The Hornets played against Southern Oregon Raiders on Saturday with many new players on the line. The new players replaced the players injured in the game against Colorado and pulled out a victory of 27 to 16. Head coach Marshall Sperbeck was pleased with the performances of the new players and thought it was a good opportunity to let them have a chance to play.

During the game, there were many records made and career starts on the team. The Hornets had a pair of running backs that individually rushed for more than 100 yards throughout the game. Sophomore running back Evander Wilkins ran in his first touchdown of the season in the second quarter and held the highest number of carries for the Hornets with 23 for 164 yards. Freshman running back Jake Croxdale held his career high with 20 carries for 109 yards.

“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” said Croxdale.

The game started off with the Hornets making its first drive down the field and almost reached the end zone when a pass was intercepted at the 15-yard line. The defender ran it back 85 yards, but then senior wide receiver Tony Washington forced the fumble at the 3-yard line for a touchback. That was the first interception of the season for the Hornets.

“The same situation happened last season. So, as soon as he caught the ball I thought ‘here we go again’,” said Washington.

Sophomore quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson started his first game with the Hornets since sophomore starting quarterback Jason Smith injured his ankle. Bethel-Thompson completed his first pass for a touchdown as a Hornet in the first quarter to sophomore wide receiver Ron Richardson, which was Richardson’s first career receiving touchdown. Bethel-Thompson also ran in a touchdown in the second quarter and the coach thought he did average for his first game.

“From a scale of one-to-ten, I would probably rate him a six,” said Sperbeck.

But, the coach was happy with his performance and was glad to see that he needs improvement after the first game.

“You would hate to go out and have a 10 (rating) the first time because then there would be nothing to work on. Overall, he passed the test,” said Sperbeck.

Bethel-Thompson knew that he made mistakes during the game, but kept a good attitude and knows it’s just his first game starting.

“The first one is always the hardest and I made way too many mistakes. I think we should’ve handled the other team better and I blame myself for that because I’m the quarterback,” said Bethel-Thompson.

The one thing the Hornets did improve on was being better at third down conversions, according to Washington.

Overall the Hornets played well with the new face on the field, but still have improvements to make, according to Sperbeck.

“I think we’re making improvements and we still overcame the mistakes, which is a positive. But, we need to get better in the red zone,” said Sperbeck.

A few of the other players that were injured from the Colorado game were two players with concussions, freshman defensive end Zack Nash and junior cornerback Michael Casper. Sophomore running back Bryan Hilliard also had a shoulder injury. But, the coach expects most of the injured players to play in the next game at Sac State on Saturday Sept. 20 against the Weber State Wildcats.

“I think they’ll all be back. Maybe one or two might not, but for the most part all of them will be back,” said Sperbeck.

Taylor Collis can be reached at [email protected]