest Collins Jr. said. "It is about a play here and a play there – just ask K-State. That's why you don't bring an opponent in and say 'this is an easy victory.' You can't do that anymore. We have players that can play at any level and they have players that can play at this level, so it evens out the pot. You can't go into a game believing that just because it's a lower level school you're going to win."

Stimphil caught five passes for a career-best 219 yards and two touchdowns, shattering his previous career-high of 76 yards from the 2011 game at Eastern Washington. His total of 219 receiving yards is also the eighth-highest total in school history and the second-highest since the Bears joined the Big Sky Conference in 2007.

Lobato ended the afternoon 17 for 30 for 314 yards, throwing three touchdowns and he connected with five other players besides Stimphil.

The Bears' defense also intercepted the Lions three times and forced a turnover on downs, which set up the 80-yard TD strike. Two of the three picks came from senior linebacker Conor Sparacio (Aurora, Colo.), who started the second game of his career and tallied seven tackles.



Junior college transfer Max Flores (Yuba City, Calif.) led the team with 15 tackles, while sophomore linebacker JaQueal Walker (Plaquemine, La.) added 14 stops and a pass breakup.

True freshman running back Darius Graham (Lawton, Okla.) made quite a splash in his collegiate debut, carrying the ball 17 times for 93 yards and one touchdown. "The kid has a lot of natural ability," Collins said. "We just have to teach him he can't bounce everything to the outside because they're as fast as you are now. He's 230 pounds and sometimes you've got to run some people over and keep going and we got him doing a little of that in the second half. He's going to be a special player for us and it's going to be good to have a 1-2 punch."

Langston scored first, making a 25-yard field goals with 9:05 on the clock in the first quarter. The Bears answered with a 41-yarder off the foot of senior kicker Dave Eden (Westminster, Colo.) with 13:20 to play in the second quarter to knot the score.

Lobato connected with senior wide receiver Will Jefferson Jr. (Moreno Valley, Calif.) from 11-yards out 1:42 before halftime for the 10-3 advantage at the break.

After Stimphil's back-to-back long touchdowns, Langston quarterback Jac'Quon Miles from Cedrick Jackson from 10 yards out for the 24-10 score early in the fourth quarter and Graham scored from 18-yards out with 6:38 remaining for the 31-10 final.

"They kind of drove me nuts in the beginning," Collins said. "To our guys credit, they hung with it and figured out. We knew there were going to be some issues coming out because of the crazy things (Langston does). A new head coach and a new team so you really don't know -- you can practice what you think you're going to see and I think our kids think too much, especially on the offensive side, trying to make the perfect check. Once we calmed them down they started to play better in the second half."

COURTESY NORTHERN COLORADO UNIVERSITY BEARS.COM