The Hornets will head to Eastern Washington this Saturday with confidence as they search for their first Big Sky Conference road win. This is because they defeated the Montana State Bobcats 24-13 before a Homecoming audience of 11,958 at Fred Anderson Field on Saturday night.

Head coach John Volek realizes that his team must first win a game away from Fred Anderson Field before they can move forward in the conference.

“For us to get back in the playoff chase,” Volek said. “We?ve got to win a Big Sky game on the road.”

With Saturday?s victory, the Hornets improved to 2-3 in Big Sky Conference play and 4-3 overall, while the Bobcats dropped to 0-6 overall.

“We?re three plays from being 7-0,” Volek said about his team?s three tough losses. “(In those games) the other teams made plays. Tonight, we made plays.”

One of those three games in question was last week?s 24-20 loss to Montana. But Volek was happy to see that his team bounced back from the crushing defeat, which saw the Hornets get outscored 24-0 in the second half.

“We were able to come back and get the victory,” Volek said. “I?m really proud of this football team and I hope the students at Sac State are too.”

Although Sac State was playing the Big Sky?s last place team on Saturday, there was still pressure on the Hornets to pull out the victory.

“The more you lose, the more people want to get ready for you,” Montana State head coach Mike Kramer said. “Because they don?t want to be the one (to lose).”

Sac State?s post-season chances took a shot last week against Montana, but senior quarterback Ricky Ray still believes that his team can make some noise in its remaining four games this year.

“We?ve got to put the first five or six games behind us,” Ray said. “It?s a new season for us. We need to not try and go outside ourselves and make too many plays.”

The new season that Ray referred to began on a positive note when senior running back Charles Roberts put Sac State on the board with a five-yard touchdown run eight minutes into the game.

Roberts rushed for 95 yards in 27 carries in the victory. With his performance, he became only the thirteenth player in college football history to pass the 6,000-yard mark. “We took a few more chances in coverage (and focused on Roberts),” Kramer said. “We were fortunate in containing Charles.”

Volek realized that Kramer had Montana State geared to stopping Roberts, but he still kept to his plan of attack.

“They put nine in the box,” he said. “We stayed with Ricky (Ray) and Charles, and the offensive game plan.”

Perhaps the key period of the game was a second quarter goal line stand by Sac State. Montana State had the ball on the Hornets? one-yard line. On a third down run, senior defensive back Tommy Williams saved a touchdown with a nice hit, and forced a fumble that he recovered himself on the fourth down attempt.

Williams led the Hornets with 9.5 tackles in the victory, bringing his season total up to 43.

In the second quarter, tight end Jon Morrissey caught the first of three touchdown passes from senior quarterback Ricky Ray. This gave the Hornets a 12-0 lead, as they failed on a two-point conversion attempt. The Hornets were unsuccessful on all four point after attempts in the game.

Montana State then mustered a score of its own with just over one-minute left in the half. Farhaad Azimi connected with Arie Grey on a 15-yard touchdown, and the Bobcats made the score 12-7.

But Sac State took the momentum back with a 13-yard scoring strike from Ray to senior Scott Towne with nine seconds remaining in the half and the Hornets hit the locker room up 18-7.

“That was a great play by Ricky,” Kramer said.

Despite the fact that the Bobcats started out the second half with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Azimi to Aaron Den Hartog, the Sac State defense continued to play solidly in the second half, and did not allow Montana State another point.

Junior defensive lineman Bilal Watkins had a big game for Sac State, as he celebrated his birthday with two key sacks. Watkins also recorded two sacks in the loss to Montana last week.

“I knew they were going to pass or draw,” Watkins said describing one of his fourth down sacks. “I got a chance to make a play.”

After Hartog?s touchdown put the score at 18-13, the Hornets responded once again and took a 24-13 advantage. This time with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Ray to senior Lamont Webb, who led the Hornets with five receptions and 63 yards.

Sac State will try to build off this victory as they head to Cheney, Washington, for a Saturday afternoon game versus Eastern Washington.