It was a somber few days for the Iowa State community after former golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena was found dead at an Ames golf course just a mile from Jack Trice Stadium Monday. Collin Richards was charged with first-degree murder and is suspected to have killed her while she was golfing that morning.

Barquin Arozamena was going to be honored as Iowa State’s athlete of the year during the game. Instead, they paid tribute to her life before the game.

A crowd dressed in her favorite color — yellow — watched the video silently as the band spelled out her initials on the field. Players from both teams donned “CBA” stickers on their helmets in her memory.

“You hope a little bit of today starts the healing process,” said Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. “I said this, quite honestly, when we went up to Marshalltown this summer. One of the things that makes it really special to be an Iowan is how these communities rally around each other and stand together.”

AP PHOTO - Iowa State quarterback Zeb Noland wears a “CBA” sticker on his helmet to honor slain student-athlete Celia Barquin Arozamena before Saturday’s game in Ames.

Iowa State running back David Montgomery said the tragedy hit players differently throughout the week, but it hit him hard today.

“Coach talked about it from Monday when we got the news of what happened … he doesn’t shy away from things like that,” said Iowa State receive Hakeem Butler. “He wants to talk about things like that because it’s real world issues. He’s not just trying to build us as players, he’s trying to build us as men.”

Campbell said the game was really the second part of the day after the tribute and it was great to make it a win.

Saturday’s home victory wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was a win nonetheless. Iowa State defeated the Akron Zips 26-13. Akron got on the board first with a 26-yard pass to Andre Williams, but it was the Zips’ last lead of the game.

The Cyclones’ offense didn’t come out rolling like it did in last week’s loss to then-No. 5 Oklahoma. The offense was inconsistent throughout the entirety of the game, but they made the scores when it counted.

AP PHOTO - Iowa State cheerleaders look at a memorial to honor slain student Celia Barquin Arozamena, seen in photo at right, before Saturday's game in Ames. Barquin, who was the 2018 Big 12 women's golf champion and Iowa State Female Athlete of the Year, was found dead Monday morning in a pond at a golf course near the Iowa State campus.

Butler was the first on the board for the Cyclones with a diving touchdown that had to be reviewed to see if he made it over the pylon. He said his dive was inspired by what he’s seen Montgomery doing in practice. Butler said he knew if he didn’t get to the end zone that they’d just be handing it to Montgomery to get it in.

Connor Assalley got three points for the Cyclones next with his first field goal of the game and Akron’s kicker followed it with a monster 45-yard field goal to tie the game up at 10-10.

Then Montgomery got his own chance for a diving touchdown. He got into the end zone in the second quarter. The Cyclones led at the half 17-10.

The second half wasn’t too pretty for either team. Akron’s Nick Gasser had one field goal — a career-long 49-yarder — and Assalley added three more touchdowns for Iowa State to finish off the game.

Iowa State accumulated 365 of total yards on offense, while Akron only had 244.

KEY PLAYERS

• Butler ended the game with six catches for 88 yards. Nearly all of his catches came in clutch — one for a touchdown and many of them to keep drives alive.

• “Our big time players are playing at a big time rate,” Campbell said.

• Montgomery has made showy plays all season, but the yards hadn’t been adding up. He got his first 100-yard game of the season, which he said he didn’t consider much of an accomplishment. And that was without playing much of the second half for precautionary reasons after getting dinged up.

• While none of Assalley’s four made field goals were crazy long (27, 29, 33 and 37 yards respectively) he showed good consistency.

• Gasser also showed a great kicking game for Akron with the 45-yarder and 49-yarder.

• With quarterback Kyle Kempt still suffering from a knee injury, Zeb Noland got the start for the Cyclones again. Campbell said he did a lot better job of managing the game. He went 26-34 passing and had no interceptions.

• While the Cyclones’ offense didn’t play consistently, the defense certainly made up for it. Iowa State’s defense had four sacks and one interception on the day. JaQuan Bailey had 1.5 sacks on the day and 3.5 tackles for loss.

UP NEXT

Akron was one of the easier opponents on Iowa State’s schedule, even if the win didn’t come that easy.

The Cyclones didn’t get to play their home opener against South Dakota State because of a rain cancellation, so they rescheduled a game with Incarnate Word in December. The rest of the schedule will be tough matchups for Iowa State, which fell to Iowa and Oklahoma ahead of this week.

Montgomery said the offense hasn’t played “on all cylinders” yet. But they’ll need to step it up if they’re going to get wins against the high caliber teams they’ll continue facing the rest of the season.

Still, Saturday’s win was more than just a game on the schedule.

“I’m happy that we go to do it to honor her (Barquin Arozamena) and I’m sad that it had to be that way,” Butler said. “It was emotional for the team, but more for the community and that’s who we played for.”