Hillsboro, OR – A top-10 team and some costly turnovers stopped Portland State in its season opener at steamy Hillsboro Stadium on Saturday as Tarleton State beat the Vikings, 42-0.
In the hottest home game in PSU history, the temperature officially crossed 100 degrees. But the Vikings offense was unable to heat up. Portland State crossed midfield five times in the game but couldn’t score as the Texan defense had an answer every time. PSU was only 4-14 on third down, 0-1 on fourth down, missed a pair of field goals and had four costly turnovers.
“Tarleton State is a really good football team. They have a seasoned defense,” said Vikings Coach Bruce Barnum. “They took some things away from us that we normally do. But what they gave us on offense we couldn’t take advantage of.
“They stuffed is inside a lot. We took it outside and Delon (Thompson) made a few good runs. But we never could complete a drive. The turnovers happened, But Tarleton State made some great plays to get them.”
Tenth-ranked Tarleton State will move to face Army at 1-0, while the Vikings (0-1) have a date with BYU next Saturday.
The Texans’ Tre Page III had the only score of the first quarter on a 28-yard run. In fact, Page III was the main offensive force for both teams, rushing 11 times for 160 yards before intermission.
Otherwise, each team drove deep into the other’s territory in the first quarter only to turn it over. The Vikings forced a fumble on Tarleton State’s first series, with junior defensive end Spencer Elliott knocking loose the ball and senior tackle J’Querian Ladson recovering. Later, PSU drove to the Tarleton State 15-yard line, but a tipped pass was picked off by the Texans’ Ty Rawls and returned to the PSU 36. The Viking defense held and forced a missed field goal. Tarleton State led only 7-0 after 15 minutes.
Following a Viking punt in the second period, Page took the opening play of the series 89 yards for another score with 10:49 left in the half.
The Vikings were driving in Texan territory again in the second quarter when another tipped pass resulted in another Rawls’ second interception.
A final drive by the Vikings late in the first half ended with a 54-yard field goal attempt by kicker Mathias Uribe. The kick had the length but hit the left upright and bounced away. The Texans led, but it just 14-0 at the break. TSU had out-gained PSU 253-136.
Again, the Vikings drove across midfield to open the third quarter. The Texan defense stiffened and PSU punted. Quarterback Victor Gabalis, TSU’s Walter Payton Award candidate, made three successive big plays on the ensuing series leading to another score. First, he completed a 21-yard pass to Peyton Kramer, followed by a scramble out of blitzing pressure from the Vikings for a 33-yard run. Then, he found tight end Dawson Hearne over the middle on a 14-yard touchdown pass. It was 21-0 Texans with just over six minutes left in the third quarter.
The Vikings were then undone by their third turnover of the game, a fumble on the kickoff return. That left Tarleton State with its shortest field of the day, starting at the PSU 29. TSU needed only four plays to score again on a Gabalis TD pass.
The Texans scored two more times – one on an interception return – in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.
Tarleton State out-gained Portland State 453-277 overall. Page III finished with 170 rushing yards on 15 carries. Gabalis was 14-24 passing for 152 yards and two scores.
The Vikings saw sophomore quarterback Gabe Downing start the game, redshirt freshman QB Tyrese Smith play significantly throughout the game, and sophomore transfer John-Keawe Sagapolutele play in the fourth quarter. Downing was 10-17 for 91 yards and two interceptions. Smith was 2-4 passing for 21 yards and rushed 10 times for 50 yards. Sagapolutele was 6-14 with one interception and 57 yards.
Delon Thompson had 17 carries for 55 yards to lead the Vikings. Branden Alvarez caught six passes for 72 yards.
On defense, sophomore linebacker Lonnie Burt led the Vikings with 10 tackles. Sophomore safety Isaiah Green made seven stops.
“The positives are, I saw three quarterbacks play at least a quarter, so we have a good idea on how to approach next week. The defense did a really good job early to keep us in the game. Early on it was a back-and-forth game,” said Barnum.
GAME NOTES
- Portland State goes on the road for the next three weeks. The Vikings play at BYU on Aug. 30, North Dakota on Sept. 6 and Hawai’i on Sept. 13.
- There were a number of milestones in the season-opener:
- The temperature at kickoff was 96 and crossed 100 degrees by late in the third quarter, making it the hottest home game on record in Portland State history.
- The August 23 season-opener was the earliest in school history
- It was Portland State’s first opener at home since the 2016 season.
- The Vikings were playing 10th-ranked Tarleton State for the first time in school history.
- PSU had a new opening day starter at quarterback for the first time in four years and only the second time since the 2018 season.
- Portland State named its team captains this week. They are SO S Isaiah Green, JR DE Spencer Elliott, SR WR Branden Alvarez, JR TE Tanner Beaman, JR LB Jaxton Helmstetler, SR K Mathias Uribe.
- The last time a Portland State was shut out by an FCS program was a 14-0 loss at Montana State on Oct. 7, 2006.