‘Scary hit’: Sacramento State falls to San Jose State after player taken away by ambulance
There was a moment early in the fourth quarter here Thursday night when football suddenly didn’t matter.
In a season opener between Sacramento State and the host San Jose State Spartans, Michael Johnson of the Hornets was flattened on a kickoff return, a crushing and legal hit that laid out the junior from Ventura County.
Both teams took a knee in a silent CEFCU Stadium while medical personnel tended to Johnson for several long, tense moments. Johnson was conscious and verbal when he was wheeled off on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, ushered away as the entire Sacramento State team approached to wish him well.
The blow rattled the Hornets, who fell behind by 11 a moment later when San Jose State quarterback Emmett Brown threw his third touchdown pass of the game. The Spartans pulled away to win 42-24 in just the second all-time meeting between the programs and the first since 2013.
Though the Hornets felt like they let a game they could have won slip away after leading 24-21 to start the fourth quarter, everyone in Sacramento State’s green and white colors was thinking of Johnson. He was recovering at a nearby hospital as the game went on without him while the Spartans scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
Johnson did give his teammates and coaches reason to exhale in relief before he was carted off.
“He was moving his arms and legs, and they were just taking all the precautions for his neck because that was a physical hit. It was scary,” Sacramento State coach Andy Thompson said. “I did get a chance to speak with him, and he said, ‘Coach, can I just get up and play?’ ‘No, Mike. They need to check you out.’ I’m hoping he’s going to be alright.”
Thompson was moved by how the Hornets as a group reached out to their teammate, saying, “I do feel like our team is connected.”
The coach added: “It wasn’t our best performance. Congratulations to San Jose State. They made more plays, especially in the fourth quarter, and we’ll learn from it. We’ll get better. It’s a long season, 12 weeks of a regular season.”
Elijah Tau-Tolliver had a career night for the Hornets, rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns, which pushed his fired-up team ahead 14-0 in the first quarter. Sacramento State showed it will be a prolific bunch again as it pursues its fourth Big Sky Conference championship and fifth consecutive FCS playoff berth since 2019.
Sacramento State’s physical offensive line had its way for the better part of three quarters. The Hornets showed they could go blow for blow with the FCS-level Spartans, the defending co-regular-season champions of the Mountain West Conference, but the visitors were undone by a gritty and talented Spartans team under a new coaching staff.
Sacramento State fumbled on a goal-line play as it was attempting to go up 21-7, one of five turnovers for the Hornets. Sacramento State lost three fumbles and threw two interceptions while losing its season opener for the sixth consecutive season.
Tau-Tolliver said he was pleased with his outing and that of this team, but he mostly expressed relief that Johnson appeared to be fine, all things considered.
“I prayed (when Johnson was down), and thank God he’s OK,” Tau-Tolliver said. “I prayed as hard as I could for as long as he was down. He wanted to let us know that he was OK. He kept telling us he wanted to get up, so we thank God for that.”
In a hard hitting game, Sacramento State’s starting quarterback Kaiden Bennett took a shot in the third quarter and missed two series. Backup Carson Conklin came in and fired a 20-yard touchdown strike to Danny Scudero to push the Hornets ahead 24-21 with 2:24 left in the third quarter. It was all San Jose State from there.
49ers’ Aiyuk attends game
Bennett before the kickoff chatted it up with freshly signed San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who attended the game. He and Bennett are Reno natives and longtime pals. Aiyuk starred at Sierra College in Rocklin before his transfer to Arizona State.
Up next
Sacramento State plays at Fresno State on Sept. 7.
“We got a chance to see glimpses of how good we can be on both sides of the ball, and the things we definitely need to work on,” Thompson said. “Very physical game with a lot of guys injured and banged up, so we’re going to have our depth ready. I do love our guys. They compete really hard.”
Big game for Brown
In his first career start, Brown shook off a shaky early start to finish with 298 yards passing. Brown threw two touchdown passes to Nick Nash, who also tossed a scoring strike to tight end Jacob Stewart, a Woodland native who played quarterback at Christian Brothers High School and tight end at Sacramento City College before transferring to San Jose State.
This story was originally published August 30, 2024 at 6:48 AM.