The San Jose State Football team ended an emotional week with a dramatic 35-28 homecoming game win against University of Nevada, Reno Saturday night at CEFCU Stadium.
The win comes just a week after the death of Camdan McWright, a freshman running back who was killed in a traffic accident last Friday.
“We lost our brother,” said junior quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, “You can tell he was with us today. He gave us that energy. He was with us to the very end, and he gave us that win.”
Cordeiro pushed the Spartans offense passing for 340 yards and completing 33 of 45 passes, to go along with two touchdowns through the air.
Senior running back Kairee Robinson led the attack on the ground, with 40 yards and 11 carries, with two touchdowns.
The Wolf Pack got on the board first, scoring a yard rushing touchdown by running back Toa Taua, to take a 7-0 lead with 5:16 left in the first quarter.
The Spartans offense got off to a slow start without scoring until their third possession with a 10-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Chevan Cordeiro to tight end Dominick Mazotti, tying the game at 7-7 with 14:55 in the second quarter.
Cordeiro said in a post-game press conference on Saturday that he tried to focus on staying calm and collected on the field.
“Our whole thing in the QB room is just positive vibes only. That's what I try to work on throughout the whole game,” Cordeiro said.
Cordeiro’s top targets were Justin Lockhart and Elijah Cooks, with 91 and 79 yards respectively. Both receivers transferred from Nevada this year.
Nevada reclaimed the lead with Taua’s second touchdown of the game, a 23-yard run for a 14-7 lead, with 8:26 left in the second quarter.
In the second half, Nevada extended the lead to 21-7, with a 53-yard touchdown pass, thrown by quarterback Shane Illingworth to wide receiver BJ Casteel, with 12:58 left in the third quarter.
The game looked bleak for the Spartans, the Nevada-driven two score lead made it harder for them to turn the game around.
The SJSU offense completed a 2-yard touchdown rush by Cordeiro to close the gap to 21-14, with 9:55 left in the third quarter.
SJSU’s defense forced Nevada to punt on the next drive, which was a key stop that changed the momentum of the game.
The Spartans then completed a 14-yard touchdown pass, thrown by Cordeiro to junior running back Shamar Garrett, with 3:32 left in the third quarter.
Nevada took the lead with a 5-yard touchdown rush by Taua, with 12:41 left in the fourth quarter, making the score 28-21.
SJSU responded through the ground game with back-to-back touchdowns by Robinson on runs of two yards and five yards, respectively, to take the lead for good at 35-28, with 1:10 left in the game.
Freshman cornerback CJ Jones caught an interception to end the game and secured the Spartans victory.
The defense stopped the Nevada attack in the second half, building up a total of nine sacks.
Redshirt junior Viliami Fehoko proved to be the leader on defense with a total of 12 tackles, while he and Cade Hall had 4 total sacks.
SJSU held a moment of loudness for McWright before the game, which was requested by the McWright family.
Coach Brent Brennan in a press conference on Oct. 25 said McWright was a very special person.
“I love that kid. We all did. And we’re gonna make sure that we honor him this weekend. But really, everyday going forward for us as a program,” Brennan said. “For all that knew him, he was just incredibly special.”
SJSU players also stood on the field in the form of a six, representing McWright’s jersey number.
Robinson said the team really came together in the past week.
“Just hearing and finding out that news was just something that has hit us, the whole team real bad,” Robinson said. “When it's times like that, we can either go into a division or come together. And I feel like we did a good job of coming together. Just staying as a team. Working through it.”
Nevada also honored McWright on Saturday with white decals on their helmets that read “CM6.”
At the end of the game, the whole program huddled up on the field and sang “Lean on Me,” as the SJSU marching band played the song's instrumentals.
The Spartans are now one win away from being bowl eligible and are scheduled to host Colorado State 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 at CEFCU Stadium.
