Coach breathes sigh of relief after No. 8 Sacramento State holds off Northern Arizona
As if two down-to-the-wire youth football games that included his sons didn’t tax the coach enough, along came Saturday night’s pressure cooker Big Sky Conference game at Hornet Stadium, where sky-rocketing blood pressure and antacids are part of the package.
When it was over, when FCS No. 8 Sacramento State held off upstart Northern Arizona 31-30 in front of 12,549 to extend its home conference winning streak to 10, there was Andy Thompson, the first-year Hornets leader who was finally able to wipe his brow and exhale.
“The Pop Warner games were crazy this morning, too,” Thompson said with a laugh. “Football is crazy at every level. But it was a 3-0 day for us, and that’s a good day.”
Thompson’s sons, Mac and Austin, won tight games for their Folsom teams hours before Sacramento State took the field against a squad eager to jam up the Hornets’ season. There were fireworks for four frenetic quarters, the norm in the most entertaining conference in the FCS, and then there were even more after the game, the explosive pyrotechnic kind that lit up the sky.
The Hornets (4-1, 1-1 Big Sky) surrendered scoring drives of 98 and 99 yards, a crusher for a defensive coordinator like Thompson, but then again, this is the prolific Big Sky and madness happens. NAU was coming off of a spirited 28-14 upset win at longtime Big Sky powerhouse Montana and was driving towards perhaps its first win at Hornet Stadium in 10 years.
But Kameron Rocha saved the night, at least for the moment, when he came up with his first career Hornets interception, and, he recalled, his first pick since his high school days in San Jacinto. Rocha came off the bench to make the play in the end zone, making a spectacular theft to halt NAU’s drive with 1:36 left.
The Hornets ran the clock down to two seconds before Thompson had his punter take a safety, worth two points, to prevent a disaster, and that accounted for the final score. NAU’s last chance lateral effort after Sacramento State punted, the rule for allowing a safety, did not work, and Sacramento State was able to celebrate a game that included Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown serving as honorary captain a week after there was despair in the Pacific Northwest.
On Sept. 23, the Hornets surrendered nine points in the final two seconds in a stunning loss to Idaho, a field goal and then a fumble recovery for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff. That halted Sacramento State’s 19-game Big Sky winning streak and 22-game regular-season streak.
“It feels good to bounce back and win; we needed that,” said Hornets receiver Jared Gipson, who caught five passes from Kaiden Bennett for a Hornets career-best 108 yards.
Rocha has overcome all sorts of obstacles in his Hornets career, but his grin spoke of his relief, and his theft speaks of the team’s depth at the position.
“We’re always coached to ‘Attack the ball! Attack the ball!’ and I did,” Rocha said. “We needed it big. I went for the ball and I knew all I needed to do was to come down with it.”
Bennett, the dazzling junior from nearby Folsom High School, continued his strong season. He passed for 257 yards and a 16-yard touchdown to Carlos Hill while rushing for 76 yards. The Hornets grinded out 209 yards, a solid showing given that they were without leading rusher Marcus Fulcher. He sat this one out with a foot injury that is not considered serious.
Elijah Tau-Tolliver rushed for 40 yards and a touchdown for Sacramento State. Ezra Moleni ran for 47 yards. Elk Grove High product Zeke Burnett had 40 yards and a 7-yard touchdown that tied the game at 21.
Coleman Kuntz gave Sacramento State the lead for good with a 2-yard plunge with 8:31 left in the fourth quarter. It was his first career Hornets touchdown and it capped a season-high 18-play drive.
At no point did Thompson jump out of his skin, until it was over.
“We kneeled too quickly (at the end to run out the clock), and there were a lot of things going through my head,” Thompson said. “These guys are giving us everything every single game. I’m really proud to be their coach. They give us everything. Was it perfect? No. But I’m very proud of how resilient this team is and how much they care.”
Adam Damante passed for 196 yards and a score for NAU, which dropped to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the Big Sky. Devon Starling rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
Sacramento State will have a bye on Saturday to rest, recharge and refocus on winning a fourth consecutive Big Sky championship.
“We’ll try to put a run together here,” Thompson said. “Any time you win a football game, you should have high morale. The standards we have here are high. We know we want to play better. There is a hunger to improve.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2023 at 9:23 AM.