Coming off a hard-fought 31-24 loss to No. 1 Montana, the Sacramento State football team will return home for its final Big Sky Conference game of the season. On Saturday, Nov. 16, the Hornets will take on Weber State at Hornet Stadium. The game will kick off at 6:05 p.m.

The game will be broadcast locally on KTKZ 1380 AM. For the sixth-consecutive season, Jason Ross will handle the play-by-play while Steve McElroy provides the color commentary. For those outside of the greater Sacramento area, the game can also be heard via the internet on www.hornetsports.com.

Sacramento State comes into the game with a 3-7 overall record and a 2-4 mark in Big Sky games. This past Saturday, the Hornets nearly knocked off top-ranked Montana before losing their lead midway though the fourth quarter. In the game, Sacramento State produced 171 rushing yards, led by sophomore Kendall Riley and senior Garrett White who had 86 and 81 yards, respectively.

The Hornets are playing just their fourth home game of the season compared to seven contests away from home. Sacramento State concludes its season on Nov. 23 at home against Humboldt State. This year, the team is 1-2 at home with a win over Cal Poly and losses to Portland State and Montana State.

Weber State (3-6, 1-5) was able to snap its five-game losing streak with a 20-14 win over Portland State on Nov. 9. The Wildcats amassed 425 yards of total offense while holding the Vikings to just 20 rushing yards on 19 carries.

Weber State leads the all-time series, 5-1.

With a Hornet Win...

• Sacramento State will have defeated Weber State for the second-straight time at home.

• The Hornets will become 3-4 in Big Sky season finales.

• Weber State will have lost 11-straight road games dating back to the start of the 2000 season.

• The Hornets will match their Big Sky win total from 1998 and 1999.

With a Hornet Loss...

• Sacramento State will be 1-3 at home this season.

• Weber State will have won back-to-back games against I-AA opponents for the first time since defeating Idaho State and Cal Poly on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 of last season.

• The all-time series will become 6-1 in favor of Weber State.

• Meet the Coaches

Head coach John Volek enters his eighth season at Sacramento State. Volek has guided the Hornets to winning records in two of the last three seasons, including a I-AA-era school record 7-4 mark in 2000.

The UC Riverside graduate has built a high-powered offense which has set 32 offensive team records and 43 individual records. He has also had eight Hornets go on to sign NFL contracts.

Volek’s coaching career began at UCR. He then moved to Santa Cruz High School before moving to Mt. San Jacinto JC. From there, Volek headed north to Walla Walla JC where he was an assistant and then head coach (1984-87). He later returned to California to lead Fresno City JC from 1988-94 before taking over at Sacramento State.

Volek enters the week with a 29-56-1 overall record but has posted a 23-30 mark over the last four years (1998-present).

Weber State is guided by Jerry Graybeal who is in his fifth season as head coach. Under Graybeal, WSU has posted a 23-30 overall record. Prior to working with the Wildcats, Graybeal was the defensive coordinator at Eastern Washington.

A Look at the Hornets

• So Close

Sophomore Ryan Leadingham wasted little time working his way into the Hornet record book. The quarterback not only set the single-season records for yards, attempts and completions, he is also close to setting nearly every career record. Leadingham entered the season with 2,752 yards, which ranked eighth on the school’s career list. He set the career completion record against Montana State and added the career attempts record to his resume against Montana. The Covina, Calif., native is also just 178 yards and six touchdowns away from setting the mark in those categories. Below is a list of where he ranks on the career records list:

CAREER

Yards

1. Mike Sullivan, 1981-83 5,085

2. Ryan Leadingham, 2001-pres. 4,908

Attempts

1. Ryan Leadingham, 2001-pres. 716

2. Tony Corbin, 1995-96 701

Completions

1. Ryan Leadingham, 2001-pres. 388

2. Mike Sullivan, 1981-83 365

Touchdowns

1. Tony Corbin, 1995-96 34

Mike Sullivan, 1981-83 34

3. Ricky Ray, 1999-2000 33

4. Greg Knapp, 1982-85 32

5. Ryan Leadingham, 2001-pres. 29

• Aim High

Since the first time that they stepped on the field together, Fred Amey and Leadingham have had a special connection. The pair connected for two touchdowns in their first collegiate game last year against Saint Mary’s and have not stopped.

Last week against Montana, Leadingham found Amey for eight passes totalling 94 yards.

The eight receptions raised Amey’s season total to 51 while the 94 yards gave him 746 on the year. The Union City, Calif., native needs 10 catches over the next two games to eclipse the single-season record of 60 set by Mike Carter in 1969. His yardage total currently ranks ninth on the single-season list. The school record of 1,207 was set by Kevin Fontes in 1982. Mitch Oliver holds the I-AA era record with 907 in 1995.

Amey’s first reception against the Griz also extended his consecutive games with a reception streak to 20 — each game of his career.

• All-Purpose Amey

While his receiving ability has already been well documented, Amey has established himself as one of the best all-purpose players in the country. He enters the week ranked 10th in Div. I-AA and leading the Big Sky Conference with 159.7 all-purpose yards per game.

Against UC Davis, Amey amassed 110 punt return yards and 70 kickoff return yards. Combined with his 95 receiving yards, he ended the day with 275 all-purpose yards.

Amey now has 1,437 all-purpose yards this season. The school record is 2,445 by Troy Mills.

Going into this week, Amey leads Sacramento State and is ranked second in the Big Sky Conference with 5.67 receptions per game (51 total). He is third in the league with a team-high 82.9 yards per game.

He also ranks 24th in the nation and third in the Big Sky in kick returns, and is sixth in the league in punt returns.

• Moving On Up

Like Leadingham, Amey is also on pace to rewrite the school’s record book. Through just 21 games (20 in which he has appeared) Amey is already in the top five of each receiving record. As a freshman, he had 54 receptions for 885 yards and seven touchdowns. Below is a list of where he ranks in school history:

CAREER

Yards

1. Lamont Webb, 1997-2000 1,834

2. Scott Towne, 1997-2000 1,646

3. Fred Amey, 2001-pres. 1,631

Receptions

1. Lamont Webb, 1997-2000 119

2. Mike Carter, 1968-69 113

3. Fred Amey, 2001-pres. 105

4. Gary Austin, 1999-pres. 100

Touchdowns

1. Lamont Webb, 1997-2000 16

2. Eric Harrington, 1992-93 15

3. Mark Young, 1986-88 14

Fred Amey, 2001-pres. 14

• Facing the Best

Sacramento State has not shied away from facing the best competition this season. Aside from playing I-A UTEP in the season opener, the Hornets have also taken on Montana, Northern Arizona and Portland State who were ranked first, eighth and 12th, respectively, at the time of competition. Sacramento State also faced Idaho State who is currently ranked 20th.

In the team’s games against Northern Arizona, Montana State and Montana, the opponents entered the contest as the top ranked defense in the Big Sky. Both NAU and MSU dropped to second place after the game while the Griz had their lead cut from 21 yards to three.

Last week against Montana, the Griz entered the game allowing just 78.0 rushing yards and 301.7 yards of total offense per game. Against the Hornets, Montana surrendered 171 rushing yards and 415 total yards.

• Every Which Way

Sacramento State has used a variety of ways to score points this season. Aside from the traditional rushing and passing touchdowns and field goals, the Hornets have scored points on a fake field goal, a punt return, an interception return and a fumble return.

The latest score came against Portland State on Oct. 19. In the game, Brad Osterhout sacked PSU quarterback Juston Wood and forced a fumble. The ball was picked up by Camron Mbewa who returned it 61 yards for a score.

The touchdown was the second for Mbewa in his three years with the team.

The fake field goal resulted in a 7-yard TD rush by Garrett White against UC Davis. The punt return also came against the Aggies when Fred Amey went 90 yards for the score.

The interception return was scored against Cal Poly by Kelly Micco. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage and caught by Micco at the 6-yard line where he walked into the end zone.

Sacramento State has also scored on three offensive trick plays. The first came at Idaho State where Kenan Smith threw 52 yards to Fred Amey. The second was a hook-and-lateral against UC Davis and the second happened at EWU when Garrett White found Smith for a 29-yard score.

• Fahrenheit 415

While it might not exactly be on fire, the Hornet offense has been hot over the past four games. Sacramento State has produced 415 yards of total offense against both Montana and Montana State in its last two outings. Those performances followed the 543 yards at Eastern Washington and the 403 against Portland State.

Part of the success can be attributed to the running game which has averaged 211.8 yards per game during the span. With the exception of the Montana State contest, Sacramento State has recorded over 170 rushing yards during the past four games.

• Combined Effort

Splitting time at quarterback is not too rare in college football. Sharing snaps at punter, however, is pretty unusual. Over the past three games, Sacramento State has done just that, giving attempts to Paul Kerr and Bret LeVier.

The strategy started at Eastern Washington where LeVier was called upon to squib a punt inside the 10-yard line. The same philosophy was used at Montana State and Montana in an effort to avoid each team’s highly-touted returners.

In the past three games, LeVier has attempted eight punts while Kerr has taken seven snaps.

• More Lead

Leadingham is on pace to record 2,604 passing yards this season. Combined with his total of 2,752 last season, the sophomore would have 5,356 career yards through two years. There have only been 13 players in I-AA history to record over 10,000 career passing yards. The I-AA record of 16,823 was set by Steve McNair of Alcorn State. Other Big Sky quarterbacks to eclipse 10,000 yards are Marcus Brady (13,095), Jamie Martin (12,287), Doug Nussmeier (12,054), Neil Lomax (11,647), Dave Dickenson (11,523), Travis Brown (11,267), Ken Hobart (11,127), Greg Wyatt (10,277) and John Friesz (10,187).

• Connections

There are just a couple of connections between Sacramento State and Weber State. WSU defensive lineman Brian Marquardt and Sacramento State’s Bilal Watkins, Shawn Brown and Seth Deyo are all products of Palomar JC in San Diego, Calif. The Hornets’ Scott McNamara and the Widlcats’ Tevita Kafoa each attended Gavilan JC.

• Notes

Freshman running back Tyronne Gross missed the Montana game with a sprained left ankle. The game marked the second time this season (Northern Arizona) that Gross has been sidelined with the injury...Leadingham caught a pass from Garrett White in the second quarter against Montana. The reception was the first for Leadingham in his two years...White is now 4-for-6 with a touchdown on his pass attempts this season. Last year, the Corning, Calif., native was 0-for-5 with two interceptions.

A Look at the Wildcats

• Weber State snapped its five-game losing streak with a 20-14 win over Portland State last Saturday. The Wildcats are currently 3-6 overall and 1-5 in Big Sky games.

WSU opened the year with a 38-24 loss to Div. I-A New Mexico. The team then produced back-to-back wins over Western State and Eastern Oregon before losing its first five league games of the year.

• Weber State is 0-4 in road games this year and the team has lost 10-straight games away from home dating back to 2001. In fact, the Wildcats have lost their road contests by an average of 21.8 points this year, including two 34-point defeats.

• The WSU offense is run primarily though the air. The team averages 235.9 passing yards per game compared to just 102.6 rushing yards.

• The Wildcats have been guided by three quarterbacks this season. Tate Bennett has appeared in eight of the nine games and averages 196.2 passing yards per game. Jeff Fowler has seen time in five contests while Parker Morrill has taken snaps in four. The three QBs have combined to throw 14 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

The groups primary target has been Scott Peery. The junior has a team-leading 34 receptions, including three touchdowns.

• Defensively, linebacker Colton Swan leads the team with 65 tackles. Swan has 11 tackles for loss and four pass breakups.

• The Series

Weber State leads the all-time series, 5-1. The two teams have played each season since 1996 with the Hornets claiming their lone win in 2000, 35-7. Last year, Sacramento State fell just inches short as Michael Johnson was tackled inside the 1-yard line as time expired in a 38-31 loss in Ogden, Utah.

• Who’s Up Next

Sacramento State will conclude the 2002 season against Humboldt State. The game on Nov. 23 will mark the first time that the Hornets and Lumberjacks have played since 1988.

Big Sky Notes

• WSU’s Nick Chournos was named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week after rushing for 152 yards and a TD against No. 13 Portland State.

• Montana State’s Adam Cordeiro earned defensive honors with a 76-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Eastern Washington.

• Idaho State kick returner Emery Beckles took home the special teams award. Beckles, who was also named the national player of the week, returned a punt 80 yards for a score against Northern Arizona.

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