DAVIS, Calif. – The UC Davis football team buckled down to win its home opener over Southern Utah by the score of 23-21, Saturday evening. The Aggies improve to 2-1 on the young season while the Thunderbirds drop to 0-3.
Miles Hastings threw for 256 yards, tossing two touchdowns without throwing an interception.
Lan Larison led all Aggies rushers with 60 yards in the contest.
Larison also added 106 receiving yards and one touchdown.
C.J. Hutton also added 14 yards on the ground.
UC Davis also got a significant contribution from
Trent Tompkins, who reeled in five catches for 62 yards.
Teddye Buchanan led the UC Davis defensive effort, totaling eight tackles, 0.5 TFL, and one interception.
The Aggies won the turnover battle in Saturday's game, forcing one turnover while avoiding any
giveways, with UC Davis turning that takeaway into three points.
UC Davis' defense was tough against the run, limiting Southern Utah to only 57 yards on the ground.
Hunter Ridley was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals, including a long from 43 yards.
The game got off to a quick start Buchanan picked off his sixth career pass on the very first play of the contest.
Four plays later the Aggies got on the board first when
Hunter Ridley drilled a 43-yard field goal. The next drive Ridley struck again from 22-yards to give the Ags the early 6-0 lead.
The defensive slugfest in the first half concluded with a total of 13 first downs and 216 total yards of offense between the two teams.
The Aggies started off the second half by promptly marching down the field to the Thunderbirds one but were stopped on fourth down.
UC Davis was not thwarted its next time down the field, this time converting on fourth down to put the first touchdown on the board. Hastings found
Josh Gale for a 14-yard touchdown. The strike gave the Ags a 13-0 lead.
After Southern Utah responded with a score Larison finally got loose in the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Idaho native ran away from the Thunderbird defense for 73 yards on a reception in the flat from Hastings.
Game Notes
» UC Davis won the turnover battle 1-0 after picking off one pass.
» UC Davis had their highest scoring quarter in the fourth period, when they put up 10 points.
» The Aggies had two players with more than eight tackles in the ballgame led by Buchanan, who had eight.
»
Hunter Ridley knocked through three field goals for the Aggies with a long of 43 yards.
» The Aggies didn't allow a sack in the contest.
» UC Davis won the time of possession battle 31:45 to 28:15.
» UC Davis got off to a hot start in the contest, putting 13 unanswered points on the board before Southern Utah could respond.
