Oct. 31, 2009

Final Stats

CEDAR CITY, Utah. - Running back Major Gray rushed for four touchdowns - three of them before halftime - as host Southern Utah broke a second-quarter tie with 28 straight points in a 56-35 Great West Conference football victory over UC Davis before 3,035 fans at Eccles Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak by UC Davis which fell to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in conference action. Southern Utah won its second straight game, evening its overall record at 4-4 overall and pushing its league mark to 2-1. Josh Reese rushed for 101 yards on 14 carries to help lead the Aggies while quarterback Greg Denham threw for 223 yards and a score.

Gray finished with just 74 rushing yards but scored three times from the one and another time from the 12, tying a school record for most touchdowns in a game. Quarterback Cade Cooper threw a pair of scoring strikes while finishing with 159 yards. The Aggies' Danny Hart and the Thunderbirds' Colin Pretlow tied for game-high honors with 13 tackles each.

Southern Utah took control of the game after UC Davis battled back from an early 21-7 deficit to tie the game with two straight scores in the second quarter. Denham hit tight end Brad Bispo with a 29-yard touchdown pass to help make it 21-14 early in the period before Nick Aprile - directing the offense out of the Wildcat formation - ran in from five yards to help forge a tie midway.

However, the Thunderbids blitzed UC Davis with three touchdowns over the last six minutes before halftime, capitalizing on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Cooper to Tysson Poots and a 61-yard punt return TD by Feis Sitake less than 90 seconds later for a 35-21 lead. Southern Utah capped its second-quarter scoring with Gray's third touchdown - this one from a yard out - with just 26 seconds to go. The touchdown was set up when Drew Willard sacked Denham and caused a fumble at the Aggies' 34.

"We were our own worst enemies and that's not to take anything away from Southern Utah," said Aggie coach Bob Biggs. "I thought they played very well. I thought Cade Cooper did a great job throwing the ball. He was very, very accurate. And they played within themselves."

UC Davis set the stage for the game's high-scoring tempo on its first series, marching 59 yards on six plays to take a 7-0 lead less than three minutes in when Joe Trombetta rumbled in from 13 yards. Southern Utah answered with three straight scores, one of them off a turnover, as Gray scored from 12 yards and then a yard, and Poots caught a short one-yard pass from Cooper. The Thunderbirds led 21-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The teams combined for nearly 450 yards of offense in the first half with UC Davis rushing for a season-high 153 yards before the break. Reese had 47 of them while Trombetta added 44 and Corbin Cutshaw picked up 41.

Gray helped put Southern Utah up 49-21 with a one-yard touchdown run early in the second half, finishing a 12-play, 77-yard drive to complete the run of 28 unanswered points.

UC Davis rallied, though, with a pair of second-half touchdowns to get back to within 49-35 after Aprile - again out of the Wildcat - threw a six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dean Rogers early in the fourth quarter, and Denham found receiver Sean Creadick on a 13-yard TD strike with 5:05 remaining. Looking to get the deficit to a touchdown in the final minutes, UC Davis went behind by 21 points again when Denham was intercepted by Colin Pretlow who returned the ball 46 yards for a 56-35 lead with 2:32 left.

Bakari Grant had seven catches for 77 yards for UC Davis while Chris Carter also had seven grabs, finishing with 47 yards. Aprile, listed a safety on the roster, rushed eight times for 56 yards. Cutshaw rushed for 51 yards as UC Davis finished with a season-high 244. Poots posted game-highs for Southern Utah with 11 receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

Hart had eight solo stops among his 13 tackles while linebacker Dozie Amajoyi had nine total stops. Linebacker Mike Morales returned an interception 36 yards while linebacker Mike Healey had a six-yard sack. Pretlow finished with 13 total tackles, 10 of them solo. He also had three breakups.

UC Davis will return home for its next two games, facing rival Cal Poly next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Aggie Stadium.