The Sacramento State football team fell shy of a victory when defeated by the Cal Poly Mustangs in San Luis Obispo.

This game marked the second game of the Hornets season and the first for the Mustangs.

The game got to a late start due to a delay of the Mustang players. While the Hornets’ offense was on the field by 4:05 p.m., only five players from Cal Poly were on the field. Luckily for Cal Poly, there was no penalty for the delay.

Cal Poly’s kickoff of 63 yards was returned by Sac State’s Sam McCowan (with a gain of 28 yards) to begin the game.

Sac State’s offense drove only three plays and a gain for one yard and forced to punt on the fourth down. Unfortunately, the punt was not successful, turning the possession over to Cal Poly.

Not much time passed before the Mustangs were on the scoreboard. Cal Poly quarterback Tony Smith rushed for one yard and fell productively into the end zone, and Chris Pinto gained the extra point for his team.

Two first downs and 13 plays later, the Hornets answered back with a 29-yard field goal by Chris Diniz. The score remained 7-3 until the end of the first quarter.

The momentum of the game increased in the second quarter when the Mustangs successfully completely a 24-yard field goal, and later made their way into the end zone for the second touchdown of the game.

Sac State head coach Marshall Sperbeck was amazed by the efforts of Cal Poly’s offense.

“There’s a reason why they’re ranked where they are. Their offense is very difficult to stop especially when you only have three days to prepare for it,” Sperbeck said.

The Hornets would score only three more times the rest of the game, concluding with two field goals and two touchdowns for 19 points, including the extra point.

Sperbeck believed that his team could have played a lot better.

“We need to be more consistent. I thought we were able to do some nice things at times but couldn’t put anything together,” Sperbeck said.

Cal Poly’s Tony Smith lead his team to victory, and with his awareness of the field and smart decision making, the Mustangs ended the game with five touch downs and one field goal, which gave the Mustangs put 38 points on the scoreboard.

Sac State quarterback Jason Smith threw 16 of 30 for 217 yards. Evander Wilkins had eight carries and 31 yards, while Sam McCowan and Terrance Dailey combined for 12 carries and 29 yards.

Deionte Gordon was taken off the field early within the first quarter, due to a knee injury, and was not allowed back into the game. Cal Poly threw a touchdown pass almost immediately after he left – the pass was received by the man he was covering. He will be evaluated early next week.

“Losing Deionte hurt. They were able to take advantage of him not being back right away,” Sperbeck said.

With the loss, the Hornets are now 0-2. The team will return to Sacramento to prepare for its home game in two weeks (Sept. 26) against Eastern Washington. The Hornets have a bye next week.

Britney Rossman can be reached at [email protected]