GREELEY, Colo. — It's always close in Greeley, and Saturday proved to be no different as fourth-ranked Sacramento State edged out a 21-13 win over Northern Colorado on Saturday at Nottingham Field.
With the victory, the Hornets improved to 5-1 on the season and 2-1 in the Big Sky Conference. The Bears dropped to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in league games.
With Sacramento State leading, 14-10, in the final seconds of the third quarter,
Carlos Hill outjumped a UNC defender to come down with a 20-yard touchdown and put the team up by two scores.
The fourth quarter proved to be a defensive battle as only Northern Colorado put points on the board with a 26-yard field goal from Hunter Green. The Bears drove to the Hornet 10-yard line but were forced to settle for the field goal.
Following the kickoff, Northern Colorado held the Hornets to a 3-and-out and got the ball back at its own 39-yard line with 3:15 remaining. The Bears moved the ball to the Hornet 32 and then picked up eight yards on first down. The second and third down pass attempts fell incomplete setting up a 4th-and-2 from the 24-yard line. Following a timeout, UNC handed the ball to David Afari who was undercut by
Cameron Broussard after just a yard to give the ball back to Sacramento State. The Hornets then took the ball over with 1:29 left, and after a 10-yard rush from
Ezra Moleni, ran the clock out.
Sacramento State fell behind early after a fumble on its opening drive resulted in a 39-yard field goal from Green. The team had an immediate response when
Kaiden Bennett connected with
Devin Gandy for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 8:44 left in the first quarter.
The Hornets stretched their lead to 14-3 late in the first quarter Moleni grabbed a pass from Bennett on the left sideline and broke free of a tackle for an 8-yard score — his first as a Hornet.
Total yards in the game were nearly equal as Sacramento State amassed 334 compared to 332 from UNC. The Hornets had 151 rushing yards, led by 93 from Moleni. Bennett completed 25-of-31 passes for 183 yards and three touchdowns. Bennett threw completions to 10 different players. One of those - Marshel Martin - caught a season-best seven passes for 52 yards.
Broussard led the Sacramento State defense with a career high 12 tackles. Linebacker
Armon Bailey finished with eight stops. The Hornets had three sacks, including one from
Mason Brosseau and
Ben Ahio, as well as half sacks from
DeShawn Lynch and
Dillon Juniel.
Sacramento State returns home to take on No. 2 Montana State on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in a game televised on ESPN2.
NOTES
- The eight-point win was the second largest in the series in games played at UNC. Sacramento State is now 7-1 in those games.
- Counting today, 10 of the last 13 overall games, and seven of the last eight Big Sky games for Sacramento State, have come down to the final possession.
- Andy Thompson became the fastest Sacramento State head coach to win five games.
- Gandy and Moleni became the latest Hornets to score a touchdown this season. The team now has 12 players who have scored a TD this year.
- Bennett's three passing TDs were a career best.
- The Hornets converted 10-of-17 third downs.
