Horsey provides interception to help drive Rebel win

In a game that was screaming out in desperation for someone on UNLV to make a big play, Mike Horsey answered the call.

The senior free safety intercepted Sean Rubalcaba’s third-down pass and returned it 21 yards to the Northern Colorado 20. The Rebels were able to get points out of the turnover on Jonathan Leiva’s 35-yard field goal and went on to survive, 13-12, Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.

It was the first takeaway of the season for UNLV (1-1) and it came at the most opportune time. The Bears, who came into the non-conference game having lost 11 straight games, had managed to hang around and thanks to the play of their quarterback and some penalties by UNLV, had pulled even at 10-10 in the third quarter and were looking to take the lead.

Northern Colorado had drove to its own 35 after starting from its 8 and were in a third-and-2 situation. The Bears had struggled on third down all game and were just 2 of 9 converting on third down to that point. Now, needing three yards to keep the drive going, Rubalcaba looked for Dimitri Stimphil, his favorite target. Earlier in the quarter, the two had hooked up for a 33-yard pass play which set up Northern Colorado’s tying score as Stimphil went up between two defenders to haul in the throw at the UNLV 3.

This time, he never had a chance. H0rsey read the play and he stepped in front of Stimphil, intercepting the ball at the Northern Colorado 41 and returning it to the Bears’ 20. It was the second career interception for Horsey and it proved to be huge.

UNLV found itself the victim of a safety early in the fourth quarter as the Rebels couldn’t escape the shadow of their own end zone and quarterback Blake Decker was tackled trying to get back to the line of scrimmage as the lead shrank to 13-12. Northern Colorado missed a 23-yard-field goal with 5:45 remaining which would have put the Bears in front as the Rebels caught a huge break.

“He got a good break on the ball and it was a nice play,” UNLV coach Bobby Hauck said of Horsey’s heroics. “I wish he would have scored.”

Horsey was just glad to come up big.

“We had a blitz dialed up so I new the ball was coming out hot,” Horsey said. “I was able to make a good break on the ball and I was in the right spot. But I had no idea how big a play it would really be.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.