CEDAR CITY, Utah, Oct. 31 - Southern Utah got scores from its offense, its defense and its special teams as the Thunderbirds picked up their first win over UC Davis since 2004 Saturday, a 56-35 triumph.

            Major Gray rushed for four touchdowns - tying the SUU record - Cade Cooper threw two touchdown passes to Tysson Poots, Fesi Sitake returned a punt for a touchdown and Colin Pretlow returned an interception for another score for SUU, which evened its record at 4-4 and improved to 2-1 in Great West Conference action. UC Davis dipped to 4-4 and 1-1.

            "This was a team win," SUU Coach Ed Lamb said. "The offense was productive, we got a score from our special teams, and a score from the defense. Any time you can get that kind of contribution from each aspect of your team you put yourself in a very good position to win."

            UC Davis drew first blood, taking the opening kickoff and driving 59 yards in five plays to take a 7-0 lead on a 13-yard Joe Trombetta run, but Southern Utah answered with three straight scores. Gray capped SUU's opening drive with a 12-yard TD run, then, after SUU forced UC Davis to punt with a three-and-out series, Gray finished off the next drive with a one-yard run to give the Thunderbirds a 14-7 edge.

            The Thunderbirds took advantage of a bad snap - which Akeem Anifowoshe recovered at the Davis 32 - on UC Davis' next possession to set up the Thunderbirds' next score, which came on a one-yard Cooper-to-Poots pass to give SUU a 21-7 lead.

            The Aggies pulled back within 21-14 early in the second quarter when Brad Bispo took a Greg Denham pass 29 yards for a touchdown, then pulled even with 8:41 to play in the half on a 5-yard Nick Aprile run.

            Southern Utah rolled out of the half, however, scoring three more unanswered touchdowns to take a 42-21 lead at the break. Cooper and Poots hooked up on a 13-yard TD pass before Sitake returned the punt 61 yards for a score and Gray tacked on his third TD after a UC Davis fumble at its own 42 yard line.

            The 42 points in the first half are believed to be an SUU record, while Sitake's score was SUU's first on a punt return since 2004.

            The Thunderbirds scored on their first possession of the second half, on Gray's fourth TD run, to go up 49-21, but that was the only scoring in the third period and in the fourth UC Davis mounted a comeback.

            The Aggies were able to pull to within 49-35 with 5:05 to go in the fourth after Aprile found Dean Rogers on a 6-yard pass play out of the Wildcat formation, then getting another score on a 13-yard pass from Denham to Sean Creadick.

            The Aggies had the ball back with under three minutes to go, with a chance to make it a one-possession game but Pretlow stepped in front of a  Denham pass and had a clear field in front on him for the 46 yard, game-clinching score.

            "Our defense really put us in position to win," Lamb said. "Our front guys really did a good job and although the stats won't show it, they made it so [UC Davis] had to pass the ball to win. And we knew that if they had to pass it we would win.

            "Even though we didn't hold them to a low number of yards, and they scored 35 points, which is a lot, our defense did a great job today."

            UC Davis wound up winning the total yards battle, with 473 to SUU's 351, but the Thunderbirds lost just one turnover, on a Mike Morales interception of a Cooper pass, while SUU got two fumbles and an interception and were able to cash all three in for scores.

            Cooper completed 26-of-39 passes for 248 yards while Poots had 11 catches for 108 yards but none after he took a vicious hit midway through the third period. Gray finished with 74 yards on 16 carries.

            Denham completed 24-of-44 passes for 223 yards, with Bakari Grant and Chris Carter both catching seven passes. Josh Reese led the Aggie rushing attack with 101 yards on 14 carries.

            Defensively, SUU was led by Pretlow, who had 13 tackles, 10 solo, broke up three passes, forced a fumble and returned the interception for the touchdow3n, while Anifowoshe, Drew Willard and Robert Takeno each had nine tackles. Danny Hart had 13 tackles while Dozie Amajoyi had nine for the Aggies.