BIG WEST ROUNDUP : Fresno Beats Long Beach; San Jose State Wins

Cal State Long Beach, after winning three consecutive games, has now lost two in a row.

The 49ers lost to Fresno State, 28-16, in a Big West Conference game Saturday night at Fresno. Last week, they lost to San Jose State, 46-29.

The win for the Bulldogs was their first in three weeks. They lost to Northern Illinois, 73-18, and then were tied by Utah State, 24-24.

Fresno State is 6-1-1 overall and 3-0-1 in the Big West. Long Beach is 3-5 and 2-3.

Long Beach gave Fresno a decent game. The 49ers led, 10-7, at the end of the first quarter before Fresno scored 21 unanswered points.

Long Beach was outgained only 374 yards to 279. Quarterback Todd Studer completed 10 of 32 passes for 138 yards and Freddie Leslie scored two touchdowns on short runs.

For Fresno, James Allison carried 26 times for 136 yards and a touchdown and Mark Barsotti completed 14 of 28 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. Barsotti also ran for a score, and his touchdown pass play to Frank Jones in the fourth quarter covered 87 yards.

Allison started in place of Aaron Craver, who was suspended from the team for one game for missing classes. Craver was averaging 100 yards per game.

San Jose State 34, Utah State 27--Ralph Martini passed for two touchdowns on fourth-and-long plays in the first quarter and the Spartans went on to beat the Aggies in a Big West game at San Jose.

The Spartans (5-2-1, 4-0) were outgained by the Aggies, 400 yards to 388. But San Jose held Utah State (1-4-1, 1-1-1) to 52 net yards rushing.

This game featured two of the nation’s leading rushers. San Jose’s Sheldon Canley had 133 yards rushing, upping his season total to 948; the Aggies’ Roger Grant had only 57. Each scored a touchdown.

Martini, who had passed for 300 yards his last three games, had 203 against Utah State. His early touchdown passes were 19 yards to Bobby Blackmon and 27 to Walter Brooks Jr.

Utah State’s Ron Lopez passed for 348 yards and a touchdown and also ran for a touchdown.

Nevada Reno 26, Nevada Las Vegas 14--Fred Gatlin, a sophomore from Carson High, passed for 246 yards and a touchdown and Ray Whalen rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns to lead unbeaten Nevada Reno to a nonconference victory over Nevada Las Vegas at Las Vegas.

The Wolf Pack, ranked third in Division I-AA, improved to 7-0. The Rebels fell to 4-4.

Gatlin finished with 22 completions in 30 attempts, and Whalen rushed 32 times for his 119 yards.