SACRAMENTO, Calif. --- The Sacramento State football scored in about every imaginable way Saturday night in a 69-19 win over Saint Mary’s. The Hornets found the end zone nine times, comprised of five rushing, one passing, one fumble recovery, one interception and one punt return for a touchdown. Sacramento State also added a safety and two field goals to score the second-most points in school history and hand the Gaels their largest defeat in the program’s modern era.The Hornets wasted little time as Tyronne Gross scored two rushing touchdowns in the opening six minutes of the game. SMC attempted to answer when Ray Mike intercepted Ryan Leadingham and ran back 66 yards for a touchdown.
From that point, Sacramento State scored 39-unanswered points to take a 52-6 lead midway through the third quarter. The rally began with a 9-yard pass from Ryan Leadingham to Fred Amey. Leadingham then ran for a 1-yard score before Mitch Lively made a 37-yard field goal. With 20 seconds left in the first half, junior Harry Filo scooped up a loose ball and rumbled 39-yards to make the score 29-6 at halftime.
The third quarter began with a safety from Seth Tago just nine seconds into the quarter and Leadingham recorded his second rushing TD three minutes later. Amey returned a punt 83-yards on the team’s next possession.
Clint Wilson stopped the streak with a 30-yard run to earn Saint Mary’s first offensive touchdown of the season with 4:18 to play in the third quarter.
The Hornets posted the first two touchdowns of the fourth quarter on an 88-yard interception return from Chris Meyer and a 4-yard run by reserve quarterback Blake Mori. The final points of the game came on a TD run by Chris Harrell for the Gaels.
In all, Sacramento State amassed 419 yards of total offense. The team was paced by Gross’ 134 yards. Freshman Billy White led the receivers with seven grabs for 67 yards. Amey ended the night with four catches for 49 yards. The junior moved into first place in nearly all of the school’s career records with his performance. Amey now holds the marks for career receiving yards, receptions and touchdowns.
The defensive unit was paced by Meyer. The transfer from UConn led the team with seven tackles, including one for loss. The unit also tallied six sacks and forced Saint Mary’s into seven turnovers (four interceptions, three fumbles). The seven turnovers were the most by a Sacramento State opponent since the program moved to Div. I-AA.
The Hornets next travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif., to face Cal Poly. The Mustangs are coming off of an upset win at UTEP on Saturday. The game can be heard on KTKZ 1380 AM.
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