Weber State ends Cal Poly's season

For months, defenses had tried to get the ball out of the hands of the Cal Poly football team’s offense.

To say they failed would be something of an understatement.

Cal Poly entered its Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) first-round playoff game against Weber State leading the FCS in both yards (481.4) and points (45.3) per game.

And the Mustangs, fifth in the FCS in turnover margin, had turned the ball over just six times all year.

They almost matched that total Saturday night, forfeiting the ball five times in a 49-35 loss before 6,919 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.

“They guessed right on a couple of plays,” said Mustangs quarterback Jonathan Dally, who completed 11 of 30 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted four times. “I can’t really put it into words. It felt a little uncharacteristic of us.”

Uncharacteristic indeed.

“It’s real hard to swallow right now,” Dally said. “(Those were) terrible decisions on my part.”

Dally, whose final interception was claimed by Scotty Goodloe with a minute and 23 seconds left, entered the game as the top-rated passer in the entire subdivision and had been intercepted just once all season.

The play effectively brought the season to an end for third-ranked Cal Poly (8-3).

“It’s heartbreaking,” Mustangs head coach Rich Ellerson said. “That was our last time as a football team.”

Jake West’s onside kick went out of bounds at the Cal Poly 46-yard line after the Mustangs closed the gap to 42-35 on a Dally 5-yard fade to receiver Ramses Barden with 3:08 remaining in regulation.

But 12th-ranked Weber State (10-3) needed just three plays in 53 seconds to regain a two-possession lead, as Justin White ran 21 yards around right end to provide the final margin.

“They were in a groove,” Ellerson said of the Wildcats offense, which amassed 564 yards, the most by a Cal Poly opponent this season. “They did a great job of anticipating us. Prior to the snap of the ball, they had us.”

Dally, who rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns on 23 attempts, scored on a 1-yard keeper to bring the Mustangs within 35-28 with 9:59 left in regulation.

Bryant Eteuati returned the ensuing kickoff 44 yards to the Mustangs 43-yard line, and five plays later, sophomore quarterback Cameron Higgins’ 1-yard sneak with 7:35 left in the game established a 42-28 lead.

Higgins, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound Walter Payton Award candidate, was 21-of-33 for 399 yards and two touchdowns.

The Wildcats pulled ahead 35-21 just 4:24 into the second half, as backup quarterback Brendon Doyle found Cody Nakamura on a 9-yard pass.

“We run certain things with (Doyle) and we haven’t thrown the ball a lot with him,” Weber State head coach Ron McBride said.

The surprise finished a six-play, 86-yard drive that began when Bryce Scanlon recovered a Jon Hall fumble.

“Turnovers are very uncharacteristic of their team, but our guys made plays,” McBride said.

Cal Poly almost answered on the next series, but a fourth-and-goal try at the Weber State 4-yard line failed when Tre’dale Tolver was stopped on a reverse a yard short.

The Mustangs trailed at halftime for the first time this season, 28-21, thanks largely to Higgins, who was 14-of-21 for 280 yards.

The teams exchanged turnovers midway through the second quarter.

Tolver bobbled a pass over the middle into Goodloe’s arms, but three plays later, Cal Poly’s Asa Jackson forced a fumble that teammate Greg Francis recovered five yards before the end zone and returned to the Mustangs 23-yard line.

Hall then rumbled up the middle for an 11-yard touchdown run 3:10 before halftime to polish off an eight-play drive and tie the contest 21-21.

But Higgins struck right back, hitting a wide-open Tim Toone for a 15-yard score with 1:07 left.

“We just had nobody home,” Ellerson said.

Toone had 10 receptions for 199 yards and the touchdown.

Dally was picked off by Josh Morris at the Weber State 2-yard line 11 seconds before the teams headed to the locker rooms.

Weber State scored its previous touchdown on a one-play possession.

Higgins, protected in the pocket for several seconds, calmly surveyed the field and found wide-open running back Trevyn Smith for a 37-yard catch-and-run that put the Wildcats ahead 21-14 with 10:06 left in the first half.

“The offensive line did an incredible job,” McBride said. “Higgins gets rid of the ball quickly. He can tell by pre-snap where he’s going to go with the football.”

Dally jumped over a defender on an 8-yard keeper up the middle to tie the game 14-14 with 14:04 left in the first half.

It came after Smith danced in and out of would-be tacklers for a 29-yard touchdown run with 2:44 remaining in the first quarter.

“If we’d have lost the game, I wouldn’t have felt bad because the guys played their asses off,” McBride said.

Weber State advanced to face No. 4 seed Montana, which came from behind to defeat Texas State 31-13.

“Cal Poly’s, in my opinion, the best team we played this year,” said Smith, who rushed for 137 yards and two scores on 23 carries.

After defensive end Sean Lawyer sacked Higgins for a 9-yard loss to set up a third-and-17, Higgins lofted a 40-yard pass down the left sideline to Mike Phillips, who made a dazzling, rolling-on-the-ground catch between his legs. Four plays later, a 1-yard plunge by Smith finished a seven-play, 69-yard march and tied the contest 7-7 with 7:15 left in the first quarter.

Barden, who reeled in six passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns, caught a 19-yarder to give the Mustangs a 7-0 lead 4:43 into the game.

The reception tied Randy Moss’ single-season NCAA record of 11 straight games with a touchdown catch.

Seventeen seniors’ Cal Poly careers came to an end.

“It hurts,” said a choked-up Barden. “I was playing with my best friends. And I don’t get to play with them again.”

After a few days to gain perspective, the players may be more able to appreciate what had been a banner season, Ellerson said.

“The disappointment of this evening will in time dim against the background of their accomplishments and what they’ve achieved while they’ve been here,” he said.

Among the offensive seniors were: Barden, Dally, running backs James Noble (who became the school’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns) and Ryan Mole, centers Stephen Field and Mike Porter, Tolver and Vince Freitas at receiver, tackles Pat Koligian and Eric White, and guard Brock Daniels.

Defensively, linebackers Fred Hives II, Mark Restelli and Dominic Rickard, cornerbacks Martin Mares and Gene Grant, and Lawyer were lost.

Barden, Field, Dally, Noble, Lawyer, Hives and Tolver were named to the All-Great West Conference Team, and Mole was an honorable mention.

“It’s a spectacular group of seniors who’ve done some great things in their time here,” Ellerson said. “Tonight wasn’t one of them, of course. You’re having to handle all the emotion – not only not winning the game, which is painful, but all of a sudden to realize, ‘My time as a Mustang is over.’ “