Hornets heartbreaker: Sacramento State fumbles ball late to seal 4th loss in a row
Sacramento State’s season of misery took another painful twist Saturday night on the Central Coast.
With a chance to snatch a victory in a season frustratingly short of such good fortune, the Hornets fumbled inside the Cal Poly 3-yard line with 1:10 left to play, and the host Mustangs took a knee to run out the clock to secure a 26-23 victory in a meeting of last-place Big Sky Conference teams.
Noah Serna made all four of his field goals, and Cal Poly coach and Davis High School graduate Paul Wulff improved his season to 3-7 overall and 2-5 in conference in sending the Hornets to their fourth consecutive loss and six of their last seven.
A three-time Big Sky winner and a four-time FCS playoff team since 2019, the hard-luck, injury-ravaged Hornets fell to 3-8 overall and 1-6 in conference, with the 70th Causeway Classic looming next Saturday against No. 4-ranked UC Davis in a regular-season finale.
Cal Poly now leads the all-time series 22-21, including 12-11 at home, an indicator of how tight this series has been over the decades.
Carson Conklin passed for 308 yards and two touchdowns for Sacramento State, giving him 23 on the season to lead all FCS freshmen by a wide margin.
But the one play Conklin would like to have back was the last time he had the ball in his hands. The Southern California native broke free for a long gain, headed to the end zone, when he was hit, losing the ball and allowing Cal Poly to recover it after a Hornets player had it slip away from him.
“Popped the ball out,” Sacramento State coach Andy Thompson said afterward. “Kids fought and played hard. We just didn’t execute the plays to win. Proud of their effort. Gotta get things cleaned up so we can finish the season strong.”
Sacramento State rushed for just 39 yards on 21 carries, and Conklin attempted 51 passes, completing 33. He found Jared Gipson 11 times for 130 yards, and he found Anderson Grover and Danny Scudero for touchdown strikes.
It was otherwise a battle of the kicker. Serna had field goals of 31, 33, 29 and 38 yards, the last one with 5:07 left to play to account for the final score.
For Sacramento State, Zach Schreinder had field goals of 45, 48 and 27 yards.
Jackson Akins passed for 305 yards and two touchdowns to Logan Booher.
This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 6:48 PM.