WBRS Sports Blog

Mendoza is the man to blame for Northern Colorado's punting woes.

I am sure most fans are a little bit curious as to how the punting went for Northern Colorado this weekend when they traveled to San Marcos to take on Texas State. For those of you that were living in a hole this past week, Mitch Cozad, the backup kicker at the University of Northern Colorado was arrested for stabbing teammate, and starting punter, Rafael Mendoza. Cozad has since been kicked out of school, and with Mendoza still recovering from the injury, who punted for Northern Colorado and how did it go? Initially, Jason Hildenbrand, one of the team's strong safeties was assigned punting duties and was doing a decent job, averaging just under 30 yards per kick. However, early in the fourth quarter Hildenbrand went down with an injury while playing strong safety, so the team was forced to use backup placekicker Michael York. York's first punt traveled an entire 7 yards! While Northern Colorado's punting department may be considered questionable at the moment, they did defeat North Texas 14-13, with the winning touchdown coming via a blocked punt! That is what we call irony, boys.