The Sacramento State football team lost to UC Davis in the 57th annual Causeway Classic Saturday night at Aggie Stadium by the score of 17-16.

Because the Hornets needed seven wins for the season to qualify, their hopes of making the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the first time in school history were dashed.

As for the Aggies, they end their season with an overall record of 6-5 and 3-1 in the Big West conference. With the win, Davis snaps the Hornets two game winning streak in the Causeway Classic and gives the Aggies another win in the overall series, 39-19.

Conditions at game time were fair as there was a steady 10-to-15 mph wind, with gusts as high as 22 mph. The high winds made it difficult to kick the ball from south to north.

Late into the first quarter, the rain started picking up and by the end of the half it was being whipped across the field in steady sheets. In the middle of half time, as the Sac State Hornet band was performing, thunder and lightning developed causing the delay of the second half for 35 minutes.

It came down to a potential game-winning drive as Sac State was able to stop Davis inside of its own 10-yard line to get the ball back.

Head coach Marshall Sperbeck made the call to previously injured quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson in hopes that the senior could march the ball down the length of the field with 2:15 remaining in the game.

In last year’s game at Hornet stadium, Bethel-Thompson marched the offense down the field to score the game winning touchdown and earn the second straight win over Davis. However, the outcome was not the same as the senior with 30 seconds left and on the Aggie 37-yard line threw an interception to corner Jonathan Perkins in coverage to end Sac State’s hopes of a third win.

Because of the wind and the rain, the game for Sac State mostly focused on the ground game as running back Jake Croxdale ran for 101-yards on 27 carries and quarterback Jeff Fleming ran for 126-yards on 23 carries. In the air, Fleming was only able to manage seven yards on 3-of-9 passing with two touchdowns.

The leading receiver for the Hornets was Ron Richardson at two receptions for 27 yards, while Chase Deadder and Matt Carter each had a touchdown.

On defense, defensive back Zach Schrader had an interception and one blocked punt that was recovered at the Aggie 20-yard and led to a subsequent Sac State touchdown in the first quarter. Other notable Hornets were defensive tackle Christian Clark and nose tackle Matt Agaiava combining for two sacks for a loss of 15 yards.

As for Davis, quarterback Randy Wright threw for 133 yards on 12-of-19 with two touchdowns and one interception. The leading rusher for the Aggies was running back Nick Aprile who had 33 yards on 13 carries. And for the receiving core the leading receiver was Anthony Soto with 49 yards on three catches with both touchdown passes from Wright.

On defense, the defensive end tandem of Bobby Erskine and Eric Sobotka had a combined two sacks for a net loss of 13-yards.

The Hornets end their season with an overall record of 6-5 and 5-3 in Big Sky Conference play. The team also ends the season in a three-way tie for third place with the University of Montana and Weber State University.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]