HILLSBORO, Ore. — Five players scored touchdowns and Sacramento State amassed nearly 500 yards of offense as the team ran away from Portland State in the second half for a 52-24 victory at Hillsboro Stadium.
 
The Hornets won for the fourth time in their last five games and are now two games above .500 for the first time this season at 6-4 overall and 4-2 in Big Sky Conference games. The Vikings dropped to 1-9 overall and 1-5 in league play.
 
Sacramento State took the opening kickoff and marched 83 yards on 12 plays to take a 7-0 lead on Damian Henderson's 25-yard touchdown run. Ernest Campbell then doubled the advantage when he brought in a 22-yard pass from Cardell Williams in the middle of the field with five seconds left in the opening quarter.
 
Portland State remained in the game during the second quarter as Delon Thompson rushed for a 2-yard score early in the period. Just seven seconds later, Campbell caught a short pass from Williams and broke free from a would-be shoestring tackle for a 65-yard touchdown — his sixth score of at least 50 yards this season.
 
The Vikings made a switch at quarterback prior to their last drive of the half and the team responded with an 11-play, 69-yard series which was capped by a 15-yard pass from Tyresse Smith to Charlie White with 15 seconds showing to make it 21-14 at the half.
 
Sacramento State imposed its will in the second half, forcing punts on PSU's first two drives and then forcing a fumble on the third. The offense rallied behind the ground game beginning with an 87-yard run from Rodney Hammond, Jr., which set up a 6-yard TD run from Jaquial Smith. Hammond added a 41-yard touchdown run later in the quarter to push him over 100 yards in a quarter for the second straight game.
 
The Hornets outscored Portland State, 17-10, in the fourth quarter beginning with a 35-yard field goal from Grant Meadors followed by rushing touchdowns from Hammond and Sam Adams II.
 
The offense had one of its more balanced efforts of the year as Williams was 8-of-11 for 188 yards and pair of touchdowns and the ground game accounted for 291 rushing yards. Hammond led the team with 191 and became the first Hornet to rush for at least 150 yards in consecutive games since Jordan Robinson in 2016. Henderson added 51 rushing yards and Adams finished with 20.
 
The defense posted 10 tackles-for-loss, including six sacks. The unit tallied five of those sacks in the second half and were led by Dylan Hampsten who had 3.5 TFLs and 2.5 sacks. The Hornets also had interceptions from Jason Oliver (his second of the season) and Koa Akui (his fifth) while also getting a forced fumble and fumble recovery from Micah Mosley.
 
Sacramento State will return home to host Idaho on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. at Hornet Stadium. The game will also be Senior Night as the University will recognize the student-athletes who will be playing at home for the final time.
 
NOTES

• Hammond has three rushes of at least 50 yards over the last two games.
• Campbell has six receptions of at least 50 yards this season and is now just one away from the school career record of seven held by Andre Lindsey.
• Meadors made all seven of his extra points and is now 46-of-47 on the season. His total places him sixth in school single-season history.
• The team's six sacks gives them 37 on the year which ranks third in the school's Div. I-era.