Play after play, drive after drive, Cal Poly’s game against UC Davis Saturday night began to look more and more like last year’s contest.
At the end of the game, it was close to a picture-perfect replica.
With 35 seconds left on the clock, Aggies’ quarterback Randy Wright connected with Sean Creadick on a five-yard touchdown strike, fueling the Aggies (5-5, 3-1 Great West) 22-21 win and marking UC Davis’ second-straight come from behind win against the Mustangs (7-4, 2-2) in as many years.
“I can’t put it into words right now,” quarterback Tony Smith said.“It’s just a real tough pill to swallow.”
As the story went in last year’s Battle for the Golden Horseshoe, if the game ended at halftime, the Mustangs would have won.
The Mustangs came out of the gates firing on all cylinders Saturday night. On their first possession of the game, they boasted a 15-play, 82-yard drive, capped with a Jake Romanelli one-yard touchdown run.
On their second possesion, they pieced together an eight-play, 66-yard drive, capped with another Romanelli touchdown run. Once fullback Jordan Yocum punched in a five-yard touchdown run, the Mustangs found themselves up 21-0.
Their success even extended further than the scoreboard.
The Mustangs outgained the Aggies 268-97 in total offense during the first half. They held more passing yards (111-101) and also outrushed the Aggies by 161 yards.
“We had the game won,” Romanelli said. “Unfortunately that’s kind of been the story of our season — shooting ourselves in the foot.”
That didn’t extend to the defense. Although the Mustangs did cough up their lead, there were just a couple of times the defense faltered all night. For the most part, the Mustangs held their ground against the Aggies offense.
After holding UC Davis to negative yards rushing in the first half, they boasted two goal-line stands in the second half. With the ball at the Cal Poly two-yard line in the third quarter, Xavier Ramos tied up Corbin Cutshaw in the backfield on a third-and-goal try. With the ball at Cal Poly’s three-yard line in the fourth quarter, Nico Molino and Kenny Jackson stopped Wright two yards short of a touchdown run.
On both possessions, Cal Poly’s defense turned what could have been touchdowns to field goals and kept the Mustangs’ lead intact.
“They played phenomenal,” Romanelli said. “They played stout and they needed one more play and they didn’t get it.”
Linebacker Marty Mohamed led the team with eight tackles. All together, the Mustangs combined for five sacks and seven tackles for loss. They did what they needed to do. This wasn’t their fault, head coach Tim Walsh said, this loss was on the offense.
“I think we played flat poorly on offense in the second half,” Walsh said. “The (Aggies) defense didn’t do anything to cause the problem, what happened in the second half was on us. They didn’t do anything that we didn’t expect them to do.”
In the third and fourth quarters, the Mustangs accounted for just 91 yards of total offense and turned the ball over on five of their seven drives — none going farther than Davis’ 30-yard line.
“For whatever reasons, (we) made some mistakes that were critical mistakes at critical times,” Walsh said. “You can’t do that when a team is playing with the amount of pride that I thought (UC Davis) played with.”
Despite the showing in the second half, there were a couple highlights for Cal Poly on the stat sheet. Running back Mark Rodgers finished the game with a team-high 108 yards off 17 carries. Yocum was the next closest Mustang behind him, finishing with 65 yards.
Smith finished the game 8-of-16 passing with 131 yards and an interception. It was the final installment of his career at Cal Poly, along with 18 other seniors. Guys like offensive lineman Will Mitchell, wide receiver Dominique Johnson and Mohamed all played their final regular season game at home on Saturday night.
If their careers have been anything like Smith’s, to say it has been great would be something of an understatement.
“The people that I have met here and the experiences that I have had,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t give it up for anything else in the world.”
For now, Cal Poly’s season ends on a losing note. But despite losing their senior class, there is no doubt the Mustangs will return talent next season. With guys like Romanelli, Rodgers and quarterback Andre Broadous coming back, Cal Poly could be poised to do big things in 2011.
Romanelli certainly thinks so.
“This isn’t the end of the Mustangs,” Romanelli said. “I’ll tell you that.”