Despite a stellar record-setting aerial performance by wide receiver Kenny Golladay, North Dakota was unable to handle No. 14 Northern Arizona on the road, as the Lumberjacks handed UND its fourth straight loss, 48-27.

NAU improved to 5-1 in the Big Sky (7-2 overall) while the Green and White dropped to 1-5 in conference play (2-7 overall).

After trailing 14-0 to begin the second quarter, backup quarterback Ryan Bartels entered the game and took over for freshman Joe Mollberg. Bartels had a career day, completing 39 of 59 passes for 367 yards while connecting with Golladay four times to find the endzone.

“Ryan came in and gave us a spark,” UND coach Chris Mussman said. “He started completing some passes, making first downs and you could see our offense starting to build some confidence.

“That fake field goal really hurt us though. It was a great call by their head coach.  A gutsy one, but it worked, and we just could not get anything going in the third quarter and that proved costly.”

Golladay set a UND school record for receptions in a single game as he hauled in a resounding 17 for 134 receiving yards on the night. His four touchdown receptions also tied a school single-game record that had been set in 2001 against Winona State by former receiver Jesse Smith.

Senior wide-receiver Greg Hardin also picked up big gains in the air as he pulled down eight passes for 118 yards for his 14th career 100-plus receiving yard game.

The aerial extravaganza by Bartels and company wasn’t enough to overcome a potent Lumberjack offense in the end.

NAU opened the scoring when starter quarterback Chase Cartwright put together a drive for the home team, connecting with five different receivers to take his squad 81 yards down the field before capping the drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to receiver Alex Holmes.

Northern Arizona matched North Dakota blow for blow on offense, producing 479 total yards to UND’s 421. However, the Lumberjacks capitalized on a major ground attack by running backs Zach Bauman and Casey Jahn, who ran for 162 and 106 yards, respectively. Both Bauman and Jahn picked up a rushing touchdown in the first half to help NAU take a 28-14 lead heading into the rest.

On defense, UND was led by safety Will Lewis, who picked up a career-high 11 stops. Despite both teams putting up 400 yards in a game that saw only four total punts, both teams combined for 21 penalties, totaling 211 yards.

North Dakota will return home next weekend with a matchup against Northern Colorado for its second-to-last conference game of the season.

The Green and White will play its last home game this Saturday. Kick-off is slated for 1:00 p.m. at the Alerus Center.

David Butz is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].