CEDAR CITY, Utah -- The Thunderbird football team fell to the Cal Poly Mustangs 24-21 in their annual Homecoming Game on Saturday evening at Eccles Coliseum.

The Thunderbirds played in front of a sold out stadium with a brand new student attendance record, and set a new record for highest regular season gate gross in terms of ticket sales.  

With the loss the T-Birds move to 1-4 on the season and 0-1 in the Big Sky. 

"They're a really physical team, and we were trying to do our best to be physical back and it sucks that we lost but both teams were fighting really hard," SUU senior All-American center Zach Larsen said following the contest. 

Cal Poly was the only team to score in the first quarter, as they knocked home a field goal to go up 3-0. 

The Mustangs got on the scoreboard again with 10:08 to play in the second quarter when Jalen Hamler broke into the endzone from six yards away for a touchdown. That gave them a 10-0 advantage. 

Southern Utah got on the board with 6:47 to play, as Chris Helbig found Zach Nelson from 24 yards away to cut the Mustang lead to 10-7. That marked Nelson's third touchdown of the season as a freshman. 

Cal Poly added another touchdown before the half to take a 17-7 lead into the break. 

The Thunderbirds closed the score in more near the end of the third quarter, as Jay Green Jr. ran into the endzone from 20 yards away to cut the Mustang lead to 17-13. 

After another Cal Poly touchdown, the Thunderbirds responded within less than a minute as freshman John Mitchell caught a 56-yard throw from Helbig to cut the Mustang lead to just three. 

The Thunderbirds had an opportunity late in the contest to tie things up, but a missed field goal gave Cal Poly back the football and they were able to kill the clock and leave Cedar City with a victory. 

Helbig finished the game with 246 yards through the air and two touchdowns. He was also the team's leading rusher with 43 yards.  

Mitchell caught three passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Lance Lawson had seven catches for 56 yards. 

Defensively, Nela Otukolo finished the game with 17 total tackles. The Thunderbirds had three fumble recoveries on the night to go along with two sacks and three tackles for loss. 

The Thunderbirds will be back on the road this weekend in Portland, Oregon to face off against the Vikings of Portland State. 

Keep tabs on the Thunderbirds throughout the entire Big Sky Kickoff by following @SUUFB on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Football page on Facebook. 

Single game tickets and season tickets are available for the remainder of the 2019 campaign at www.tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.