The Northern Arizona football team entered its game against Weber State Saturday with the top-ranked defense in the Big Sky Conference.
The Wildcats weren't impressed.Brad Otton and Co. had their way offensively as Weber downed NAU 67-28 in its final home game of the season. It was the Wildcats' fourth consecutive victory and the highest point total ever for Weber in a Big Sky game.
"There were some things in their defense we felt we could exploit and we were able to," Wildcat coach Dave Arslanian said. "They were stubborn enough to stay with the same things after we exploited them and we took advantage of it."
Otton, Weber's 6-6 freshman quarterback, completed 27 of 47 passes for 540 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions in three-and-a-half quarters of play. Running back Markeith Ross, who rushed for 551 yards in his previous two games, had another fine outing with 21 carries for 139 yards.
"We knew their defense tries to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, but our receivers would be open if they couldn't get to me," Otton said. "The offensive line gave me all day to throw and the receivers made some nice catches and were able to make some nice runs after the catches."
Weber finished the game with 828 yards of total offense, the second best in school history. The offensive explosion came against an NAU team that had given up an average of just 315 yards per game.
Weber's all-time leading receiver Trevor Shaw caught seven passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns. He became only the fourth player in Big Sky history to have 200 catches for his career in the process. Dell Stilson added six catches for 143 yards and a pair of scores.
The Wildcat defense even got into the scoring barrage, as Allen Orton sacked Lumberjack quarterback Jeff Lewis in the end zone for a safety early in the fourth quarter.
"This is the Weber State team I thought we would have at the beginning of the season," Arslanian said.
The Wildcats improved to 6-4 overall, ensuring them of a third-consecutive winning season. Weber will close the year next week at Idaho State.