It looked as if Sacramento State and Montana State would be a defensive battle after the first quarter of football on Saturday, but two young quarterbacks had a different idea in mind at Hornet Stadium.
Sac State (1-4, 1-1 Big Sky) sophomore quarterback Nate Ketteringham racked up 356 passing yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, and led the Hornets to 20 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to notch their first victory of the season against Montana State (2-3, 0-2 Big Sky) 41-38.
“I mean we’ll watch tape, but he’s a competitor and I’m extremely proud of him and the way he’s handled himself the last couple weeks and he’s just going to get better,” Sac State head coach Jody Sears said when asked about Ketteringham’s performance. “You know 34-of-54 for 356 yards and 4 touchdowns — that’s pretty damn good and he had some big runs too that got us some pivotal first downs.”
Ketteringham (12 rushes for 30 yards) wasn’t the only quarterback using his legs, as freshman Chris Murray entered the contest late in the first quarter — after the benching of starter Tyler Bruggman — and Montana State went on to use the read-zone option to perfection as Murray exploded into the game with 16 rushes for 187 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“He’s really talented (and) we made him look like a Walter Payton award winner, and maybe he will be one day, but we weren’t fitting where we were supposed to be fitting and when you face a running quarterback you’d better be on or he’s going to run for 200 yards,” Sears said.
Murray may not have rushed for 200 yards, but Montana State nearly doubled that figure with 385 total rushing yards with help from senior running backs Gunnar Brekke and Chad Newell, who combined for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.
“Chad and Gunnar are just really tough competitors and (our) o-line did a really good job of providing some room for them, especially in the first half,” Montana State head coach Jeff Choate said. “Again, credit Sac State because they did tighten up in the fourth quarter when they needed to get stops and we kind of hurt ourselves with some penalties that didn’t put us in good situations and so it’s the nature of the game.”
Trailing 38-21 with 1:20 left in the third quarter, the Sac State defense — which has struggled heavily this season allowing 32.6 points and 457.6 yards per game — was asked to stop Montana State on 1st and goal at the Hornets 8-yard line.
Sac State responded by forcing Murray to fumble the ball, which was recovered by sophomore defensive back Manny Scott-Anderson; 11 plays and 96 yards later, senior running back Jordan Robinson scampered into the end zone for a 1-yard score.
“They put us in really good field position tonight (and) that made it really easy,” Ketteringham said after tying a career-high with 4 touchdown passes. “We got the ball exactly where we wanted it and pretty much went from there.”
The Hornets forced three straight punts on the defensive side of the ball and Ketteringham took advantage as he threw back-to-back touchdown strikes to sophomore receiver Jaelin Ratliff to take a 41-38 lead with 15 seconds remaining.
FINAL: Sac State (1-4, 1-1 Big Sky) with a huge comeback victory to defeat Montana State 41-38. pic.twitter.com/wqRovp9raj
— State Hornet Sports (@SH_Sports) October 2, 2016
“I’m not shocked because I get to watch this every day in practice (and) to just know without the self-inflicted wounds we can be a pretty damn good team and that’s what we’ve got to continue to improve on and play at a consistent high level because we have kids who can make plays,” Sears said.
Sac State held on for its first win of the season and ended a 10-game losing streak to Montana State in the process.
“Go enjoy it for 24 hours, it feels good, but we’ve got work to do,” Sears told his team after the come from behind victory.
The Hornets will next play North Dakota (3-2, 2-0 Big Sky) on homecoming night at Hornet Stadium on Oct. 8.
