SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Freshman quarterback Nate Ketteringham completed 20-of-26 pass attempts for 287 yards and four touchdowns — three to Shane Harrison — and the defense forced five turnovers in Sacramento State's 38-13 Homecoming victory over Idaho State on Saturday at Hornet Stadium.

The victory improved the Hornets to 2-6 on the season and 1-4 in Big Sky Conference games while also snapping the team's six-game losing streak. Idaho State fell to 2-6 overall and is also 1-4 in league games.

Ketteringham, who was making his second career start as a true freshman, shattered his highs in his young career. The San Diego native became the first Hornet quarterback to throw for four touchdown passes in a game since Garrett Safron in the Causeway Classic last season. He threw his first career score on a 20-yard pass to Harrison just six seconds into the second quarter to tie the game, 7-7. Following an ISU field goal, he gave Sacramento State its first lead with a 2-yard pass to running back Garrett Steele.

The Hornets took a 17-10 lead into halftime following a 31-yard field goal from Brad Cornish but pushed the game out of reach with a 21-point third quarter. Anthony Payne intercepted his team-leading third pass of the season on the first drive of the second half and Harrison and Ketteringham connected for a 20-yard touchdown two plays later. After an ISU field goal made the score, 24-13, Harrison found himself wide open down the center of the field for a 61-yard TD strike. Redshirt freshman Joey Banks capped the period with a 41-yard interception return for a score with 4:17 remaining in the third quarter.

The Hornet defense entered the game having forced seven turnovers in the team's first seven games. The unit responded with a school-record tying four interceptions and also forced a fumble. Along with Payne and Banks, Earnest Jenkins and Austin Clark were each able to record a pick. The game marked the ninth time in school history that Sacramento State had four interceptions and the first time against a Div. I opponent since facing Weber State in 2006. The final turnover of the game came late in the fourth quarter when Malcolm Thomas jarred the ball loose and the fumble was recovered by Terrance Jackson.

Ketteringham also rushed for 51 yards to finish the game with 338 yards of total offense — the most by a Hornet this season. Harrison also had a career night, tallying 159 receiving yards and three scores. The senior has led the team in receptions and yards the entire season but had been shut out of the end zone prior to facing ISU. His performance made him the 13th player in school history to have three receiving touchdowns in a game and the first since DeAndre Carter had four against Southern Utah last season.

Defensively, linebacker Darnell Sankey had 18 tackles, including 11 solos and a tackle-for-loss. He moved past Peter Buck into sixth place on the school's career tackles list and is now just seven shy of former Big Sky Defensive MVP Matt Logue for fifth place. Freshman linebacker Manoah Pearson recorded his second straight double-digit tackle game with 12 stops.

The team stats were a little misleading as the Hornets amassed 413 yards of total offense as a team and averaged 6.2 yards on its 67 plays. Idaho State had 378 yards but ran 82 plays for an average of 4.6 yards. ISU also had one more first down than Sacramento State (22-21) and also had a slight edge in time of possession (30:20-29:40).

Tanner Gueller started the game for ISU at quarterback where he was 20-of-36 for 233 yards  with three interceptions. He game way to Trae Pilster who was 3-of-7 for 22 yards with an interception. Xavier Finney led the team with 95 rushing yards on 24 attempts and also scored the team's lone touchdown. Madison Mangum was the leading receiver with eight grabs for 83 yards.

Sacramento State will have its lone bye week of the season before heading to Cal Poly on Nov. 7.