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PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland State rushed for 350 yards and in route to a 45-24 win over Weber State Saturday afternoon at JELD-WEN Field.
The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Vikings against the Wildcats, as PSU picked up its first win over Weber State since 2006. With the win the Vikings improve to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in Big Sky play while Weber State drops to 1-8 overall and 0-5 in league play.
PSU totaled 480 yards of offense, compared to 390 for Weber State. The Wildcats passed for 331 yards and held Portland State to just 130 yards throwing.
Weber State also had two fumbles on the day.
The Vikings jumped out to a 10-0 lead just six minutes into the game but the ‘Cats cut into the lead with a 29-yard field goal by Shaun McClain.
PSU opened the second quarter with two more touchdowns. D.J. Adams had a seven-yard touchdown run and then David Edgerson recovered a Wildcat fumble and returned it 30 yards to give the Vikings a 24-3.
Weber State came back with Austin Chipoletti found Shaydon Kehano for a 43-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 24-10 at halftime.
After a WSU punt the Vikings put together a 13-play, 86-yard drive, capped with another Adams touchdown run to take a 31-10 lead.
On WSU's next possession Chipoletti found Kehano for a 39-yard catch on fourth down which set up a one-yard run by Chipoletti to cut the lead to 31-17 after the third quarter.
Nate Tago added two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter before Erik Walker caught a nine-yard touchdown catch in the final minutes.
"We wore down a little bit in the second half and gave up some big plays," said WSU head coach Jody Sears. "We were able to move the ball and make some plays but had too many turnovers at key times. We have to keep grinding, keep our heads up and keep working."
Individually, Kehano was the leader of the Wildcat offense in his first game of the season. The junior finished with six catches for 123 yards and one touchdown after missing the first eight games of the season with a knee injury suffered in fall camp. WSU's other top receiver was senior Erik Walker who had seven receptions for 79 yards. He also passed 1,000 career receiving yards.
Freshman quarterback Austin Chipoletti had a season-high 331 yards passing and two touchdowns, finishing the day 26-47 passing.
On the ground Josh Booker had eight carries for 20 yards. Zach Smith had five carries for 15 yards and Bo Bolen had carries for 11 yards.
On the defensive side sophomore Adam Padilla led the Wildcats with 13 tackles, tying his season-high. Senior Anthony Morales added 12 tackles and moved into sixth place in WSU history in career tackles.
Adams had 152 yards rushing and two touchdowns for Portland State.
The Wildcats return home to host Southern Utah next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Stewart Stadium. WSU will close the season with two of the last three games at home.
