PCAA Roundup : Santos Tops 10,000 Yards as Aztecs Beat 49ers

If Todd Santos had dreamed a way to make history, he could not have envisioned it any better.

Needing 10 yards to become only the fourth quarterback in major-college history to pass for 10,000 career yards, Santos connected on a 50-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeAngelo Mitchell.

The pass not only put Santos in elite company, it clinched a 52-42 victory against Cal State Long Beach Saturday night before a homecoming crowd of 23,625 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The victory broke the Aztecs’ five-game losing streak and raised its record to 2-6. Long Beach is 4-4.

Santos completed 26 of 40 passes for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns. He threw one interception. That brought his career passing yardage total to 10,040 yards and moved him past Ben Bennett of Duke (9,614 yards) and into fourth place on the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division I-A list.

Santos needs to average 146 yards in the Aztecs’ last four games to break the record of 10,623 yards held by Kevin Sweeney of Fresno State.

But Santos was not alone in what was the highest-scoring game in Aztecs’ history.

Junior tailback Paul Hewitt gained 203 yards in 35 carries and scored 3 touchdowns.

Jeff Graham, the 49er quarterback, completed 29 of 44 passes for 414 yards and threw 2 interceptions. Wide receiver Derek Washington caught 12 of those passes for 222 yards. The Long Beach ground game was led by tailback Michael Roberts, who rushed for 141 yards and 3 touchdowns in 13 carries.

San Jose State 48, Nevada Las Vegas 24--Tailback Kenny Jackson ran for four touchdowns and quarterback Mike Perez threw for three scores as the Spartans beat the Rebels in a PCAA game at San Jose.

Perez completed 25 of 37 passes for 407 yards as the Spartans improved to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play.

Las Vegas dropped to 2-4 and 1-2, although quarterback Richard Williams threw for three touchdowns, including two to George Thomas, and tailback Ickey Woods ran for 187 yards in 25 carries against the nation’s fifth-ranked defense against the rush.

Pacific 23, Fresno St. 22--Mark Gran kicked a 49-yard field goal with 4:16 left to give the Tigers a PCAA victory at Stockton, despite a conference-record 536 yards passing by the Bulldogs’ Dave Telford.

Telford completed 32 of 47 passes for 3 touchdowns. His 90-yard scoring bomb to Anthony Williams on the first series of the second half gave Fresno a 22-17 lead, but a two-point conversion pass failed.

Fresno State missed a chance to win when Barry Belli failed to convert a 48-yard field-goal attempt with 2:06 left.

The previous PCAA passing record-holder was Mike Perez of San Jose State, who threw for 508 yards in a 44-15 victory last year that, like Telford’s performance, came during Pacific’s homecoming.

The Bulldogs fell to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the PCAA, while Pacific improved to 3-5 and 2-2.

New Mexico St. 32, McNeese St. 13--Freshman kicker Ruben Rubio kicked a school-record four field goals as the Aggies (2-5) snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over Division I-AA McNeese State (1-6) in a nonconference game at Las Cruces, N.M.