SAN DIEGO – In front of a sold-out crowd of 5,792 at Torero Stadium for the season opener Saturday evening, San Diego football recorded three interceptions, including two for touchdowns in a 27-21 victory against Cal Poly. 

Trey Ortega got the first pick-six from 38 yards out with 3:14 in the first quarter before Matt Bllentine recorded the other from 40 yards with 13:37 in the fourth quarter. Both defensive touchdowns gave USD respective 10-point leads. 

The other interception came from Eric Haney with 8:57 remaining in the third quarter to stop any momentum by the Mustangs (0-1, 0-0 Big Sky). 

The Toreros (1-0, 0-0 PFL) got their lone offensive touchdown from Logan Gingg to retake the lead for good, 17-14, following Haney's interception.  

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• The Mustangs had the first drive of the game and after a couple first downs, the Torero defense was able to get a third down stop, forcing a punt. 
• On the first offensive play of the year, graduate transfer running back Matt Colombo ran 28 yards for a first down. Colombo took the first three plays on the ground, which included moving the chains on a third-and-2. The Southern California transfer also recorded a 4-yard run on a fourth-and 1. 
• Senior Aidan Lehman recorded the first points of the season with a 35-yard field goal, capping off a 15-play, 85-yard drive in the first offensive set of the season. 
• The defense stepped up on the next drive. Senior Trey Ortega caught a tipped ball, defended by Matt Ballentine, and took it 38 yards to the house for San Diego's first touchdown of 2024 to take a 10-0 lead with 4:20 left in the opening quarter. 
• The Torero defense continued its strong start, with a three-and-out, forcing Cal Poly to punt in its second in as many drives. 
• San Diego's special team play was also on point as senior Nick Murray downed a 40-yard punt by sophomore Aydan Corrales at the USD 3-yard line to prevent the ball from going into the endzone for a touchback at the 9:16 mark of the second quarter.
• With 18 seconds left in the first half, Cal Poly got on the board with a 2-yard touchdown pass to cut their deficit down to three. 
• It was 10-7 Toreros at halftime as Sergent completed 10-of-15 passes for 79 yards in the opening 30 minutes while junior Cole Monach had four receptions for 33 yards. 
• On the fourth play of San Diego's opening drive of the second half, Colombo caught a pass but fumbled the ball right into the hands of a Mustangs defender to take it for a 35-yard fumble return touchdown. That gave Cal Poly its first lead of the game at 14-10 with 13:07 remaining in the third quarter. 
• The Toreros were able to stop the Mustangs' momentum as graduate student Eric Haney hauled in an interception with 8:57 left in the third quarter. 
• On the first play following Haney's pick, Sergent found senior Ja'Seem Reed for 41 yards for the longest play of the night for USD. 
• Two plays later and after two Mustangs penalties, senior Logan Gingg punched it in from a yard out to put San Diego back in front 17-14 with 7:32 left in the third quarter. 
• The Torero momentum continued on the ensuing drive as the USD defense forced a punt with five minutes left in the third. 
• The defensive movement continued Saturday night for the Toreros as Ballentine recorded the team's second pick-six of the night, this one coming from 40 yards out to extend USD's lead to two possessions, 24-14 with 13:37 in the final quarter.  
• Running backs Isaiah Smith and Kenyon Sims recorded crucial third-down runs of 24 and 31 yards, respectively, to extend a fourth-quarter drive that took off nearly nine minutes, leading to a 39-yard field goal by Lehman with 3:06 left. 
• The Mustangs scored a touchdown to cut the lead down to 27-21 with 1:05 left in the game. 
• Cal Poly recovered the onside kick, but was out of bounds, giving the Toreros the opportunity to take a knee and secure their first win of 2024.

 TORERO TIDBITS 

• Quarterback Grant Sergent led the Torero offense by completing 15 of 24 passes for 154 yards 
• Running back Matt Colombo logged 15 rushes for 88 yards with three receptions for 14 yards.
• Running back Isaiah Smith also had 15 carries for 79 yards 
• Receiver Cole Monach had a team-five receptions for 43 yards. 
• Meanwhile, Ja'seem Reed led the team with 56 receiving yards on three catches, including a 41-yard reception.
• The interception for Ortega was the first of his collegiate career, in addition to his first defensive touchdown. 
• Haney, who was on the All-PFL First Team last year and on this year's All-PFL Preseason team, recorded his fourth interception of his career. 
• Gingg's touchdown in the third quarter was the first touchdown of his collegiate career. 
• Ballentine, who recorded a pass breakup against Cal Poly last year, recorded his second interception and first defensive touchdown at the Div. I level. 
• The Toreros had the ball for 38:13 compared to Cal Poly having possession for 20:42. 
• San Diego also had 337 yards of offense, in comparison to the Mustangs' 294.
• There were 5,792 in attendance for Saturday's matchup against Cal Poly.
• The first replay review in Torero Stadium football history occurred with three seconds left in the first quarter. USD head coach Brandon Moore challenged a possible targeting hit by Cal Poly on quarterback Grant Sergent. However, the call was upheld, and no targeting was assessed. 
• Saturday marked just the USD third night football game since 2016 and the Toreros' first since 2022 when they defeated La Verne 58-0 in a kickoff that began at 6:00 p.m. 
• USD's win over Cal Poly on Saturday night marked the third time since 2016 that it has defeated a scholarship opponent. 

THEY SAID IT 

• Head Coach Brandon Moore on the energy from the team, led by the defense:
  • "I think the secondary played lights out. Whenever you can score two points on defense, it's hard to lose. Those guys just continued to come through, battle back and then contested most of the throws. So it was great to see those guys just get after it and play with some confidence." 
• Trey Ortega on the defense leading the way: 
  • "We believe the defense is the strength of our team. That's where we feel the most confident. We had a really good offseason, and we're just ready to kick off the season."
• Matt Ballentine on the second pick-six of the night and how this momentum can carry into next week: 
  • "I saw the dodge concepts, read it like a book and just took it home. This is just going to kickstart a bunch of wins coming to us. So, this is a big win, a big night game to win."

UP NEXT 
San Diego football remains at home next week when it faces Central Washington on September 7 at 1 p.m. inside Torero Stadium. This will be before going on the road to the central United States for a game at North Dakota September 21 and the PFL opener at Drake in Des Moines, IA, on September 28.