CEDAR CITY — If members of the Southern Utah University football team were hunters, the state's deer population would have been safe on Saturday's opening day of the hunt.
Despite multiple attempts to shoot themselves in the foot, the T-Birds held on for a 19-15 victory over No. 25 UC Davis.
Offensively, the T-Birds had three turnovers, two inside the UCD 20-yard line, but made up for them in the fourth quarter with a little help from the defense.
Marques Harris, a senior transfer from the University of Colorado, recovered a fumble forced by Mike Overly and returned it to the UCD 16-yard line with just over seven minutes left in the game. Two minutes later, quarterback Casey Rehrer hit Ilisa Tuiaki with the game-winning, 5-yard touchdown pass.
For the seventh game in a row, the T-Birds recorded more total yards than their opponent. And for the first time this year they won a game decided by seven points or less.
"These guys, and I say it every week, fight and they play to the end," Southern Utah coach Wes Meier said. "They had a lot of situations where they could have let down but we didn't. We knew we had to win tonight. We weren't going to take anything less."
The T-Birds blew two prime first-quarter scoring opportunities. First, they fumbled on the UCD 4-line yard. One drive later, the T-Birds drove inside the Aggies' 20 but a botched field-goal snap resulted in an interception.
After SUU's blown scoring chances, Davis scored first on a 1-yard run by quarterback Jon Grant to lead 6-0. SUU's Andy Hadfield recorded the first of his two extra-point blocks.
SUU's Steve Pulver, who entered the game 2-for-9 in field-goal opportunities, hit 41- and 24-yard field goals and Rehrer hit Ben Anderson with a 24-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the half to give the T-Birds the 13-6 halftime lead.
Defensively, the T-Birds (3-4, 1-2) held the Aggies (5-2, 2-1) to 312 yards — more than 100 yards below their average — while recording seven sacks. Offensively, the T-Birds compiled 326 yards.
The T-Bird defense, which was on the field for nearly 20 minutes in the second half, had its problems. It was called for three penalties on UCD's first drive of the second half (one nullified an interception), but the T-Birds made up for it by holding the Aggies to just a field goal on the drive. The Aggies later took the lead 15-13 on a 12-yard pass from Grant to Kevin Freeman with 10:19 left in the game.
On UCD's next two possessions, the T-Birds tightened their belts.
Overly forced a fumble, which eventually led SUU's game-winning score. And after the Aggies moved to the SUU 13-yard line, the T-Birds stopped them on fourth down at the SUU 11 with less than two minutes to go. The Aggies actually made a reception on the play, but the receiver fell a yard shy of the first down.
Hadfield's two blocks were huge for the T-Birds as they forced the Aggies to go for a touchdown. With even one more point, the Aggies could have kicked a field goal at the end to tie it — both would have allowed UCD to kick for the win.
"Their backs were against the wall a couple of times and they fought defensively," Meier said.
Southern Utah kneeled on the ball on the next three downs to preserve the victory.
Rehrer completed 22 of 38 for 240 yards and two touchdowns with just one interception. He also rushed for a team-high 53 yards. Justin Walterscheid had six catches for 67 yards and Jerome Eason had four catches for 67 yards.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com