SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the second year in a row, the Sacramento State defense came up with a late-game stop to secure a Homecoming victory, this time edging Northern Colorado 40-35 in front of 20,022 fans at Hornet Stadium.
 
With Northern Colorado facing 4^th-and-1 from the Hornet 3-yard line and just over 30 seconds remaining, the Bears elected to throw but Eric Gibson's pass was broken up by Malik Tullis and fell into the end zone. The victory improved the Hornets to 4-3 overall and put the team over .500 for the first time this season. UNC fell to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in league game.
 
The game had numerous ebbs and flows as the teams combined for eight lead changes. The Hornets, once again, relied on its rushing attack, finishing with 323 yards on the ground with 134 from Rodney Hammond, Jr., and 103 from Jaquail Smith. The pair became the first Hornet duo to go over 100-yards in consecutive games since 1985. The Bears did most of its damage through the air with 321 passing yards, including 223 to Carver Cheeks. However, the Hornet defense was able to come away with four interceptions to help turn the course of the contest.
 
The biggest pick came from Ricky Lee III who stepped in front of a third-down pass and returned it 34-yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The score gave the Hornets a 34-28 lead and was the first pick six for the cornerback at any level of his career. Koa Akui, Jason Oliver and Lono Chouteau provided the other three interceptions by the Sacramento State defense. The unit also had six pass breakups.
 
Sacramento State won the time of possession for the first time this season, holding the ball for 35:57. However, the team had four drives stall but were salvaged by a career-high four field goals from Grant Meadors who was successful from 37. 28, 34 and 42 yards. Meadors entered the game with four makes on five attempts this season with a long of 36 yards.
 
After Lee's interception put the Hornets on top, UNC had an immediate answer less than a minute later as Cheeks broke free from a tackle along the sideline and traveled 62-yards for a score to give the Bears a 35-34 lead.
 
Sacramento State used 10 plays to take the ball to the Northern Colorado 17-yard line but a third-down pass was incomplete and Meadors put the team back on top with a 34-yard field goal. Chouteau's interception gave the team the ball back at the Bear 30-yard line with 4:08 remaining. The Hornets ran on the first two downs but were sacked on a third-down pass resulting in a 42-yard field goal and a five-point lead.
One of the biggest plays of the game came on the first play of the next series. Gibson threw deep down the right sideline where Brayden Munroe was tangled with a Hornet defender. Munroe came away with the ball near the 50-yard line and then broke free for a touchdown and a would-be lead. Instead, replay ruled that Munroe caught the pass while standing out-of-bounds negating the score. A pass interference penalty was still enforced taking the ball to the UNC 40. The team methodically mixed short passes and runs to move the ball to the 3-yard line. The third-down attempt was stopped by Alex Rocha and DeSean Watts for no gain setting up the fourth-down PBU by Tullis.
 
Rocha finished the contest with a team-high 11 tackles while Akui added seven to lead the Sacramento State defense.
 
The Hornets will remain at home next week as it hosts No. 4 Montana on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The game will also be shown on ESPN2.
 
NOTES

• Hammond went over 100 rushing yards for the third-consecutive game. He added 95 kick return yards on three returns and had three receiving yards to give him 232 all-purpose yards.
• Tight end Bear Tenney caught a 25-yard touchdown pass on his first collegiate reception.
• Sacramento State averaged 5.7 yards per carry as a team.
• The second-longest reception for the Hornets came from Cardell Williams who caught a 21-yard pass from fellow QB Jaden Rashada.