For a while, it looked like a barnburner was afoot in Sacramento, with Sacramento State and the visiting Montana locked into a heavyweight bout.
Tied at 21, the teams traded punch after punch, connecting on multiple plays over 50 yards.
After three straight touchdown drives by Montana, Sac State got a stop, forcing a punt with less than two minutes on the clock in the first half.
An opportunity to swing the momentum before halftime had presented itself, and the offense watched on the sidelines to see where their drive began.
Montana’s punt hung in the cold air, careening towards the waiting arms of freshman wideout Jaxon Fresques, but it bounced off his hands and into the arms of the charging Grizzlies.
Montana capitalized on the Hornet error, scoring a touchdown a few plays later and returning to the locker room with a 28-21 lead.
The Grizzlies scored on their first drive of the second half, and Sac State was held scoreless until late in the fourth quarter. The Hornets fell, 49-35.
“We got outcoached, outplayed and out-physicaled,” head coach Brennan Marion said. “Really, the only positive thing was that the guys fought to the end.”
Just before the final whistle blew, chants of “you got panda’d” echoed from the visiting side.
Both teams opened the game scoreless, but the floodgates opened on their second drives.
The Go-Go roared to life, and Sac State’s multiple rushing attacks ground Montana down. A bold fourth-down pass to junior tight end Jordan Williams put the Hornets in the red zone, where senior running back Rodney Hammond, Jr. punched in the score.
Montana answered with a score of their own, a gorgeous downfield strike from redshirt sophomore Keali’i Ah Yat to tie the game at seven.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Ernest Campbell broke loose on Sac State’s next drive, scoring his fifth touchdown of over 50 yards this season. This was the highlight of a career game for the two-sport Texan, who caught for over 200 yards and the score.
“I don’t think nobody can really stop me because that’s just my confidence,” Campbell said. “I’m the smallest guy on the field, but I’ve got the biggest confidence when I’m on the field, so I just go out there and play.”
Redshirt senior wide receiver Michael Wortham broke off a big play of his own, using his speed to take a slant route 64 yards to the house.
On the following kickoff, Hammond, Jr. evaded the Montana special teams for what appeared to be a 98-yard touchdown return. The play was ultimately called back due to holding.
“We’ve got to have the record for touchdowns called back,” Marion said. “That’s never happened in my career, but I guess it’s a learning process.”
Penalties were an issue for the Hornets, who committed ten penalties for eighty yards, continuing a season-long trend. Sac State’s 72 penalties lead the Big Sky, nearly doubling the field.
The teams traded scores again before the aforementioned muffed punt sent the Grizzlies into halftime with a one-score lead with a momentum that never died.
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The Hornet defense allowed multiple big plays throughout the game and struggled to contain the three-headed monster of Ah Yat, Wortham and redshirt junior running back Eli Gillman. The latter two combined for 252 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns.
“[Wortham] is exactly as advertised,” Marion said. “He’s a really good player on a really good team. He’s a wildcat quarterback, running back and wide receiver. We didn’t contain him tonight. He made a lot of plays and made us look like a very average defense.”
Montana generated 384 yards of total offense, gaining an average of 6.6 yards per play.
“Gross, gross. The defensive performance was absolutely atrocious tonight,” Marion said. “I think we’re still patting ourselves on the back for how we played defense in the first half of the season, and we haven’t played great defense now for a couple of weeks.”
The Hornets have allowed an average of 35.7 points across their last four games, and tonight’s 49 points is the highest they’ve allowed since a loss to Portland State last year.
“We keep, you know, just hoping that we’ll be good on defense,” Marion said. “We were, in the beginning of the year. These guys need to close it out, finish it, change up the scheme, do some different things. I think it starts with the coaches, and I have to do a better job of making sure the coaches are being creative.”
Sac State travels to Cheney, Wash., to take on Eastern Washington on Saturday at 1 p.m.
