Sacramento State was relentless on the ground and in the air, beating Idaho State University 47-21 in the their Big Sky Conference opener on Saturday night.

Bengal defenders had no answer for the Hornets “big three;” running back Tyronne Gross, quarterback Ryan Leadingham and wide receiver Fred Amey.

Gross punished his opponents with razor-like cuts -stopping and starting on a dime, bone jarring hits – lowering his shoulder to deliver the blow and blinding speed that kept defenders looking at the number 21 on the back of his jersey all night long.

“I don’t think I got hit too hard tonight,” Gross said. “I might be hurting tomorrow but the offensive line, the ‘hammerheads,’ make it easy for me.”

Gross finished the night with 240 rushing yards becoming only the fifth back in school history to rush for more than 200 yards.

With his right arm Leadingham carved up the Idaho State secondary connecting with eight different receivers and completing 21 of 30 passes for 362 yards and 6 touchdowns, shattering the old school record of four.

Head coach Steve Mooshagian said Leadingham played a gutsy game dealing with the pain of a shoulder injury that has been hampering him all season.

Amey once again showed why he owns almost all the receiving records at Sac State, catching eight balls for 180 yards and two touchdowns.”I’m still thinking about the pass I dropped,” Amey said, downplaying a performance that also included making the first guy miss every time on his four punt returns for a total of 71 yards.

Bengal head coach Larry Lewis knew coming in to Sacramento that his team was in for a fight.

“Did we underestimate them, hell no,” Lewis said. “We knew the quality of this team at all the key positions, quarterback, wide-out and running back.”

With the win the Hornets improve to 2-2 and 1-0 in the Big Sky conference.

“We not trying to make any friends in this league,” Mooshagian said. “We just need to take care of ourselves.”