Millis Cracks Record Book, but Gaels Refuse to Break

Is there a record for the most records set in a game you lost?

If so, the Cal State Northridge football team would own it.

Senior Clayton Millis set three school single-game passing records, and Tim Hilton set a receiving record, but the Matadors lost, 28-20, to St. Mary’s on Saturday night in a nonconference game in front of 2,139 at North Campus Stadium.

Millis completed 48 of 65 passes for 429 yards and two touchdowns.

He broke single-game records for yardage (394, Rick Minyard against Portland State in 1979), completions (32, Minyard, same game) and attempts (55, Don Morrow, against Puget Sound, 1981).

“It feels awesome,” Millis said. “It would have been nice to have both the record and the win, but it still feels pretty good.”

Hilton caught 20 passes for 174 yards. The old record of 12 had been reached three times, most recently by Alvin Hooks against Santa Clara in 1980.

Chris Love caught nine Millis passes for 150 yards.

The scouting report on St. Mary’s proved to be accurate. The Gaels play their secondary deep, giving up plenty of yardage on short passes. But they also tighten close to the end zone and give up relatively few points, which is why they had won seven of their first nine games.

The Gaels (8-2) held again.

Northridge (2-7), which trailed, 21-0, at halftime, rallied to within seven points in the fourth quarter, but St. Mary’s drove 63 yards in 10 plays and scored on a one-yard run by Sean Laird, boosting the lead back to 14 with 3 minutes 10 seconds to play.

A 52-yard kickoff return by Hilton then set up Northridge to add a three-yard scoring pass from Millis to Jesse Rafanan with 51 seconds to play. But Matt Ornelaz missed the extra point.

St. Mary’s recovered Northridge’s onside kick and ran out the clock.

The game began with Northridge moving the ball, but unable to put it in the end zone.

One beautiful drive--it spanned 89 yards in 16 plays and included 10-of-11 passing by Millis--ended with Ornelaz shanking a 26-yard field-goal attempt.

Another drive ended when Rafanan fumbled at the St. Mary’s three. And Northridge’s final drive of the half ended with Ornelaz missing a 37-yard field-goal try.

“We just killed ourselves inside the 20,” Hilton said. “We moved the ball great up and down the field, and inside the 20 we choked.”

The Gaels amassed 258 yards in the first half, scoring on a 13-yard run by Ed Williams--a sophomore from Canyon High who ran for a career-high 146 yards in 29 carries--a nifty 34-yard bootleg by Laird and a two-yard pass from Laird to Blake Tuffli.

Northridge pulled to within 21-7 early in the third quarter. The Matadors drove 64 yards in 11 plays, including nine-of-nine passing by Millis, to score on Rafanan’s 10-yard catch.

After failing on fourth-and-goal at the St. Mary’s two on its next drive early in the fourth quarter, Northridge came right back and drove deep into Gael territory again, but this time the Matadors scored on Millis’ nine-yard run, pulling within 21-14 with 8:30 to play.