Texas State Hands Stephen F. Austin First Conference Loss to Create Four-Way Tie
When the day began, four teams were chasing Stephen F. Austin which was unbeaten in conference play. Now at the end of another Saturday, four teams sit atop the conference with one loss, including those Lumberjacks, which stumbled at Texas State, the 2008 conference champion. The Bobcats are right there with their 28-7 victory as are McNeese State, which handled Nicholls 38-17, and Southeastern Louisiana, which upended Central Arkansas, 26-21. In the other league game, Sam Houston State beat Northwestern State 34-30.
Texas State 28, No. 15/11 Stephen F. Austin 7
SAN MARCOS, Texas - Bradley George threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns to lead Texas State to a 28-7 victory over No. 11 Stephen F. Austin in its annual homecoming game at Bobcat Stadium.
George broke his own school record with 31 completions as he completed 31 of his 42 passes for 324 yards and a season-best four touchdowns to lead the Bobcats.
In addition, the Bobcat defense held the nation's top scoring offense to a season-low seven points as the Bobcats forced three turnovers and held the Lumberjacks to out of the end zone three of their four times in the red zone.
Texas State took an early 7-0 lead with 8:43 left to play in the first quarter when George hit Mishak Rivas in the back of the end zone from nine yards away. It was the first touchdown reception of the season for Rivas and it capped a nine-play, 67-yard drive. Ryan Batchelor added the extra point.
That was how the score ended in the first half as Texas State held the Lumberjacks scoreless in their three trips inside the red zone. The first stop came in the first quarter when Stephen F. Austin's Evan Engwall missed a 22-yard field goal wide to the right.
In the second quarter, Texas State's Travis Houston pressured SFA's Jeremy Moses to throw his pass on a fourth-down play from the 1-yard line.
The third stop inside the red zone, Texas State's Joe Bell forced a fumble by Romont Hampton and Marcus Clark recovered it at the Bobcat 11-yard line.
The Lumberjacks entered the game having converted 28-of-its 30 red-zone scoring opportunities this season.
Stephen F. Austin tied the score at 7-7 with 7:58 left to play in the third quarter when Jeremy Moses hit Duane Brooks in the right corner of the end zone from 11 yards away to cap an eight-play, 65-yard drive.
Texas State pinned the Lumberjacks at their own 6-yard line after their drive stalled at their own
The Bobcats took advantage when George hit Alvaro Garcia for an eight-yard touchdown pass to cap a five-play, 35-yard drive. The Bobcats gained most of the yardage when George hit Rivas on a screen pass that resulted in a 21-yard gain down to the 3-yard line. After Alvin Canady was tackled for a 5-yard loss, George hit Garcia in the end zone to put the Bobcats ahead for good.
Texas State increased its lead to 21-7 with 3:58 left in the fourth quarter when George hit Rivas for a second touchdown, this one from 32 yards out.
The Bobcats closed out the scoring with 1:08 left when George hit Da'Marcus Griggs for a 17-yard pass to make the final score 28-7.
The victory improves Texas State's record to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in Southland Conference play. Stephen F. Austin falls to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Southland standings.
Texas State travels to Conway, Ark., next Saturday at 6 p.m., CST, to take on Central Arkansas in the Toyota Game of the Week on the Southland Conference Television Network. Stephen F. Austin will play host to Nicholls next Saturday at 6 p.m.
Southeastern Louisiana 26, No. 12/15 Central Arkansas 21
HAMMOND, La. - Southeastern Louisiana senior Chris Wilson's fourth quarter 16-yard touchdown grab put the Lions on top for good and late interceptions by junior Re'Keem Wilson and senior Quinten Pierre preserved the victory, as Southeastern remained perfect at home with a 26-21 Southland Conference victory over No. 12/15 Central Arkansas at Strawberry Stadium.
Playing without injured senior starting quarterback Brian Babin, as well as the team's top two receivers in sophomore Simmie Yarborough and Merrick Lanaux, the Lions found a way to win, forcing three turnovers in the final nine minutes of the game. The win now puts the Lions (5-3, 3-1 Southland) in a four-way tie for first place in the conference.
The Lions improved to 4-0 in Hammond this season and matched their overall win total from a season ago. The three wins in Southland Conference play are the most league victories by the program since joining the Southland prior to the 2005 season. The win over the Bears (5-3, 2-2 Southland) was the Lions' first over a ranked team since a 37-13 victory over McNeese State on Oct. 22, 2005.
Even without the services of Babin (1,879 yards, 19 touchdown passes in 2009), Yarborough (48 catches, 663 yards, 11 touchdown receptions) and Lanaux (31 catches, 388 yards, two touchdown receptions), Southeastern managed to rack up 385 total yards. In his first career start, Lion junior quarterback Tyler Beatty stepped in and completed 23 of 35 throws for 297 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, while also rushing 12 times for 48 yards.
Beatty was aided by a career day from Chris Wilson, who caught six passes for a career-high 169 yards and two scores. Sophomore Kory Theodore also notched a career-high with seven receptions for 74 yards and a score. Senior Jasper Ducksworth led the Lions with 49 yards rushing on 15 carries. Southeastern also limited the vaunted UCA pass rush to one sack.
"Offensively, I can't say enough about the job (offensive coordinator) Tommy Condell and his staff did." Southeastern head coach Mike Lucas commented. "Central Arkansas has a very good defense. I thought (offensive tackle) Kevin Hughes did a great job in keeping (UCA All-American) Larry Hart out of the backfield."
"Tyler did a remarkable job at quarterback today in place of Brian," Lucas added. "He made some great decisions, especially on the two-point conversion where he found Luis Sobalvarro. Kory and Chris made some big time catches for us and we had other guys step up with the absence of Simmie and Merrick."
While the Southeastern offense staked the Lions to a 17-9 halftime advantage, the defense stepped up after Southeastern retook the lead on Chris Wilson's touchdown. Junior Curtis Strong led the way with 10 tackles, while junior Mark Newbill posted nine stops. Re'Keem Wilson's key interception near the end of the game was his second of the contest and he and Pierre both finished with eight tackles.
UCA quarterback Robbie Park completed 19 of 40 attempts for 223 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. Preston Echols led the way for Central Arkansas with four catches for 121 yards, while the Lions kept the talented Bear running back tandem of Brent Grimes (15-83) and Leonard Ceaser (13-35) reasonably in check.
"That was a tremendous effort by our defense today," Lucas stated. "To hold them to 137 yards on the ground was huge for us. We were able to match up on their personnel groupings. (Defensive coordinator) Matt Webb and his staff did an outstanding job in preparing our kids today."
Southeastern took a 17-9 lead at halftime on a 48-yard field goal by Turner and Beatty touchdown passes to Chris Wilson and Theodore. Central Arkansas countered with three Eddie Carmona field goals to head into halftime trailing by eight.
Coming out of the locker room, Central Arkansas cut the lead to one early in the third quarter on a six-yard scamper by Grimes. After the two teams traded three-and-outs, Southeastern moved to midfield, but Derrick Boyd stripped Lion freshman running back Zeke Jones fumbled to give UCA the ball back near midfield.
The Bears chewed nearly six minutes off the clock on a 11-play drive, which Eddie Carmona capped with a 38-yard field goal to put the Bears ahead, 19-17, with just over a minute left in the third quarter.
Both defenses answered with quick stops and after a short punt, Chris Wilson set up the Lions at the UCA 39 with an 11-yard punt return. However, the Lions could not take advantage, as Ducksworth mishandled the option pitch and UCA's James Lancaster fell on the loose ball to give the ball back to the Bears.
On the ensuing drive, Southeastern sophomore Lindsey Leavoy pressured Park into throwing a duck into the waiting arms of Re'Keem Wilson, who returned the ball all the way down to the UCA 28-yard line. Three plays and 39 seconds later, Beatty put a perfectly placed fade pass into the hands of Chris Wilson in the back corner of the end zone. The ensuing two-point conversion on a Beatty pass to Sobalvarro put the Lions up, 25-19.
The teams once again traded punts and UCA got the ball back on their own 20-yard line with 3:53 left. On third-and 15 from their own 26-yard line, Park found a wide-open Echols down the middle and the UCA wideout rolled all the way to the Lion 17-yard line for a 57-yard gain. Three straight Grimes' runs set up a fourth-and-four with just under a minute remaining. Park badly overthrew his intended receiver and Re'Keem Wilson made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone to give Southeastern the ball back with 48 seconds left.
Central Arkansas used all three timeouts and forced the Lions to punt with 26 seconds remaining. Southeastern freshman punter Beau Mothe then ran off eight seconds by running out of the back of the end zone for a safety. After a free kick by Mothe, UCA had the ball at its own 30 with 12 seconds remaining and no timeouts. On the first play, Pierre made a jumping interception on Park's pass to seal the victory.
Southeastern will return to action next Saturday, travelling to Natchitoches for a 2 p.m. contest at Northwestern State. Central Arkansas will play host to Texas State next Saturday in the Toyota Game of the Week on the Southland Conference Television Network. The game will kick off at 6:05 p.m.
No. 11/13 McNeese State 38, Nicholls 17
THIBODAUX, La. - No. 11/13 McNeese State scored early and in every quarter for a 38-17 Southland Conference victory over Nicholls on Saturday.
Senior quarterback Derrick Fourroux was sharp with a 19-for-26 passing effort for 155 yards and three touchdowns and the Cowboys totaled 305 offensive yards.
It was the third consecutive victory for McNeese which ran its season record to 6-2 and its conference mark to 3-1. Nicholls fell to 1-7 and remains winless in league play at 0-4.
The Cowboys held a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, was up 24-7 at the end of the half and then outscored the Colonels 14-10 in the second half.
McNeese head coach Matt Viator said he was pleased with the outcome and that he felt his team turned in a strong performance. He also felt that a key to the game was the fact that the Cowboys had good field position throughout the contest.
McNeese began its possession on the Nicholls side of the 50 a total of seven times (out of 11).
Fourroux, who is getting closer in each game to taking over all of the McNeese passing and total offense records, finished with 185 total yards. His touchdown passes went to Javaris Murray for 7 yards, to Wes Mangan for 3 yards and to Corday Clark for 5 yards.
His total in the Nicholls game sent his career total offense mark to 9,307 (school record of 9,676 is held by Kerry Joseph) and his passing yards to 7,539 (record is 7,874).
The three touchdowns he tossed lifts his career mark for rushing and passing touchdowns to 88, only two shy of Joseph's record of 90.
Other scoring in the game for the Cowboys came from senior Toddrick Pendland on runs of one and two yards and on a 32-yard field goal by Josh Lewis who also booted all five PATs.
Pendland, who has missed either all or portions of the last three games because of an injury, only played the first quarter in this contest. He finished with 24 yards on 10 carries. Rookies Murray and Champlain Babin took over the running duties for the Cowboys, Murray coming up with a team high 68 yards on nine trips and Babin 29 on nine. Fourroux also had 30 yards rushing.
Nicholls had the game's leading rusher in Marlin Meeks who ran for 143 yards and a touchdown, scoring the game's final touchdown on a 2-yard run. Other scores for the Colonels came on an 8-yard run by A.J. Williams and on a 24-yard field goal by Ross Schexnayder.
Colonel quarterback Quinten Caston only attempted nine passes and completed six of those for 46 yards.
The Cowboys had the game's leading receivers in Immanuel Friddle and Corday Clark. Friddle caught four passes for 60 yards and Clark had four catches for 35 yards and a score.
Mangan had two catches for the Cowboys and that shoved his career total to 60, now fourth on the all-time reception list for McNeese tight ends.
Defensively, the Cowboys held Nicholls to 294 yards, 248 of them on the ground. Linebackers Geremy Pilate and Joe Narcisse led the team in tackles with seven each. Narcisse also recovered a fumble while Pilate forced one.
McNeese scored on its first possession, going 41 yards following a Nicholls punt. A 31-yard pass from Fourroux to Friddle was the key play in the drive and Pendland scored from the 1.
The Cowboys also scored on their next possession, this series starting when Narcisse recovered a Caston fumble on the Colonel 36-yard line. This time a 13-yard pass from Fourroux to Clark put the ball near the red zone and Pendland wound up getting 18 of the next 23 yards, the score coming on his 2-yard run.
Twice more the Cowboys scored in the first half to take was a commanding 24-7 halftime lead.
The victory gives McNeese a 23-11 edge in the series with Nicholls. Next week McNeese will host Sam Houston State in a Saturday game at Cowboy Stadium, kickoff at 7 pm. Nicholls will face Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches at 6 p.m.
Sam Houston State 34, Northwestern State 30
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Blake Joseph passed for 332 yards and two touchdowns including a 39-yard scoring strike to Jason Madkins for the winning touchdown with 5:37 to play as Sam Houston State defeated Northwestern State 34-30 in a Southland Conference football game Saturday at Bowers Stadium.
The score changed hands eight times in the contest. Sam Houston upped its record to 4-4 and 2-2 in Southland Conference while Northwestern State dropped to 0-8 and 0-4 in league play.
Quarterback Paul Harris rushed 22 times for 144 yards and completed 13 of 31 passes for 263 yards and four touchdowns.
Justin Aldredge made touchdown receptions of 20 and 32 yards as he grabbed three passes for 66 yards to lead the Demons. Madkins was the top receiver for the Bearkats with seven receptions for 147 yards including a 13-yard scoring strike in the second quarter.
Joseph also rushed for a 65-yard touchdown with 8:35 to play in the second quarter.
Chris Poullard led the Bearkats rushing attack with 22 carries for 89 yards including a touchdown run of 3 yards.
Sam Houston totaled 520 yards of offense, 188 on the ground and 332 in the air. Northwestern State rolled up 435 yards total offense (172 rushing 263 passing).
Sam Houston State will be McNeese State next Saturday at 7 p.m. while Northwestern State returns home to play host to Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m.