Snapdragon Stadium. (Photo by Adrian Childress/Times of San Diego)
San Diego State continued their season-long dominance of the Mountain West conference on Saturday by defeating San Jose State 25-3 in SDSU’s last regular-season home game.
The win puts SDSU (9-2, 6-1 MW) in prime position to win the conference with one game
left on the year.
The Aztecs started the game with a bang, and almost immediately. On just the third play, with less than two minutes having ticked by in the first quarter, safety Dwayne McDougle intercepted Spartans quarterback Walker Eget at the San Jose 45-yard line and returned the ball 25 yards to the Spartans’ 20.
San Diego State then methodically marched down the field via a few run plays and scored
on a one-yard rush by running back Lucky Sutton, a San Diego native.
The game was SDSU’s Senior Night, and a number of the players in their final season with
the team contributed in meaningful ways. After its first touchdown, SDSU made the highly
unusual decision to go for a two-pointer, which was converted when special teams star DJ
Herman, a departing senior, converted a pass to fellow senior Brady Anderson, making the
score 8-0.
San Diego State increased its lead with a few seconds left in the first when another senior,
kicker Gabriel Plascencia, converted a 35-yard field goal to make the score 11-0.
San Jose State (3-8, 2-5 MW) got on the scoreboard when kicker Mathias Brown drilled a 37-yard field goal with 10 minutes left in the second quarter to make the score 11-3. But with less than a minute remaining in the first half, San Diego State pounced again.
At fourth and goal from the one-yard line, Aztec quarterback Jayden Denegal rushed up the middle for a touchdown. The point after by Plascencia was good, making the score 18-3 at the half.
“It’s amazing,” Denegal said during the post-game news conference, describing his team’s play. “But we’ve just got to keep getting better day by day.”
Through the first two quarters, Denegal completed seven of 11 passes for 79 yards. He also had eight yards rushing on four attempts.
Sutton picked up 47 yards rushing on 14 attempts in the first half, while wideout Donovan
Brown had 63 receiving yards on five targets (two receptions).
With about two minutes left in the game, the Aztecs scored their final touchdown of the night. Chris Washington rushed up the middle to reach the end zone from the Spartans’ eight-yard line. Plascencia’s extra point made the score 25-3.
“Tonight meant a lot, I’ve been here all four years,” Washington said.
SDSU, now winners of eight of their last nine, finished the season with a perfect 6-0 record at Snapdragon Stadium.
“It feels great to show people that when we play at home, we mean business,” Washington
said.
This is the last time the teams will face off as members of the Mountain West because San Diego State, along with Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and Utah State are jumping from the MWC to the Pac-12 conference, effective July 1.
San Jose State, however, is staying put, meaning this was potentially the last game played between the programs for some time, if not ever.
“That was fun; a good way to send off our seniors,” head coach Sean Lewis said. “A lot of
hard work has led up to this moment.”
“This has been a journey,” he added. “The reward for the work that we’ve done is more work. The work is the reward.”
Up next, the Aztecs end their regular season schedule on the road against New Mexico at 12:30 p.m. Friday, airing on CBS Sports Network.
They can control their own destiny with a win over New Mexico, but the Lobos beat Air Force Saturday, and have won five straight for an 8-3 record overall, while going 5-2 in the conference.
Then all eyes turn to the Mountain West Championship game on Dec. 5.
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