San Jose, Calif. - A 19-yard field goal by Tyler Cope with 34 seconds remaining, set up in large part by a 57-yard pass connection between Jordan La Secla and a third junior, Jalal Beauchman, gave the San Jose State University football team a 13-10 triumph over Western Athletic Conference foe New Mexico State University in its 2009 home finale inside Spartan Stadium on Saturday, November 28.
The game marked the last home appearances on Senior Night of 26 Spartan seniors, as well as head coach Dick Tomey, who announced his retirement back on November 16.
With the victory, the Spartans improve to 2-9 overall and 1-6 in the WAC. New Mexico State drops its sixth straight game to fall to 3-9 overall and an identical 1-6 in conference play.
On a second-and-8 play at the 29 on the final Spartan offensive set, La Secla found a wide-open Beauchman cutting across the middle on the left flank, with the San Jose product out of Bellarmine College Prep taking advantage of blocks from Kevin Jurovich and Terrance Williams among others and weaving his way for a career-long 57-yard gain to the NMSU 14.
"It was a play that we ran (earlier in the game)," explained Beauchman. "We threw it to a different option. I went to the coaching staff and said my route would have been open for a big play. We went back to it late, and that was the result."
"We ran that play earlier," added La Secla. "Jalal said once he got past the middle of the field, there wasn't anyone around. So, we did it again. I just had it in my mind. Jalal and I have always had a good connection. I got my eyes there as soon as I could. He was wide open."
On third and 6, Lamon Muldrow got just enough for the first down, with goal to go from the four. A pair of Muldrow plunges depleted the Aggies' final timeout and took the game clock down to less than a minute and a half for another third-down play. Muldrow was once again stopped at the line of scrimmage. The Spartans let the clock run down to 38 seconds before calling a timeout of their own and sending on Cope. His kick was accurate for a 13-10 edge with 34 seconds left.
The decisive drive totaled 82 yards, encompassing 12 plays and 6:02 in elapsed time. It had started ominously, as La Secla was sacked and forced to fumble, with sophomore right tackle Andres Vargas falling on the ball for a seven-yard loss back to the SJSU 9.
On second down after the Spartan kickoff and an incompletion, freshman defensive end Travis Johnson produced his first college sack on sophomore Aggie quarterback Jeff Fleming. After a spike stopped the clock with seven ticks showing, Fleming's last pass was defended well by junior linebacker Pompey Festejo, with time finally running out on the Aggies.
La Secla wound up 15-of-24 passing for 154 yards and a touchdown in a reserve-but-extended role due to a finger injury suffered by senior starter Kyle Reed on the first Spartan possession. Beauchman and Jurovich caught four passes apiece for 83 and 21 yards, respectively, while redshirt sophomore Josh Harrison made a game-high five receptions for 20 yards. Muldrow gained 89 yards rushing on 17 carries.
The Spartans registered a season-high four sacks defensively.
"There couldn't be a better way to go out," remarked fifth-year senior linebacker and team captain, Travis Jones, following his final appearance at Spartan Stadium. "It was a tough game. We fought to the end on both sides of the ball and special teams. To walk off that field with a win after everything this team's been through, it feels great. It's pretty emotional.
"It's been a tough season. We stayed together and we ended it (here at home) like we wanted."
San Jose State moved efficiently down the field on its opening possession after a Justin Cole sack of Fleming for a nine-yard loss led to an Aggie punt.
The sequence began with a 17-yard jaunt by Reed. Reed then immediately hit Williams for a 15-yard gain to the SJSU 46. Patrick Perry's six-yard run, capped when he fell on his own fumble, was followed by solid ground gains on back-to-back snaps by Muldrow. The junior first burst through a hole up the middle for 29 yards, before rumbling 10 more yards to the NMSU 9.
Despite an eight-yard run by Reed on the next play, the Spartans were faced moments later with fourth and goal from the seven. Coming out of a timeout, La Secla entered for the injured Reed, and from shotgun formation, snapped a short toss to Jurovich on the left flat for the senior wideout's first touchdown of the season. Cope's kick made it 7-0 at the 6:18 mark. The nine-play drive went 86 yards.
Another sack of Fleming, this time by sophomore tackle Pablo Garcia for a seven-yard loss, set up San Jose State's second drive of the night, ending with Cope's season-long 46-yard field goal to increase the margin to 10-0 with 11:06 to play in the first half. The possession chewed up just over seven minutes off the clock and went 55 yards on 14 plays. Eight of those plays were on the ground, for 46 yards.
Sophomore safety Tiuke Tuipulotu's first career interception and 28-yard return gave the Spartans the ball back at the NMSU 29. On fourth and five, San Jose State opted again to go for it, but La Secla was sacked for a 10-yard loss by senior cornerback Chris Buckner.
That possession resulted in New Mexico State's first score of the evening, as Fleming's one-yard keeper and the ensuing point-after try by Kyle Hughes made it 10-7 with two minutes left. The drive went 80 yards on nine plays, taking up 4:31.
Sophomore Brandon Rutley took the kickoff 42 yards, a season long by a Spartan in 2009, but the drive stalled, and Cope's 45-yard effort was blocked by the Aggies' Jason Scott. Senior holder Philip Zavala actually picked the ball up, and fell a yard short of advancing it for a first down, before NMSU took a knee on one final snap before the intermission.
On its first possession of the second half after Zavala's first punt of the night for the Spartans, a 53-yarder to the NMSU 22, the Aggies went 71 yards on 15 plays, in 7:24. They knotted the score on a 24-yard field goal by Hughes after their march finally stalled, with the help of Peyton Thompson, as the sophomore cornerback got inside of Marcus Allen to slap Fleming's toss away on a first-and-goal play. New Mexico State converted a pair of short third downs.
With an 11-yard La Secla-to-Williams hook-up and a key 15-yard personal foul penalty, San Jose State moved to its 38. Consecutive gains of six and seven yards through the air, from La Secla to Harrison and Avelino Valencia, respectively, advanced the Spartans into Aggie territory at the 45, but La Secla fumbled on the next play, with sophomore defensive end Donte Savage recovering at the SJSU 49 with 18 ticks showing on the scoreboard for the third period.
The Spartans regained possession, but Buckner's first interception of 2009 on a third-down toss by La Secla gave the Aggies the ball back once again near midfield, at their own 44. On third and nine, junior safety Duke Ihenacho blitzed from the right side and hurried Fleming into another incompletion. A touchback on the punt put the Spartans at their 20 with 9:46 left.
The teams traded three-and-outs to lead up to the final San Jose State drive. Garcia's second sack of the night occurred again on third down to force a Hughes punt.
Fleming was 6-of-13 for 51 yards and one interception. Junior tailback Seth Smith carried 20 times for a game-high 120 yards of rushing offense. The Aggies won the ground game as a team, 167-117, and collected five sacks of their own.
San Jose State's first and last possessions of the night, going 86 and 82 yards, accounted for its two longest scoring drives this season.
"That was one (game) we really needed," concluded Tomey. "I told the players if they ever learned anything about football, it's how hard it is to win a game. That was perfect. The guys did a great job of finding a way to win.
"I'm just filled with pride for the Spartans, and filled with admiration for these guys and the way they have handled all this adversity this year."
The 2009 season comes to a close for San Jose State next Saturday, December 5, against Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La. Kick-off at Joe Aillet Stadium is slated for 11:00 a.m. PT.