Sacramento State had a great year. It fell to a FCS team which reached new heights
JaVaughn Craig was there at the tail end of the misery.
He endured an 0-11 season as a starting freshman quarterback for Austin Peay three years ago and vowed to lead the way to better days.
Craig has done his part and then some. On Saturday night at Hornet Stadium, the senior brilliantly engineered a 42-28 triumph over fourth-seeded Sacramento State in a Football Championship Subdivision Division I playoff game that no one a year ago dared project in a matchup of upstart programs.
Craig and the Governors (11-3) of Clarksville, Tennessee, were sharp in extending their finest season since starting football in 1930, and the Hornets (9-4) were out of sorts for the better part of three quarters. They trailed 21-0 after one and 35-7 late in the third quarter to an athletic and motivated bunch from a program that had never played a football game west of the Rockies.
For long stretches, Sac State was a step slow. The Hornets missed on passes short and long, missed tackles and genuinely missed a grand opportunity to extend their finest season in 31 years. A small crowd was on hand as the prospect of wind and rain likely kept thousands away.
As odd fortune would have it, the rain stopped just before kickoff. And by the time Sac State started to heat up in the fourth, it was too late.
“I’m flabbergasted,” Austin Peay coach Mark Hudspeth said of his team’s rousing effort in general.
Sac State trailed by three touchdowns in a flash behind the legs and arm of Craig, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound Chattanooga native who is as postgame polite as he is in-game ferocious.. He tossed two touchdown passes in the first quarter, then the Governors showed that they intended to make this a memorable journey.
They recovered an onside kick and went up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter when Baniko Harley bolted 45 yards on fourth-and-1. The Governors amassed 213 yards in the first quarter (Sac State had 13) and finished with 499. Craig had 12 rushes for 169 yards and a touchdown, and he passed for 204 yards and those two scores, getting sacked by one of the top defenses in the land just once.
All of this from a program that was mired in a 1-45 run earlier this decade, including a 27-game skid that stretched into the 2017 season.
Hudspeth arrived before this season as coach, told his leaders that they could win right away, and then he unleashed his array of skill players, including receiver DeAngle Wilson. Austin Peay won its first Ohio Valley Conference championship since 1977 and reached the FCS playoffs for the first time.
Craig never thought of bailing on a program that believed in him.
“I came in with 34 other guys who knew what the program had been through and we had a vision,” Craig said. “Some are still here. I give credit to the guys who saw it out, kept dreaming. We were the worst program in the country. It feels amazing to have success.”
Sac State came in rolling under its own impact first-year coach in Troy Taylor. The Hornets won their first Big Sky Conference championship, a share with Weber State, and just the fifth conference crown since the program started football in 1954.
Sac State became ranked for the first time since 2011, beat the most ranked teams in program history (four) and went 7-1 against FCS programs entering this one.
That the Hornets were without star receiver Pierre Williams was a blow. He injured his knee against UC Davis in the regular-season finale, but Taylor doesn’t use excuses, and Williams doesn’t play defense. The Hornets also were largely without leading rusher Elijah Dotson, who was hurt in the first half and did not return.
And the Hornets were down to a third-string guard due to injuries. Mostly, Sac State had no answer for Craig, and the Governors followed his lead.
“We got ourselves in a big hole, some mistakes, not smart stuff, and some stuff we haven’t done all year,” Taylor said. “They took advantage of that. I thought we had a chance in the end and never felt like the game was over. I like how we battled back. But when you’ve got a team that’s dynamic like that ...”
Kevin Thomson had a banner season for Sac State, winning Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors, but he wasn’t pleased with the final game of the season. He completed only 5 of 16 passes in the first half and the Hornets managed just 20 rushing yards in that stretch.
He was 21 of 53 for 306 yards and two touchdowns to one-time Jesuit High School star Isaiah Bailey. Thomson scored on runs of 1 and 2 yards, and his 12 running touchdowns now represent a single-season program record.
The first man Thomson sought out after the game was his counterpart quarterback, a show of sportsmanship that defined him and his program this season.
“I respect our opponent, and (Craig) had a really good game,” he said.
Of his team this season, Thomson said, “I love these guys. It’s been a pleasure to play with them.”
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 10:55 PM.