Santos Helps Aztecs Beat Stanford

As expected, quarterbacks Todd Santos of San Diego State and John Paye of Stanford were involved in a passing shootout Saturday night in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

San Diego State, led by Santos’ 320 yards and 5 touchdowns, defeated Stanford, 41-22.

Santos demonstrated his game plan on the first play from scrimmage, throwing a long pass (about 50 yards in the air) to Vince Warren that resulted in a pass interference call against Stanford’s Mark Hashimoto.

Casey Brown concluded the Aztecs’ opening 75-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run. Santos, setting the tone for the evening, was 4 of 4 passing for 41 yards on the march.

Stanford’s Thomas Henley fielded the ensuing kickoff near the sideline and his momentum carried him out of bounds inside the Cardinal 1. Paye passed eight times on Stanford’s first possession, taking his team to the Aztec 45 before being stopped.

Following the punt, Santos completed his fifth straight pass for 22 yards to Webster Slaughter. But on pass No. 6, Stanford’s Toi Cook cut in front of Slaughter on a sideline pattern to intercept the pass and return it 45 yards for a tying touchdown.

The Aztecs recovered by driving 80 yards in their next 11 plays. Slaughter scored the go-ahead touchdown on an eight-yard pass from Santos 1:14 into the second quarter.

Stanford drove to SDSU’s 6 on its next possession but was stopped when a third-down pass from Paye to Greg Baty fell incomplete. David Sweeney came on to kick a 23-yard field goal, which cut the Aztec lead to 14-10.

On SDSU’s next play from scrimmage, it created a critical break. Casey Brown caught a Santos pass and fumbled, but Slaughter picked up the loose ball and ran 51 yards for a touchdown. Chris O’Brien missed his first extra point in 14 attempts this season, leaving the Aztecs with a 20-10 lead.

The Cardinal came back with a 50-yard drive to the SDSU 27, where it again was stopped on an incomplete third-down pass. Sweeney followed with a 44-yard field goal, to trim Stanford’s deficit to 20-13 with 2:26 remaining in the half.

Santos got hot on the next Aztec possession, hitting 3 consecutive passes for 33 yards to the Stanford 42.

With 38 seconds remaining in the half, Brown scored his second touchdown on a 28-yard pass play from Santos. Brown caught the ball at the 22 and broke two tackles on his way into the end zone.

Paye immediately revived Stanford with a 35-yard pass to Kevin Scott. It became a 50-yard play when Aztec Mario Mitchell was penalized for grabbing Scott by the facemask. The Cardinal had the ball on the SDSU 34. After three plays netted eight yards, Sweeney kicked a 43-yard field goal on the last play of the half to bring Stanford to within 27-16.

Santos was 14 of 16 for 243 yards and 3 touchdowns at halftime, and Paye was 20 of 28 for 166 yards. The Aztecs had outgained Stanford in the first half, 347 to 216 yards.

SDSU received another break on the second-half kickoff when Henley fumbled the ball away to Aztec Bryan Hailey on the Cardinal 21. Santos threw a six-yard touchdown to Robert Awalt four plays later, providing the Aztecs a 34-16 lead 1:31 into the half.

Paye threw to Jeff James for an apparent 27-yard touchdown on Stanford’s next possession, but it was nullified by a holding penalty. On fourth-and-10 at the Aztec 26, Paye was sacked by Mike Hooper. Midway through the third quarter, SDSU’s Wayne Ross was forced to punt for the first time in two games. Ross did exactly what the Aztecs hoped, punting35 yards to the Stanford 5.

The Cardinal netted six yards in three plays, forcing Sweeney to punt. SDSU subsequently took possession at its 47.

Santos threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Warren on SDSU’s next play from scrimmage to give the Aztecs a 41-16 lead. Warren caught the ball at the 5 as he raced past three Stanford defenders.

Stanford had driven to the Aztec 2 as the third quarter ended with SDSU ahead, 41-16. On the fourth quarter’s third play, Scott scored on a one-yard run. The Cardinal attempted a two-point conversion, but Hooper batted down Paye’s pass.

With 14:05 to play, the Aztecs were leading, 41-22, in front of 30,822 fans.