The Sacramento State football team lost its third straight game on Saturday 20 to 31 against Montana State and is now 1-4 in the Big Sky Conference. The Bobcats now have won seven of the past eight games against the Hornets.

The Hornets failed to score on their first drive down the field and almost stopped the Bobcats from scoring on their first drive. The Bobcats were mid-field on third down and the Hornets almost caught the quarterback, but then he ran out of the pocket for a first down. After that the Bobcats couldn’t be stopped and ended up scoring a touchdown. The Hornets were able to stop the Bobcats from repeating that drive and only allowed a field goal at the end of the first quarter.

“The defense got a lot of third down stops against the Bobcats,” said sophomore quarterback Jason Smith.

Smith actually had to miss a few plays because his ankle injury started bothering him again. Once he taped it up though, he went right back into the game. The Bobcats then caught an interception and also recovered a forced fumble by Smith ending in another touchdown.

“I stepped out of the pocket and got tackled,” said Smith.

The Bobcats caught another interception at the end of the second quarter, but the Hornets came back and senior linebacker Cyrus Mulitalo caught an interception for a 53-yard return.

“I was just reading the quarterback’s eyes and watching him the whole time,” said Mulitalo.

The Hornets scored on that drive on a fourth down conversion to sophomore running back Bryan Hilliard. At the end of the third quarter, the Bobcats blocked a punt at the Hornet 13-yard line and recovered it for a touchdown.

After another touchdown by the Bobcats in the start of the fourth quarter, the Hornets came back putting five receivers in and made two touchdowns. They tried for a two-point conversion after one of the touchdowns and failed. The Hornets also tried for an on-side kick after scoring each touchdown, but couldn’t catch the ball before Montana State.

“The offense was better than the first half. We just need to get back to the fundamentals of football and end the season strong,” said Smith.

This was the Hornets first home game in a few weeks from being on the road and will be on the road again for two more weeks until their next home game against Northern Colorado at 2:05p.m. on Nov. 15.

“It was great playing at home again and it’s always fun being in front of our crowd,” said Mulitalo.

The Causeway Classic game against Davis is coming up next and will be at the Aggies Stadium at 2:05p.m. Nov. 8.

Taylor Collis can be reached at [email protected]