SAN LUIS OBISPO — Despite scoring their first touchdown of the season and staying close in the first half for the second straight week, Sacramento State was beaten 37-13 by Cal Poly on Saturday Night in San Luis Obispo.

The Hornets stayed close throughout the entire first half and tied the score at 7-7 with just under five minutes to play in the half. Sac State went into the locker trailing 10-7, and after a quick three-and-out by the Mustangs it looked as if the Hornets might be able to capitalize, but once again their opponent got the better of the second half.

The Hornets were outscored 27-6 in the second half and after finishing up the Cal game on the wrong side of a 31-0 second-half pounding, Sacramento has been outscored 58-6 in the two second halves.

“The poor third quarter did us in again,” said head coach Steve Mooshagian following the loss.

“In a span of about five minutes we went from down three to down 17. Our turnovers have been resulting into opponents’ touchdowns and we aren’t turning their turnovers into points for us.”

Sac State had a 2-0 turnover advantage in the first half but couldn’t turn those takeaways into points. After two Chris Hurd interceptions on the Hornets’ first-two second-half drives, the Hornets were down 24-7 following two short Cal Poly touchdown drives.

Hurd, starting his first game as a Hornet, was pressured the entire game and following his second quarter touchdown pass to Philip Perry, he forced two throws into the Mustangs’ secondary and was picked off twice by Courtney Brown.

The Hornets’ offense struggled for the second straight week despite running back Ryan Mole’s 108 yards rushing effort. The offense turned the ball over four times and Hornet quarterbacks were sacked five times. Perry had two impressive catches in the second-quarter drive that ended with Perry catching a 23-yard touchdown on third down and 22.

“We can’t be giving teams short fields and that’s what’s happened in these two third quarters,” Mooshagian said. “We didn’t tackle as well we needed to and had some pass interference penalties which both resulted in points for them.”

The Hornets were called for three pass interference penalties, which all led to Cal Poly touchdowns and allowed running back James Noble to gain 124 yards on the ground plus a touchdown. But the defense looked strong at points in this game, as they had against Cal.

“When playing defense we just have to be prepared for things like turnovers to happen and we just have to play through it,” safety Brett Shelton said.

“When that does happen we just have to go out there and play 100 percent, which I thought we did. We felt like we might be on the field for awhile in the second half when there were those quick turnovers. I do think we may have underestimated their receivers and that resulted in some points for them.”

Shelton, a second-team all-Big Sky selection in 2004, led the Hornets with nine tackles.

After Saturday’s loss, the Hornets will stay on the road as they kickoff the Big Sky season with a game at Portland State. The Hornets were shut out by PSU 31-0 last year at Hornet Stadium.

“I think we matchup well with the things Portland does,” Mooshagian said. “We have more similarities with Portland more than we did cal Poly. We need to bounce back from this performance and show how we are really capable of playing.”

Injury notes

Quarterback Chris Hurd left the game with a rib injury after his second interception in the third quarter and starting center Travis Johnson was forced out with what was being called a sprain foot. Both players failed to return to the game and the severity of both injuries has yet to be determined.