CEDAR CITY, Utah – In a game that went back and forth all night, the Southern Utah University football team had the ball in the closing minutes with an opportunity to extend the game, but could not find the endzone as Portland State went on to claim a 20-13 victory Saturday night at Eccles Coliseum.
The setback dropped SUU to 1-4 on the season and 0-2 in Big Sky play. The Vikings improved to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in league play with the victory.
"I'm not going to lie, it hurts," said SUU head coach Demario Warren. "We've got more in the tank, but this team is always going to fight to the end. We just didn't execute in those key moments well enough, so we need to get better and it starts with me. Hats off to Portland State, they did a great job."
Neither team led by more than seven points the entire game, and that was the exact margin Southern Utah trailed by as it drove the length of the field on its final possession. The Thunderbirds made it all the way to the PSU four-yard line before seeing the drive stall along with their hopes of evening up the score. The Vikings took possession and were able to bleed the clock to close out their win.
Southern Utah found an offensive rhythm early by connecting on a field goal on its opening drive, and driving into the red zone on the next possession before throwing an interception. After Portland State took its first lead of the night, Justin Miller connected with Ethan Bolingbroke on a 19-yard touchdown strike to put SUU up 10-7. Bolingbroke led the Thunderbirds in receiving on the night with 83 yards to go with his touchdown.
Coming out of the halftime break, Noah Alejado connected on his second field goal of the night to put the T-Birds up 13-10. That would unfortunately be the only score SUU could manage the rest of the way, though, as Portland State scored the final 10 points of the game to close out the win.
SUU won the battle through the air with a 179-151 advantage in passing yards, but was outgained on the ground as PSU had 156 yards to the Thunderbirds' 88. David Moore III led SUU in rushing with 45 yards and was followed by Karris Davis who had 23. Davis was also second on the team in receiving yards with 27.
AJ Stanley led Southern Utah defensively with 10 tackles while Greg Rogers and Justin Brown pitched in six apiece. Francis Bemiy created one of SUU's biggest highlights of the night by making a huge goal line stand when he forced a fumble on the two-yard line and then came up with the recovery. Kobe Singleton also recorded his second interception of the season in the SUU secondary.
The Thunderbirds will look to right the ship next Saturday when they travel to face Sacramento State in California. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. MT, and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
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