The Sacramento State football team crushed Northern Arizona University last season at the Lumberjacks’ homecoming game and now the Hornets look to make it three in a row against them.

In last year’s matchup, the Hornets marched into J.L. Walkup Skydome and won the game in a blowout fashion 40-10 after going up 34-0 at halftime.

 For the Hornets, senior quarterback Jeff Fleming threw for 333 yards with three passing touchdowns and one interception and senior running back Bryan Hilliard rushed for two touchdowns.

Sophomore wide receiver Morris Norrise caught eight balls for 97 yards and two touchdowns.

“I was fortunate to be on the receiving end of a lot of passes and I made the most of my opportunities,” Norrise said about last season’s game. “We played together as a team. Our offense, defense and special teams did really well.”

For the Lumberjacks, then-junior defensive linemen Blayne Anderson’s 65-yard fumble recovery was the lone touchdown and then-junior kicker Matt Myers 29-yard field goal was the only other score.

Coming into this year’s game, the Hornets are (3-4, 2-3) and have dropped to sixth place in the Big Sky Conference standings after last week’s tough overtime loss 42-35 to Eastern Washington University.

Sophomore quarterback Tommy Edwards replaced Fleming, who had a calf injury, and threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns in his first start for the Hornets.

 “I was so focused. I don’t think I’ve ever prepared so hard for something like this,” Edwards said. “I’m sure there were throws I should have made and reads I should have made, but as a whole, I don’t think there was anything to hang my head for.”

Freshman kicker Jason Diniz is 1 for 6 on field goals this season for the Hornets. His ineffectiveness has caused the Hornets to go for it on fourth down on many occasions this season.

Last year, the Hornets went for it on fourth down 16 times and converted nine tries in 11 games.

 This year, the Hornets have gone for it on fourth down 18 times and converted 11 tries in only seven games.

Diniz has also cost the team valuable points in games. Last week, Diniz cost the Hornets six points after missing both his field goal attempts including a 44-yard game-winner and head coach Marshall Sperbeck was not happy.

“The kicking game hurt us tonight,” Sperbeck said with a long pause. “We had a couple of opportunities and those points add up. We just got to continue working and get better.”

The Lumberjacks come into the game (2-5, 1-4) on the season after losing three straight games. Three of their five losses have been by eight points or less.

For the Lumberjacks, sophomore running back Zach Bauman is averaging 101.3 yards rushing per game and has reached paydirt seven times this season.

Senior wide receiver Khalil Paden is the go-to guy for junior quarterback Cary Grossart.

Paden has 34 catches and 657 yards receiving on the year with six touchdowns.

In last week’s close loss against the University of Montana 28-24, Paden had six catches for 167 yards and two touchdowns and Bauman ran for 148 yards and one touchdown.

The lumberjacks have scored 20 points or more in their last six games but on the defensive side, they have given up 105 points in the last three games.

This will be the Hornets’ third game of the season at home. The Hornets are 1-1 at home this year and the Lumberjacks are 4-3 at  Hornet Stadium.

“This game is very important,” Norrise said. “It’s a must win (game) so we can keep our playoff goals alive.”

Kickoff will be at 6:05 p.m. and the game can be heard on Classic 93.1 FM or KAHI 950 AM.

 

Josh Stanley can be reached at [email protected].