On senior day, the Vandals drop their last game at home to sixth-ranked Sacramento State 31-7.
While the Vandals (4-7) have been able to beat key teams such as Eastern Washington and Idaho State here at the Kibbie Dome, this week wasn’t what they anticipated.
“I feel like we were prepared but we just didn’t execute today,” sophomore tight end Connor Whitney said after the game.
Sacramento state took an early lead in the first quarter, 7-0. Though by the time the first half was over, the Vandals were down 24-0. .
“We had guys step up all week that were pretty good,” Whitney said. “Losing those guys definitely hurts but we had guys step up that I thought did well but loosing players like that is always hard.”
Coming back to the game after the halftime break, the Vandals had momentum on their side. The Vandals scored one touchdown in the third quarter. The Hornets scored once more in the fourth quarter.
The Vandals had one final opportunity to score again with less than 4 minutes left to go in the game, but came up empty handed.
“I think the first half it was like two steps, and they were on us, you know,” Idaho head coach Paul Petrino said. “I think the second half we did a little bit better job at picking it up and that allowed us to make a few plays.”
The Hornets scored three touchdowns and one field goal in the first half. Idaho was able to take charge in the second and minimize the Hornets offense to only score once more. Idaho was able to regroup as a team and put up a good fight.
“You know sometimes you may be upset because they didn’t play as good as you want but deep down, you love them man,” Petrino said about the leaving seniors. “You spend time with them, you recruited them, you see them grow into better men and they’re a bunch of good men.”
Essentially, it wasn’t the game that any Vandal fan could have wanted or asked for. The Vandals had many windows of opportunity to capitalize on but unfortunately things didn’t go their way.
“I thought we came out and fought in the second half, so that’s a positive,” Petrino said. “But we just gotta play better, we gotta execute better, we gotta do our fundamentals better.”
The Vandals play their last game next Saturday as they head off to take on Northern Arizona University in hopes of adding one final win to their record before the 2019 season comes to a close.
“Keep fighting, don’t fold for anybody,” junior Tyrese Dedmon said when asked about the mindset for the last game of the season. “Just ‘cause there’s no postseason, don’t mean that we just lay down.”
The Vandals will play the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on the road 1 p.m. Saturday, November 23.
Elizabeth Carbajal can be reached at [email protected]