Senior Rams see final home win
For the 20-plus seniors who took the field for the last time at
Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium, the Rams’ 21-6 win provided a
perfect ending to a not-so fairy-tale season.
“It feels good to win our last one,” said senior linebacker Drew
Wood. “I am cherishing it.”
In a defensive battle, CSU snapped its two-game losing streak
and improved its conference record to 3-3, as the Rams beat San
Diego State on Saturday.
“From a defensive standpoint, that was a heck of a football
game,” CSU head coach Sonny Lubick said. “I thought we played one
of our best games of the year here today.”
Senior wide receiver Eric Hill pulled in a 67-yard,
momentum-changing touchdown pass from senior quarterback Bradlee
Van Pelt and increased the Ram’s lead over San Diego State to 14-6
with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
“I had no idea I was going to be wide open,” Hill said. “But
when I saw the cornerback covering Anderson, I knew if Bradlee read
it right, we could get a big play out of it.”
After Hills catch, the Rams ran away with the game on a 42-yard
touchdown run by junior running back and San Diego native Jimmy
Green. Green saw more time than usual and finished the game as
CSU’s rushing leader with 69 yards on eight carries.
Sophomore defensive back Ben Stratton intercepted a pass from
San Diego State quarterback Adam Hall and ran it 35 yards for the
only Ram points of the first half.
“We came out and played Ram-tough defense,” Stratton said. “We
had fun today. That was the first game where everyone on defense
had fun. I had a blast out there. If you have fun and play as a
team, you have great days.”
In the third quarter, Stratton came up big again when he blocked
J.C. Mejia’s 52-yard field goal attempt to preserve CSU’s 7-6
lead.
“I was thinking if they kick another one, I am going to block it
because the last one went right through my hands,” Stratton said.
“And sure enough, it went up, I put my hands up and I sure did
block it.”
Stratton and senior lineman Bryan Save shined on defense with
seven and 11 tackles respectively. Save also had two sacks that
combined for 15 yards lost for the Aztecs.
“Whenever you get one-on-ones, you want to take advantage of
that. You gotta win those,” Save said. “We got a lot of
opportunities to go one-on-one and we did real well.”
With 1:48 left in the second quarter, the Aztecs were faced with
a crucial third down with 15 yards to go from the CSU 43-yard line.
Save sacked San Diego quarterback Adam Hall for a loss of eight
yards, forcing the Aztecs to punt. The half ended with CSU leading
7-3.
The Aztecs inched closer to the Rams with a 41-yard field goal
in the third quarter by Mejia, making the score 7-6. Mejia, the
sole provider of points for San Diego State, made two of five field
goal attempts, including a career-high 51-yarder in the first
quarter.
San Diego State outplayed CSU on offense, gaining 345 yards
while the Rams managed 324. Hall completed13 of 26 passes for 140
yards before leaving the game in the third quarter with a finger
injury.
Van Pelt finished his last home game with 49 yards rushing and
completed 11 of 19 passes for 156 yards.
“They made plays and my hat goes off to them,” Van Pelt said of
the Aztecs’ defense. “They stopped us, but we got the upper hand.
We stepped up and performed better than their defense.”
Once again, sophomore wide receiver David Anderson was Van
Pelt’s chosen target and finished the day with seven receptions for
77 yards.
With the win, the Rams became bowl eligible but will need to win
next weekend at Nevada-Las Vegas before considering a bowl
game.
The Rams are tied for third place in the Mountain West with
Brigham Young and Air Force but have defeated both in head-to-head
competition.
“We just gotta win one more and see what happens,” Wood said. “I
would love to go to a bowl game, but we just want to win our last
game.”
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