The last yard proved to be the toughest for Charles Roberts. He glided in from the 15 yard-line, only to lose the ball at the one-yard line with three minutes to go and the Hornets down by two points.

The Idaho State Bengals jumped out to a 21-0 lead and handed the Hornets their second Big Sky Conference loss on Saturday night inside Holt Arena in Pocatello, ID, hanging on to a 41-39 victory.

“I?m disappointed in the way we got started,” head coach John Volek said. “But we played a full 60 minutes.”

To be as close as they were was an accomplishment for Sac State (2-2, 0-2), following a disastrous start that saw the Hornets trailing by three touchdowns after 12 minutes.

Although the Bengals jumped out to a big lead, Volek kept his team in the game plan.

“We stayed in our game plan,” Volek said. “They did a good job on Charles (Roberts). Everywhere he goes, he has a target on him.”

After rushing for 409 yards against Idaho State last season, Roberts rushed for 155 yards in 27 carries Saturday. But it was his last carry that the 5,638 in attendance will remember.

“I normally would have probably tried to avoid the contact, but I didn?t want to try and juke with my thigh (injury).”

Roberts, who has lost five fumbles in the team?s first four games, will aim to get through his first game without fumbling away a ball when the Hornets host Weber State on Saturday. However, Roberts is not panicking about his turnovers.

“I?m not worried about it,” Roberts said. “I can?t explain it.”

The fumble was not the only opportunity missed for the Hornets as the clock wound down. Senior Scott Towne, who caught three passes for 41 yards, dropped what probably would have been a game winning reception with less than 10 seconds left.

Despite the missed chances, Volek did not want to blame the loss on any individual plays.

“You could put that on a lot of different things,” Volek said. “It?s hard for him (Towne), he knows what I think about him.”

Idaho State coach Larry Lewis thought that Towne may have been too open.

“If we would have covered him really close, he probably would have caught it,” he said. “So we thought we?d leave him open.”

The fact that Sac State managed to be in position to win was hard to believe after the rough start. On the game?s first play, Idaho State?s Nick Whitworth ran for 39 yards. Whitworth, who rushed for 134 yards in the win, proceeded to lead his team right through the Hornet defense, and Isaac Mitchell scored from four yards out to make the score 7-0.

Later in the first quarter, a personal foul on a Sac State punt let Idaho State start a drive on the Hornets?30-yard line. This led to a one-yard touchdown run by Troy Bell and a 14-0 lead. 29 seconds later, after an interception, the Bengals made the score 21-0 on a 54-yard flea flicker from David Steel to DeRonn Finley. Perhaps the threat of the run caused Finley to be so open on the play.

“They did a good job of mixing the pass with the run,” Volek said.

The Hornets finally lighted the scoreboard when Ray hit senior Lamont Webb on a short pass, which Webb took 80 yards for the touchdown. But six was all they would get as the extra point was blocked and score was 21-6.

Ray and Webb would connect for another touchdown later in the half, and the Hornets would trail 28-14 at the break.

Ray relied heavily on Webb during the game, and Webb responded with big numbers: six catches, 138 yards and two touchdowns.

“Lamont?s a special player and one of our biggest weapons,” Ray said. “I missed him a couple of times to.”

In the opening minutes of the second half, Idaho State?s Finley returned a punt for an 89-yard touchdown, giving his team a 35-14 lead.

This was the point where Sac State began to get going on both sides of the ball. Roberts moved the ball down the field; Ray hit Webb for 22 yards and senior Mike Wooster ran in from nine yards to close in at 35-21. The Hornet offense, most notably Roberts who rushed for 127 yards in the second half, started to click in the third quarter.

“I knew my production wasn?t as good as usual,” Roberts said about his first half. “We went in at half-time and made adjustments.”

On the ensuing drive, Sac State?s Vince Andrews intercepted a Shane Grigg?s pass and this set up a 41-yard Jimmy Sanchez field goal.

One minute later, Sac State?s Anthony Daisley sacked Griggs for a safety and this put the Hornets down only 35-26. Daisley, who recorded 10.5 tackles in the loss, pushed his team leading total to 35.5.

After Webb returned the safety punt to the Hornets? 43-yard line, Roberts? 39-yard run got the Hornets inside the 10-yard line. Ray ran in a one-yard touchdown and the score was 35-33 heading into the fourth quarter.

Early in the last quarter, Whitworth scored for Idaho State, but the extra point was missed, leaving the lead at 41-33.

Ray responded and led his team down the field on a 9 play, 70-yard touchdown drive, which ended with a two-yard Roberts? touchdown on fourth down. But the two-point conversion attempt failed as Ray was stopped short of the goal line on a sneak attempt. The Hornets now trailed 41-39 with just over nine minutes left in the game.

A couple minutes later, Sac State began a drive at their own five-yard line. The Hornets moved the football and a 31-yard catch by Towne put them on the Idaho St. 20-yard line.

But on a run from the 15-yard line, Roberts was hit by Mike Clancy and the ball popped into the endzone for a touchback.

“Helmet to helmet, shoulder to shoulder,” Clancy said of his hit on Roberts. “It just popped out. I just wanted to stop him from getting in.”

The Bengals killed some clock and the Hornets gained possession again with 17 seconds left, with the ball on the their own 13-yard line. On the first play, a pressured Ray through a deep pass down the left-side line to Towne, but Towne was unable to hold on.

This was the last chance for the Hornets and they will try to regroup next week when they host Weber State on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Fred Anderson Field.