Weber State University Athletics

Saturday, September 16
Sacramento, CA
7:00 p.m. MT

Weber State University

2-1

31
at
24

Sacramento State

1-2

1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Weber State
16
8
0
7
31
Sacramento State
0
14
7
3
24
FB at Sacramento State 2017
Jonah Williams (right) blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown.
Photo by: Robert Casey

Wildcats beat Hornets 31-24

9/17/2017 12:10:00 AM | Football

SACRAMENTO – Weber State jumped out to a big lead, then held on for a 31-24 win over Sacramento State Saturday night at Hornet Stadium. The win moves WSU to 2-1 as the Wildcats return home next week to open Big Sky play.

The game got off to a terrific start for Weber State as the Wildcats scored three-straight touchdowns and made two-point conversions on each score to jump out to a 24-0 lead early in the second quarter.

WSU opened the scoring with a trick play as Andrew Vollert found Drew Batchelor for a three-yard touchdown, followed by a Stefan Cantwell two-point conversion to make it 8-0 with 7:56 left in the first quarter.

On the next Sacramento State possession, Jonah Williams blocked a Sac State punt and picked up the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. It was the first blocked punt returned for a touchdown by a WSU player since 2002. Cantwell then found Kallin Fisher for the two-point conversion to make it 16-0 with 6:39 left in the quarter.

Early in the second quarter Cantwell found Batchelor for a 12-yard touchdown, followed by a Vollert pass to McKay Murphy and the 'Cats led 24-0.
Sacramento State got on the board with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Thompson to Jaelin Ratliff to make it 24-7 with 6:02 to play. On the next play from scrimmage, Cantwell's pass was intercepted by Malcolm Thomas and returned 15-yards for a Hornet touchdown to make it 24-14.

The Hornets cut it to 24-21 in the third quarter after a three-yard run by Andre Lindsay.

Weber State opened the fourth quarter with an 11-yard, 60-play drive, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Cantwell to make it 31-21.

After a big kickoff return, the Hornets added a 36-yard field goal to make it 31-24 and Weber State was able to stop Sacramento State the rest of the way.

"We got off to a great start and really fought when things didn't go our way," said WSU head coach Jay Hill. "I was proud how they continued to battle. It wasn't the cleanest of games but we did a lot of little things that you have to do to win games and we were able to do that."

Weber State had 279 yards of total offense, compared to 220 for Sacramento State. WSU also had 21 first downs with just nine for the Hornets. The 'Cats also converted on 50 percent of their third down conversions and held the Hornets to 4 of 13 on third downs.

Individually, Cantwell threw for 109 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 56 yards and another score. Batchelor led the receivers with four catches for 59 yards and two touchdowns and Vollert had four catches for 26 yards. Treshawn Garrett led the rushing attack with 18 carries for 99 yards.

Defensively, Landon Stice, playing in his first game of the year, had seven tackles with one tackle for loss. Jawain Harrison Jr. also had seven tackles, while Taron Johnson had five tackles and one pass breakup. The Wildcats had five tackles for loss and one sack.

The win was Weber State's first win in Sacramento since 2008.

The Wildcats will return home next week to open Big Sky play as they host UC Davis on Saturday, Sept. 23, in a 5 p.m. kickoff at Stewart Stadium. It will also be the annual Homecoming game at Weber State. 
 

Team Stats

WSU
SAC
Total Yards
279
220
Pass Yards
112
130
Rushing Yards
167
90
Penalty Yards
33
51
1st Downs
21
9
3rd Downs
8
4
4th Downs
1
0
TOP
34:40
25:20
1st Quarter
Logo

WSU 8, SAC 0

WSU - BATCHELOR, Drew 3 yd pass from VOLLERT, Andrew (CANTWELL, S. rush) 15 plays, 75 yards, TOP 7:04

Logo

WSU 16, SAC 0

WSU - WILLIAMS, Jonah 0 yd blocked punt return (FISHER, Kallin pass)

2nd Quarter
Logo

WSU 24, SAC 0

WSU - BATCHELOR, Drew 12 yd pass from CANTWELL, S. (MURPHY, McKay pass) 8 plays, 52 yards, TOP 4:32

Logo

WSU 24, SAC 7

SAC - RATLIFF, Jaelin 42 yd pass from THOMSON, Kevin (MEDEIROS, Devon kick) 5 plays, 47 yards, TOP 2:58

Logo

WSU 24, SAC 14

SAC - THOMAS, Malcolm 15 yd interception (MEDEIROS, Devon kick)

3rd Quarter
Logo

WSU 24, SAC 21

SAC - LINDSEY, Andre 3 yd run (MEDEIROS, Devon kick), 11 plays, 80 yards, TOP 5:26

4th Quarter
Logo

WSU 31, SAC 21

WSU - CANTWELL, S. 1 yd run (TUTTLE, Trey kick), 11 plays, 60 yards, TOP 6:07

Logo

WSU 31, SAC 24

SAC - MEDEIROS, Devon 36 yd field goal 4 plays, -1 yards, TOP 0:40

Game Leaders

CMP
14
TD
1
YDS
109
INT
1
CMP
1
TD
1
YDS
3
INT
0

Players Mentioned

WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
LS
/ Football
RB
/ Football
CB
/ Football
DT
/ Football
LB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
DE
/ Football
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