SACRAMENTO — As far as moral victories go,
Rob Smith isn't a believer. But the new Humboldt State head coach wasn't making any excuses either, following his team's 45-13 loss to Sacramento State in the season-opener Saturday.
The NCAA Division IAA Hornets rolled up 259 yards rushing, taking advantage of the Jacks' defense and also capitalizing on Humboldt State's errors. Running backs Bryan Hilliard and Evander Wilkins both surpassed the century barrier, finishing with 105 and 103 yards, respectively.
"Their running game is impressive, and that speed and explosiveness is hard to simulate in practice," Smith said. "But we made so many early mistakes, that's just hard to come back from. We came here to win the game, and we didn't get that done."
Humboldt State would have liked to skip the first 15 minutes of the
Rob Smith era, which began with many of those mistakes turned into opportunities by the Hornets. The result was a 28-0 Sacramento State lead at the end of the first quarter.
An incomplete lateral pass in the endzone that Ryan Battle fell on for a touchdown and Deionte Gordon's interception return to the 10-yard line were two of the gifts the Jacks' handed to the Hornets. Sac State's defense had a lot to do with HSU's lack of success as well, forcing Humboldt to punt following three plays on its first two possessions.
Tony Washington opened the scoring for Sacramento State, gathering in a 20-yard pass over the middle from Smith. Hilliard scored the first of his touchdowns five minutes later on a two-yard run before Battle's fumble recovery and Dylan Lane's two-yard scoring reception set up by the interception.
Lumberjack starting quarterback
Garrett Hubrich struggled through the first quarter, completing two passes in six attempts before taking a hard hit and being replaced by
Brian Hildebrand. The Jacks' new QB helped open up the Sac State defense by scrambling for yardage, finishing off an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown run.
Before halftime arrived, quarterback Jason Smith added a five-yard run that finished off a 74-yard drive for the Hornets, but HSU's
Enrique Leyva booted home a 40-yard field goal to cut Sacramento State's lead to 35-10 at the break.
Humboldt State showed promise throughout the third quarter, keeping the Hornets off the scoreboard and putting together a goal line stand that forced Sac State to give the ball back on the 4-yard-line. The Jacks managed one more score of their own when Leyva connected on a 35-yard field goal.
In the fourth quarter, Hilliard added his second touchdown on a six-yard run and Sacramento State tacked on Juan Gamboa's 32-yard field goal to cap the scoring.
Hildebrand finished 11-20 passing for 102 yards and one interception, utilizing six different receivers, including Kevin MIles, who had four catches for 25 yards.
Bobby Thomas netted 44 yards rushing for teh Jacks, who totaled only 64 yards on the ground as a team.
Michael Lynch topped HSU's defense with 12 tackles, including two for lost yardage. Jeff WIlliams added 10 tackles and
Guy Ricciardulli had eight for the Jacks.
Another road game looms for the Lumberjacks, who travel to Ashland, Ore. for Saturday's game against Southern Oregon.
Humboldt State vs Sacramento State (Aug 30, 2008 at Sacramento, Calif.)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Humboldt State...... 0 10 3 0 - 13 Record: (0-1)
Sacramento State.... 21 14 0 10 - 45 Record: (1-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st 10:47 SAC - Tony Washington 20 yd pass from Jason Smith (Juan Gamboa kick), 8-50 3:17, HSU 0 - SAC 7
05:44 SAC - Bryan Hilliard 2 yd run (Juan Gamboa kick), 7-61 3:26, HSU 0 - SAC 14
03:15 SAC - Ryan Battle 0 yd fumble recovery (Juan Gamboa kick), , HSU 0 - SAC 21
2nd 14:54 SAC - Dylan Lane 2 yd pass from Jason Smith (Juan Gamboa kick), 3-5 1:15, HSU 0 - SAC 28
09:05 HSU - Hildebrand 9 yd run (Leyva kick), 11-75 5:42, HSU 7 - SAC 28
05:12 SAC - Jason Smith 5 yd run (Juan Gamboa kick), 8-74 3:46, HSU 7 - SAC 35
00:10 HSU - Leyva 40 yd field goal, 11-48 4:55, HSU 10 - SAC 35
3rd 07:23 HSU - Leyva 35 yd field goal, 12-64 5:27, HSU 13 - SAC 35
4th 12:00 SAC - Bryan Hilliard 6 yd run (Juan Gamboa kick), 6-61 2:42, HSU 13 - SAC 42
05:53 SAC - Juan Gamboa 32 yd field goal, 9-26 4:25, HSU 13 - SAC 45
HSU SAC
FIRST DOWNS................... 13 19
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 32-64 46-259
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 108 137
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 26-13-1 18-12-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 58-172 64-396
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 0-0 2-10
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 4-83 3-55
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 1-16
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 5-34.6 1-44.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards............... 5-45 6-54
Possession Time............... 29:09 30:51
Third-Down Conversions........ 3 of 13 7 of 13
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 0 of 0 2 of 4
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 6-8
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-1 4-20
RUSHING: Humboldt State-Thomas 6-44; Hildebrand 16-19; Stollmeyer 2-6;
Cueva 4-4; Stuart 3-3; Hubrich 1-minus 12. Sacramento State-Bryan Hilliard
18-105; Evander Wilkins 10-103; Jake Croxdale 10-42; Jason Smith 5-16; TEAM
3-minus 7.
PASSING: Humboldt State-Hildebrand 11-20-1-102; Hubrich 2-6-0-6.
Sacramento State-Jason Smith 11-16-0-129; Bethel-Thompson 1-2-0-8.
RECEIVING: Humboldt State-Miles 4-25; Simmons 3-30; Smith,M. 3-21;
Streck-Woodard 1-22; Devlin 1-10; Thomas 1-0. Sacramento State-Tony Washington
4-68; Dylan Lane 4-21; Brett Willis 1-20; Brian Heath 1-12; Evander Wilkins 1-8;
Torrell Baker 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS: Humboldt State-None. Sacramento State-Deionte Gordon 1-16.
FUMBLES: Humboldt State-Hubrich 1-1. Sacramento State-Kyle Hill 1-0.
Stadium: Hornet Stadium Attendance: 10172
Kickoff time: 6:05 pm End of Game: 8:48 pm Total elapsed time: 2:43
Officials: Referee: Rich Rose; Umpire: Chris Shepherd; Linesman: Bob Guerin;
Line judge: Pat Aloia; Back judge: Randy Wilke; Field judge: Gary Peterson;
Side judge: Ken Sarna;
Temperature: 88 Wind: Light Weather: Clear
