Aztecs Run the Show, Beat Long Beach

They had heard about Cal State Long Beach, but with last week’s season opener against Oregon and next week’s trip to Brigham Young in mind, San Diego State didn’t exactly make the time to find out everything there was to know about the 49ers.

Coach Al Luginbill was so frustrated with the Aztecs’ performance against Oregon that he laid out the game plan for Long Beach early last week: They would carry out their assignments, limit their penalties and keep their own house in order.

One thing the Aztecs did know is that Long Beach had allowed two other teams’ rushing games to keep calculators crunching into the evening.

So the Aztecs ran. Then they passed. And they ended up with 514 yards of total offense and a 38-20 victory.

It was their first victory of the season and, while things were not perfect, they looked good enough inside the SDSU locker room.

Normally, the Aztecs’ game plan consists of warming up quarterback Dan McGwire’s arm and sending him out. But Luginbill has said he wants to incorporate a solid running game into the offense, and Long Beach was in town . . .

The Aztecs showed they still need some discipline. They were whistled for 79 yards on 11 penalties, giving them 172 yards on 21 penalties in two weeks.

But for a moment, at least, the films will feature a different angle. The SDSU running backs, four combining for 235 yards.

Junior T.C. Wright, a transfer from Mesa (Ariz.) Community College, ran for 122 yards and two touchdowns in 20 carries. Junior Curtis Butts carried nine times for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Tommy Booker carried nine times for 38 yards before leaving in the third quarter with a left ankle contusion.

That wasn’t the only effective part of the SDSU offense. McGwire completed 13 of 24 passes for 235 yards and one touchdown before redshirt freshman Cree Morris relieved him with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

This was the offense Luginbill said the Aztecs could deliver.

They started slowly because of a familiar problem--penalties. Three were called against them in the first quarter, costing them 20 yards and some early momentum.

The first, illegal procedure, came on the second play. On SDSU’s next drive, the Aztecs were called for holding and illegal procedure. Both possessions ended with punts.

But Long Beach couldn’t take advantage against the Aztec defense. The 49ers gained a total of two yards on their first eight plays, and by the end of the first quarter, they had gained 18 yards to SDSU’s 108.

So it wasn’t long before SDSU took control. Once the Aztecs eliminated some of the penalties, they stopped spinning their wheels and started moving forward, scoring three touchdowns in four possessions.

The first came with 2:06 left in the first quarter. McGwire’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Dennis Arey was a dash of flash that capped a blue-collar, 79-yard drive. It took nine plays, seven on the ground. Booker ran four consecutive times for 23 yards and, after McGwire and Jimmy Raye hooked up on an eight-yard pass, T.C. Wright carried three times for 16 yards.

The runs did what they were meant to do. The Long Beach defense softened underneath, and Arey was able to get wide open down the left sideline. McGwire hit him in mid-stride for the touchdown.

The Aztecs’ next touchdown drive, which came on their first possession in the second quarter, was a little more spicy. Wright broke loose for 22- and 25-yard runs, and McGwire passed 12 yards to tight end Ray Rowe. Curtis Butts scored the touchdown on a one-yard dive, and the Aztecs led, 14-0, 12:23 before halftime.

Butts, a junior who is the only Aztec running back with SDSU game experience, put an exclamation point on his evening 10 minutes later with a 71-yard touchdown run. It came on a misdirection play, and Butts took McGwire’s handoff, took off around right end and went the distance untouched.

The play, a few minutes after Sean Cheevers’ 32-yard field goal for Long Beach, came at a key moment in the game. The Aztecs had started at their six, and a personal foul--their fourth penalty--had put them back to the four. But McGwire passed 17 yards to tight end Jim Hanawalt to move SDSU away from the goal-line, and Butts took off three plays later.

By halftime, SDSU had rushed for 179 yards and held Long Beach to 18. The Aztecs had gained 331 total yards to Long Beach’s 109.

The SDSU penalties returned, though, after halftime. Cheevers kicked a 45-yard field goal with 13:40 left in the third quarter to make the score 21-6, and he was able to do that in large part courtesy of SDSU. Marlon Andrews was called for pass interference, giving Long Beach 15 yards, and later in the 50-yard drive, another SDSU player was called for a face mask, costing another five yards.

The statistics may have hinted at a rout, but Long Beach’s Oliver Thompson took the Aztecs’ minds off that in a hurry with 6:54 left in the third quarter with a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown.

McGwire’s pass was intended for Raye, but Thompson stepped in front near the right hash mark, picked off the ball and had a clear path to the end zone.

It was SDSU’s first turnover of the season, but that didn’t matter at this particular point. What mattered was that the Aztec lead was eight, 21-13, and they still couldn’t shake Long Beach.

They pressed on. On their next possession, Arey again got wide open, and McGwire passed to him for a 61-yard completion. Wright sliced through the 49er defense for a six-yard touchdown, and SDSU was ahead, 28-13.

When Freddie Leslie fumbled Jason Savorn’s punt in Long Beach territory just before the end of the third quarter, the Aztecs finally were able to relax a bit. They took over at the Long Beach 29, and Wright scored from 13 yards out with 12:23 left in the fourth to make it 35-13.

Aztec Notes

The life and times of a running back: Tommy Booker suffered a mild ankle sprain in the first quarter but returned by the second. It was then announced early in the third quarter that Booker had suffered a left ankle contusion and probably would not return. He didn’t, finishing with 38 yards in nine carries . . . Poor Marcus Preciado. He’s a walk-on SDSU defensive back, a freshman who earned a scholarship by impressing SDSU Coach Al Luginbill during fall camp. Problem is, nobody can get the poor guy’s name spelled right on his uniform. As he took the field Saturday, his jersey read “PERCIADO”--the same way it was spelled on his road jersey for the season-opener Sept. 8 at Oregon . . . The concert after the SDSU-Air Force game Sept. 29 will feature the group America.