Just over 11 minutes into the third quarter, the Sacramento State Hornets were in a shootout with the Eastern Washington Eagles at Hornet Stadium on Saturday.
The Eagles tied the game up 21-21 and were about to kick off to the Hornets. Only instead they attempted an onside kick and caught the Hornets off guard.
The onside kick was retrieved by Eastern Washington and momentum remained with them. They ran the ball eight times with the final attempt ending in the endzone to gain a lead they would not give up for the remainder of the game.
“We got to figure out a better way to help our guys, and that’s how you rebound,” Sac State head coach Andy Thompson said. “You get back up and you go. It’s not always fair, not always what you like in life, it’s how you’re going to respond to it.”
Sac State started the game with the football and their six-minute opening drive concluded with redshirt freshman quarterback Carson Conklin hitting senior receiver Jared Gipson on a slant route for the first touchdown of the game.
Eagles redshirt junior running back Tuna Altahir tied the game up quickly, capping off a three-minute drive by rumbling for a 25-yard touchdown.
The Hornets were back on the clock and junior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver went to work with eight of 10 rushes on the drive coming from him. Tau-Tolliver had 44 rushing yards on the drive and brought the Hornets to the Eagles one-yard line.
“We just got to click at the end of the day,” Tau-Tolliver said. “We’re one step away and when the whole team clicks we will be a scary sight, but we just got to get there.”
Conklin received the snap at the one-yard line, avoided pressure and scrambled to the right until he found junior tight end Coleman Kuntz in the back right corner of the endzone for his first receiving touchdown as a Hornet.
The Eagles only attempted three passes on their next drive, but marched their way down the field on the ground and redshirt junior quarterback Kekoa Visperas ran up the middle to tie the game up at 14.
“We came in, did a really good job the first five games of the season with our run defense,” Thompson said. “Tonight, we didn’t do a good enough job, so I’ve got to look at how I put the guys in position and try to improve that.”
Altahir finished the game with 102 yards on 16 attempts and redshirt junior quarterback Jared Taylor had 98 yards on 17 attempts. The Eagles ended the contest with 286 rushing yards.
In about a seven-minute drive, Conklin and Tau-Tolliver led the Hornets down the field before the half to give the Hornets the lead. Tau-Tolliver ended the game with 18 rushes for 94 yards.
Conklin threw a fade route to senior pass catcher Anderson Grover on the left side of the endzone to give them the lead 21-14. Conklin ended the day with 238 passing yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
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The third quarter continued to be the quarter of nightmares for the Hornets. Six plays into the starting drive of the second half, Visperas hit junior receiver Noah Cronquist down the right sideline for a 32-yard gain to set them up inside the redzone.
Visperas dumped the ball off to the Big Sky Conference’s top statistical receiver this year, senior pass catcher Efton Chism III, for a 10-yard gain.
The signal caller later hit Altahir for 4 yards and a touchdown, tying it up at 21. Then the Eagles got their onside kick to secure the lead.
Conklin and the Hornets’ offense got the ball back, trailing for the first time this game.
On the third play of the drive, Conklin looked to the right and threw directly toward the Eagles’ redshirt junior cornerback Alphonse Oywak, who snatched it out of the air.
The Eagles took nearly 7 minutes off the clock, but the Hornets’ defense didn’t break, forcing the Eagles to attempt a 24-yard field goal.
The kick ricocheted off the left upright and out, keeping the Eagles lead to just one score. Opponents this year have made three out of nine field goals against Sac State.
Both teams scored late in the fourth quarter, but the Hornets were never able to come back and regain the lead.
The Hornets fall to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the Big Sky. Sac State will host Weber State for their Homecoming matchup on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m.
“We got to start picking everybody up and saying we’re going to get better, and we’re doing it now and it’s time to get better and it’s time to go because it’s go time,” Conklin said.
