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Hornets dismantle Portland State

Just when you thought it was safe to assume this year’s football season was over ...

With 8,643 fans at Hornet Stadium, Sac State sent a message to the Big Sky leaders with a 41-14 stomping Saturday afternoon.

Head coach John Volek knew his team needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive after last week’s 52-49 loss to Weber State.

“I told our guys after the loss that this game was a gut check,” he said. “There is no one on our schedule that we cannot beat and that means we have to take care of our own business right now.”

The Hornet defense keyed the victory by giving up only 215 yards to the highly potent Portland State offense.

Vikings head coach Tim Walsh said when you put two teams together on one field, the better one usually wins.

“We got whooped badly because their guys kicked our butt,” he said. “You have to give credit to Volek and his staff because their players executed their game plans. Their defense stood up, played and stuck it in our face.”

Volek said he was pleased with the three phases of the team.

“The defense gave us the momentum to win the game,” Volek said. “They took the ball away, they stopped them on fourth down every time and they put pressure on quarterback Jimmie Blanchard who is the best quarterback we have seen this year.

“The ‘D’ set the tempo, our offense responded every time, and our special teams got us good field position while keeping Portland State contained.”

Blanchard, a junior, finished the game 12-for-31 with 127 yards, one touchdown and he was sacked four times.

“They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect but we weren’t efficient,” Blanchard said. “Our team was not ready emotionally or physically to play and they were.”

Hornet’s junior linebacker Lee Turner, out with an injury thus far in the season, started in his first game and led the defense with eight tackles — four unassisted — two deflected passes and one sack.

“All year long I’ve been building up to come in and play,” he said. “Last week I got in a little bit but I was disappointed because I wanted to play better to help out my teammates. But today our defensive line played their butts off and won the game for us.”

Senior defensive lineman Antoine Alderson said the Sac State defense was challenged in the paper by Volek and the media after last weeks performance.

“We had to come out and make a statement,” he said. “What coach said in the paper was the straw that broke the camels back.”

Junior quarterback Ricky Ray was ready to play after throwing three interceptions and fumbling once last week. He responded by finishing 18-for-22 with 244 yards and two touchdowns. He said the team could not make any mistakes deep in enemy territory.

“We jumped ahead again but our defense helped us out by not letting them back in the game. My reads were easier in this game because we ran the ball good and the play action passes were working.”

Sac State offensive coordinator Bruce Pielstick said Ray is mentally tough.

“Ricky is a tremendous talent,” he said. “He has great poise and really keeps his composure through all situations.”

Walsh was impressed by Ray.

“I think all the quarterbacks in the Big Sky conference are great,” he said. “Ricky is at the top end of that list.

“We got pressure against Montana last week but the only way we could get pressure today was to blitz. I give their offensive line a lot of credit.”

Junior running back Charles Roberts finished the game with only 94 yards on 20 carries, but had two touchdowns and played with cracked ribs. His first touchdown, a 33-yard run in which he freed himself with a spin move at the line of scrimmage, gave the Hornets an early 7-0 that they would never relinquish.

The Hornets used freshmen back-up running backs Derard Barton and Brett Collins to help Roberts handle the workload. They combined for 68-yards and one touchdown.

“Charles Roberts is important to our offense and when he’s not 100 percent, he’s human,” Pielstick said. “We had two other guys out there working hard with Barton scoring and Collins running better in the second half after his fumble. Our game plan offensively is the same with Charles Roberts or without him.”

Walsh said he witnessed a Hornets team that executed better than he expected.

“We didn’t prepare for what we saw,” he said. “We didn’t think they would be as efficient but they were very efficient. We also thought they would be depleted at receiver since junior Scott Towne was out but Ricky proved us wrong.”

The Hornets used an arsenal of receivers to give the Vikings matchup problems as Ray completed passes to eight different players. Junior receiver Lamont Webb continued to be the deep threat. He hooked up with Ray on a 65-yard strike through the left seam of the Portland State secondary. Ray’s second touchdown went to a wide-open Eric Frazer for the 35-yard score. It was the freshman receiver’s first career touchdown.

Sac State will travel to Cal State Northridge this weekend. Volek said his Hornets have a tough road ahead in order to get to a bowl game in December.

“We stated our goals early in the season and right now we’ve maintained the course with a few temporary setbacks,” he said. “We look at every game like a ladder to climb to the playoffs. At first we thought we had to win at home and split on the road but we kind of goofed up that part and put pressure on ourselves for these next three road games. We have to win the rest of our Big Sky games and if these guys aren’t motivated then we are in trouble.”