Roberts’ 409 Yards Set Record

Charles Roberts, a 5-foot-6 junior from Montclair High, rushed for a Division I game-record 409 yards in Cal State Sacramento’s 41-20 victory over Idaho State in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday afternoon at Sacramento.

He surpassed the I-A record of 396 yards set by Tony Sands of Kansas against Missouri in 1991, and the I-AA record of 379 yards established by Reggie Greene of Siena against New York St. John’s in 1996.

Roberts said he was inspired by Walter Payton, the leading rusher in NFL history who died Monday of bile duct cancer at the age of 45.

“I wanted to try and come out and run hard like he ran,” Roberts said.

Roberts had the Big Sky game high this season with a then career-high 277 yards against Northern Arizona on Oct. 23. Russell Davis owned the Big Sky game record with 345 yards for Idaho against Portland State in 1981.

Roberts set a I-AA season record with 2,260 yards rushing last season, the third highest season total in Division I behind Barry Sanders’ 2,628 yards for Oklahoma State in 1988 and Marcus Allen’s 2,342 yards for USC in 1981.

Against Idaho State (2-8, 0-7 in Big Sky play), Roberts carried 39 times, scoring on runs of one, 69, one, 18 and 59 yards. He outrushed the Bengals by 300 yards. The Hornets (5-5, 3-5) had 608 total yards.

Eastern Washington 45, Montana State 23--Chris Samms passed for 282 yards and three touchdowns and Jovan Griffith rushed for 150 yards and three scores at Bozeman, Mont.

The score was tied, 10-10, after one quarter, but Eastern Washington (6-4, 5-2) scored three consecutive times, including two four-yard runs by Griffith and a five-yard pass from Samms to Joe Levens, to take a 31-10 lead with 2:54 to play in the third quarter.

Montana State (3-6, 1-5) pulled within 31-17 late in the quarter on a one-yard run by Ryan Johnson.

Northern Arizona 36, Weber State 19--Linebacker David Moran and cornerback Cedric Jones returned interceptions for touchdowns as Northern Arizona scored 21 points in a 43-second span early in the fourth quarter at Ogden, Utah.

Travis Brown of Northern Arizona (6-3, 4-2) threw for 307 yards and two scores.

Northern Arizona’s Ronney Jenkins, from Hueneme High, had 160 total yards. He caught a 55-yard scoring pass from Brown.

Montana 28, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 14--Drew Miller led Montana (8-1), completing 24 of 41 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns in a nonconference game at San Luis Obispo.

Craig Young of San Luis Obispo (2-7) had 96 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

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Big Sky Standings

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Conf. Season W L W L PF PA Montana 6 1 8 1 431 218 Portland State 6 1 8 2 375 294 E. Washington 5 2 6 4 292 309 N. Arizona 4 2 6 3 312 264 CS Northridge 4 3 5 4 292 310 CS Sacramento 3 5 5 5 383 284 Weber State 2 5 3 7 224 365 Montana State 1 5 3 6 253 271 Idaho State 0 7 2 8 316 416

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Saturday’s Games

Portland State 34, CS Northridge 21

Eastern Washington 45, Montana State 23

CS Sacramento 41, Idaho State 20

Northern Arizona 38, Weber State 19

Montana 28, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 14