Sept. 27, 2003
Box Score
Sacramento, CA--- Mark Hetherington came in to lead a valiant comeback, but #12 Idaho State was too far behind and lost their Big Sky opener for the eighth straight year, losing to Sacramento State 47-21 at Hornet Stadium.
The Bengals fell behind 26-0 with six minutes remaining in the half when Ryan Leadingham threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night. At that point, Hetherington relieved an ineffective Roman Ybarra, and led ISU to a pair of scores before halftime to cut the lead to 26-14. Ybarra hit Brett Fowler for 17 yards and a touchdown with just 47 seconds left, but Sacramento State went 56 yards to score with eight seconds left in the half to but the Hornets up 33-14 at the break.
The Hornets pushed it to 40-14, but Hetherington and the Bengals came back again with an Isaac Mitchell 3-yard run to make it 40-21. Idaho State couldn't capitalize on their next two drives, which ended on downs at the Sacramento State seven and 12-yard lines. The Hornets put the game away with a 41-yard run by Tyrone Gross, who ran for 2xx yards, complimenting Ryan Leadingham's six touchdown passes.
The Bengals rediscovered their running game, with Isaac Mitchell scoring twice and rushing for 149 yards. Hetherington threw for a career-high 354 yards in relief of Ybarra. The two teams combined for 1,187 yards in total offense.
