UC Davis pulls away to beat Northern Arizona 45-24 behind freshman Caden Pinnick’s 5 TD passes

DAVIS, Calif. (AP) — Freshman Caden Pinnick threw three of his season-high five touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and UC Davis pulled away for a 45-24 victory over Northern Arizona on Saturday night.

Hunter Ridley kicked a 42-yard field goal midway through the first quarter to put UC Davis (5-1, 3-0 Big Sky Conference), ranked No. 6 in the FCS coaches poll, up 3-0.

Ty Pennington connected with Kolbe Katsis for a 20-yard touchdown on the final play of the quarter and Northern Arizona (4-3, 1-2) took a 7-3 lead.

Pinnick fired a 31-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Gbatu Jr. midway through the second quarter and the Aggies took a 10-7 lead into halftime.

Jordan Fisher scored on a 59-yard run two plays into the third quarter to push the Aggies’ lead to 10, but Quran Gossett answered with a 7-yard scoring run to cut it to 17-14.

Pinnick fired a 50-yard scoring strike to Carter Vargas for a 10-point advantage, but Samuel Hunsaker’s field goal cut it to 24-17 heading to the fourth quarter.

Pinnick hit Gbatu for a 4-yard score before adding touchdown throws to Stacy Dobbins and Mitchell Dixon covering 10 and 7 yards, respectively, to help the Aggies pull away.

Pinnick completed 25 of 29 passes for a season-high 348 yards. Gbatu had seven receptions for 114 yards and Fisher added 104 yards on 14 rushes.

Pennington totaled 245 yards on 18-for-28 passing for the Lumberjacks. Isaiah Eastman had eight catches for 135 yards. Gossett carried eight times for 66 yards and two scores.

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