Box Score
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA- The Dixie State College football traveled to Division I (FCS) Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Saturday evening. The game was the third DI FCS opponent this year. The Red Storm was defeated 44-14 in front of 9,231 fans at Alex G. Spanos Stadium.
For DSC it was a matter of minutes that seemed to close the door on any hopes of an upset. Despite having negative rushing yards at the half, DSC only trailed 16-0.
Having several opportunities they could capitalize on, trailing 9-0 when the best chance to score was in the first quarter when Mike Langston (Riverside, CA/Ramona)'s 37-yard field goal clanked off the right upright.
The Red Storm also had the ball deep into Mustang's territory, but was stopped on three separate Judd Thompson (Crystal Lake. IL/Prarie Ridge HS) thrown interceptions that curbed the DSC drives.
Cal Poly opened the game with a 24-yard Chris Pinto field goal and added a 73-yard Dominique Johnson touchdown pass with 23 seconds left in the first quarter.
The second half opened with Dixie State receiving the kickoff and looked to try and put some points on the board. Instead DSC was forced to punt and it was returned 59 yards to the DSC05 and quarterback Tony Smith scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 13:57 left the built their lead to 23-0.
Just moments later, DSC was again forced to punt and it was blocked by Ryan Taylor and returned for a touchdown. The scored built the Cal Poly lead to 30-0. It took just thirty five seconds for them to score.
Finally, on the third possession of the third quarter, DSC looked to put some points on the board and their attempt failed when Judd Thompson (Crystal Lake. IL/Prarie Ridge HS) dropped back to pass and was hit from the backside and fumbled the ball. The fumble was recovered by Kenny Jackson and returned 32 yards for a touchdown. Cal Poly now led 37-0 with 11:53 left in the third quarter.
Removing the three minutes of horror, the game would have been a lot closer than it ended up. The DSC offense just could not match the speed of Cal Poly, the offensive line struggled to give Thompson the protection that he needed. Thompson was 21-46 with 3 interceptions and a TD pass for 211 yards.
The highlight of the game for Red Storm was the 7-play 83-yard drive that was capped off with a 33-yard Tauni Vakapuna (North Salt Lake. UT/Hunter HS) touchdown scamper. Vakapuna finished with 52 yards rushing on 12 carries.
The final score for DSC came with 7:30 left in the 4th quarter. Adam Wells (Kenmore. WA/Inglemoor) caught a 6-yard TD pass from Thompson. IT was a 10 play 61-yard drive.
Skyler Ence (St George. UT/Pine View) led the Red Storm with 9 catches for 119 yards, followed by Adam Wells (Kenmore. WA/Inglemoor) (5-22), Alex Nelson (4-40), Vakapuna (2-24), Darren Carter (Sandy, UT/Jordan) (1-33), and Nash Fowler (Orem, UT/Timpanogas HS) (1-6).
Defensively for Dixie State, Keauntea Bankhead (Seattle, WA/Ballard) collected 15 tackles (9 asst, 6 solos), Justin Ence (St. George, UT/Pine View) had 8 (5 asst, 3 solo), and Micah Harward (St George. UT/Dixie) had 8 (5 asst, 3 solo) as wel1. Harward was a key player in the slowing of the Cal Poly run game, he had a sack and 3.5 tackles for a loss.
For Cal Poly Tony Smith finished 7-13-0 for 119 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for two as well. Entering tonight game he only had three passing touchdowns on the year. Jake Romanelli rushed 19 times for 97 yards.
Dixie State will be back home next week when they play host to #2 ranked Central Washington. Dixie State lost to CWU 37-6 three weeks ago in Ellensburg. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:05 PM. You can listen to John Potter and Phil Tuckett on dixieathletics.com or FM 103.1.
