Sacramento St. holds off Northern Colorado 40-35 behind Hammond Jr., Smith and 4 Meadors field goals

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Rodney Hammond Jr. and JaQuail Smith each ran for more than 100 yards, Grant Meadors kicked a pair of fourth-quarter field goals and Sacramento State beat Northern Colorado 40-35 on Saturday night.

Following Meadors’ fourth field goal, a 42-yarder with 2:01 to play, Eric Gibson Jr. drove Northern Colorado to the Sacramento State 3 with 30 seconds left but threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-1.

Meadors’ 34-yard field goal gave Sacramento State (4-3, 2-1 Big Sky Conference) a 37-35 lead with 9:30 remaining. He also made field goals from 37 and 28 yards in the first half.

Ricky Lee III’s 34-yard pick-6 to start the fourth quarter gave Sacramento State a 34-28 lead. Northern Colorado answered with Gibson’s 62-yard touchdown pass to Carver Cheeks for a 35-34 advantage.

Hammond had 134 yards rushing on 21 carries that included a 46-yard touchdown. Smith carried 17 times for 103 yards. The Hornets ran for 323 of their 434 yards of offense.

Gibson was 21-of-33 passing for 321 yards and threw three touchdowns but four interceptions for Northern Colorado (3-4, 1-2). He also threw a 75-yard TD pass to Cheeks in the second quarter. Cheeks finished with nine catches for 223 yards and three touchdowns.

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