SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The No. 7-ranaked Sacramento State football team rushed for its most yards in over 20 years and scored touchdowns on offense, defense and special teams in a 56-33 season-opening victory over Utah Tech on Saturday at Hornet Stadium.

The team received three scores from Cameron Skattebo, two from Marshel Martin and single touchdowns from Asher O'Hara, Jared Gipson and Caleb Nelson in the rout of the Trailblazers.The victory improved the Hornets to 1-0 on the year and gave the team it's ninth straight regular season win to set a program record.

Sacramento State never trailed in the contest and amassed 589 yards of offense while also forcing three interceptions. The team's 378 rushing yards were the third most in school history and the most in the first game of the year. The last time the team rushed for more yards came on Sept. 9, 2000 against Cal Poly (392).

"I was very pleased," Sacramento State head coach Troy Taylor said. "Our guys want to play better but that's the curse of having high expectations and wanting to be really good. Things can be rough in the first game but we were ready to play and showed competitive greatness and, at the end of the game, showed they were the better team."

Skattebo and Asher O'Hara each went over 100 rushing yards to lead the team. Skattebo finished with 153 yards and a score on just 10 carries. He also caught two passes, including a touchdown, and returned an onside kick attempt 43 yards for a score. On the play, Skattebo took the kick on a hop and sprinted straight up field. He was met by a group of would-be tacklers around the 10-yard line but took the entire pile into the end zone. The sophomore finished the game with 226 all-purpose yards while averaging 17.4 yards per touch.

O'Hara gained 101 yards and scored on a 1-yard rush with his patented leap over the line. The senior also completed 5-of-7 pass attempts for 56 yards with two touchdowns.

The two were not the only offensive highlights for the Hornets. Tight end Marshel Martin scored on touchdown grabs of 7 and 11 yards to give him four touchdowns against the Trailblazers in the last two years. Martin now has 15 career touchdown receptions which drew him into a four-way tie for sixth place in school history with a group which includes wide receiver Pierre Williams.

The Hornet defense led to the first two scores of the game and put the team in front to stay. Marte Mapu picked off a pass near midfield which set up Martin's first TD reception. Utah Tech then drove down the field but saw a third-down pass intercepted at the 2-yard line by Caleb Nelson who traveled 98-yards up the left sideline to give the team a 14-0 lead.

Utah Tech posted some impressive numbers of its own. The Trailblazers finished with 579 yards of offense, including 506 through the air. The team used three quarterbacks led by Kobe Tracy who came off the bench to complete 23-of-40 passes for 339 yards and two scores.

Sacramento State will have an early bye before starting a stretch of three-straight road games beginning on Sept. 17 at UNI.