Phoenix, AZ- On Saturday evening, Arizona Christian beat Simon Fraser 34-28 marking the first time that ACU has won their season opener and beat a NCAA DII school in their four history.  Senior Ryan Esslinger lead the charge with 263 passing yards and three touchdowns- two through the air and one on the ground.

Junior Damario Fair returned the opening kickoff 56 yards to start the Firestorm off in great field position.  Eight plays later, Esslinger found a seam from four yards out to give ACU a 6-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.  Senior Derek Brush tacked on his first of four extra points for the 7-0 edge.

The ACU defense held the SFU offense to five plays before the ACU offense then countered with a five play 65 yard drive that ended with Esslinger connecting with his favorite target of the night- Junior Kendrick Murphy.  Murphy (7 catches, 91 yards on the game) made an impressive one handed grab in the back corner of the end zone (pictured) from 10 yards out for a quick 14-0 cushion.

Not to be counted out, the Clan (0-1) scored on their next two possessions that carried into the second quarter to tie the score at 14-14.

However, Arizona Christian answered right back as Esslinger dumped a short pass off to Freshman Mark Wood who raced into the corner of the end zone to push ACU back in front 21-14.

The teams exchanged drives through the remainder of the first half without a score change.  A sack by Junior James Bagley highlighted the defensive effort in that span.

In the third quarter, Bagley created havoc again as he blocked a punt in the end zone that ACU recovered.  One play later, Junior DeVonte Carter punched in a touchdown from seven yards out.

After SFU scored early in the fourth quarter, Carter added another touchdown run for a 34-21 lead.

Simon Fraser set the game up for a tighter finish when they scored a touchdown with 7:13 remaining to account for the 34-28 score.

With SFU driving trailing only by six, Junior Diante Flowers dropped Clan quarterback Miles Richardson for a key nine yard sack on third down.  The Clan were forced to go for it on the ensuing fourth down and an incomplete pass sealed the victory for the ACU opening game win.

Defensively, ACU was topped by Senior Mike Crockett with seven tackles while Senior Malik Sawyer added six tackles.  Senior Adrian Releford recorded a sack and forced a fumble.

Head Coach Jeff Bowen commented, "The first Firestorm team to win a season opener.  I thought we had great effort from the young men.  We made some mistakes but will get those things ironed out.  We will be ready to start league play next week against Bacone.  I thought in all three phases of the game we did some good things offensively to move the ball well, defensively we got some nice stops, and we had big plays on special teams.  Overall the staff and the players did a great job."

Next Saturday, the Firestorm will find themselves in Muskogee, OK, to open Central States Football League play against Bacone.  Kick-off is set for 12:00 pm Arizona time (2:00 pm Central).