Name: Nehemiah Mitchell (Bishop O’Dowd High School)

Position: DL

Height/Weight: (6-5/235)

Stats: Mitchell was a beast up front for Bishop O’Dowd.  He accounted for 49 tackles, including 6.5 sacks.

How He Fits: Mitchell may be able to fill the void left at the defensive end positions with David Coleman and Zack Nash.  Mitchell’s size make him a candidate to come in and play immediately, especially since the Hornets will need to quickly fill the need for a pass rusher because of how vital their pass rush was to the success of their defense last season.

Here is a look at what he can do:

Continue Reading →

The Sacramento State Volleyball lost to Portland State in four games out of five winning only the first game.  Portland will go on to face Northern Colarado State tommorrow.  Northern Colarado beat Eastern Washington earlier today.

The Hornets wound up losing to Portland State by a final score of 29-20.

The second half wasn’t as sloppy as the first for the Hornets, but they couldn’t ever break through against a tough Portland State team.

Portland State opened the second half scoring on a 45 yard Zach Brown field goal, and would extend the lead to two scores on a Connor Kavanaugh 28 yard touchdown run.

The Hornets opened up the fourth quarter by cutting the Portland State lead to six points as Jeff Fleming ran the ball in for his second rushing touchdown of the game.  The Hornets’ two-point conversion try was no good, leaving the score at 26-20.

The Vikings put the game out of reach with a field goal by Brown with 7:54 to play in the fourth quarter to make the score 29-20. 

The Hornets had opportunities to take the lead with the ball at Portland State’s 22 and a first down but could not punch it in.  Evander Wilkins also dropped an interception prior to Portland State kicking their final field goal.

A complete game-story will be coming up shortly on sacstatesports.com.

The Hornets were able to survive a sloppy first half, and trail by only two at Portland State. 

Sac State couldn’t ever get anything going on the offensive side of the ball, as they were outgained by the Vikings 222 to 87.  The Vikings threw for 144 yards and ran for 87, while the Hornets threw for 33 and ran for 54. 

The Vikings scored first on a Willie Griffin 30 yard touchdown run, but failed the two-point conversion attempt to lead by six.

The Vikings added a field goal to make it a nine point lead, but Kyle Monson came up with an interception return for a touchdown with 10:14 to play in the second quarter.  Monson’s 24 yard pick-six was his second in as many games.  The Hornets failed their two-point conversion attempt to keep the Vikings’ advantage at three points.

Portland State would answer on the ensuing drive, going 63 yards on five plays, capped off by a 16 yard touchdown strike from Connor Kavanaugh to Keitrell Anderson.  The extra-point was good to give Portland State a 16-6 lead.

Near the end of the half though Portland State seemed to be driving with the ball at midfield, but they fumbled on three consecutive plays, with the third one being recovered by the Hornets at the Vikings’ 1-yard line.  One play later Jeff Fleming was into the end-zone for a touchdown.  The Hornets converted the two-point attempt to make it a 16-14 Portland State advantage.

The Hornets tried to squib the kickoff up the field, but it was knocked down by the Vikings before it could get deep, and they took over at the Hornets’ 43 with 23 seconds to play.  PSU got as far as the Hornets’ 33 yard line before bringing on kicker Zach Brown to try a 50-yard field goal.  Brown’s attempt sailed wide left and the Hornets kept the deficit at two points.

Sac State will get the ball to start the second half.  For up to the minute updates follow Sac State Sports on Twitter, at twitter.com/sacstatesports.

Come back to Sacstatesports frequently today’s Sac State – Northern Colorado game?

We’ll have tweets and updates from beat writer Kylie Madson. We will have a complete game recap soon after the game.

If you go to tonight’s Sac State-Montana game, follow it on the radio or can’t get near play by play, you can get all of your Hornets coverage atacstatesports.com.

During the game, we’ll provide Twitter updates (@sacstatesports). After each quarter, we’ll have updated game updates posted sacstatesports.com. And after the game, John Parker will recap the action and Bill Bradley will provide an opinion column.

Plus, we’ll have photos from Sacramento photographer Ron Nabity.

That’s all available on your desktop, laptop or your phone. Check it out at Sacstatesports.com.

Sac State post-game football report:

Key player: Despite losing, Sac State running back Bryan Hilliard ran for 108 yards on 18 carries. However, all but 10 of those came ion the first half.

Key moment: Southern Utah’s Austin Minefee returned a second-quarter kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. It gave the Thunderbirds a lead they never relinquished.

Key number: 3. Number of fourth-d0wn conversions made in – in one second-quarter series.

Boxscore: Click here to see the full game stats.

SacStateSports will be publishing quarter-by-quarter updates throughout the Sacramento State-Southern Utah game. Just keep clicking back here or follow us at @sacstatesports tweet.