PCAA Roundup : Down by 19 at Halftime, San Jose Rallies to Beat Utah State, 38-28

San Jose State rallied from a 28-9 halftime deficit Saturday to defeat Utah State, 38-28, in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. game at San Jose.

San Jose quarterback Mike Perez passed for 329 yards but had 4 interceptions.

On the second play of the second quarter, defensive tackle Gary Hulsey intercepted a Perez screen pass and ran 52 yards for a touchdown to give the Aggies a 7-6 lead. The Spartans fell apart in the next 1:25, with two more interceptions and a fumbled kickoff return.

The Aggies capitalized as Tom Ponich threw touchdown passes of 23 and 16 yards to Kendal Smith, and linebacker Wade Harman returned an interception 28 yards for a touchdown.

But on the third play of the second half, San Jose’s Greg Cox intercepted a Ponich pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown, making the score 28-16.

San Jose scored again with 4:52 left in the third quarter on a 62-yard touchdown pass play, Perez to wide receiver Lafo Malauulu, and went ahead for good on a one-yard touchdown run by Kenny Jackson with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

San Jose is 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the PCAA. Utah State is 1-4, 1-1.

Fresno St. 17, New Mexico St. 14--The Bulldogs, still reeling from a 45-41 loss to San Jose the previous week, struggled to a victory over the Aggies at Fresno. A 22-yard field goal by Barry Belli with 10:08 left to play was the difference.

Fresno quarterback Kevin Sweeney completed only 9 of 27 passes for 109 yards. He is now No. 3 on the NCAA’s career passing yardage list with 9,641. In this game, he passed Brigham Young’s Jim McMahon and Duke’s Ben Bennett.

Sweeney threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Brock Smith in the first quarter. Fresno’s other touchdown came on a one-yard run by Kelly Skipper in the fourth quarter.

Fresno is 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the PCAA. New Mexico State is 1-6, 1-3.

Pacific 21, Nevada Las Vegas 15--Fullback Steve Michaels rushed for 109 yards in 21 carries and scored a touchdown to lead the Tigers (4-2, 2-0) to victory over the Rebels (3-2, 1-1) in a PCAA game at Stockton.