Texas State Upsets Third-Ranked McNeese State
The Bobcats stun No. 3 McNeese State, 45-42 in Lake Charles, while offensive fireworks were going off in Conway, Ark., in a game that saw No. 14 Central Arkansas prevail 48-46 over Sam Houston State. In Natchitoches, La., Northwestern State opened Southland Conference play with a 36-28 win vs. Nicholls State and in non-conference action, Stephen F. Austin downed visiting Kentucky Wesleyan, 49-0.
Texas State 45, No. 3 McNeese State 42
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Using a balanced offensive attack and some critical defensive stops, the Texas State football team out-scored No. 3 McNeese State, 45-42, on Louis Bonnette Field at Cowboy Stadium Saturday night.
Junior quarterback Bradley George enjoyed his best game of the season when he completed 29-of-45 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns. Three of his touchdown passes went to senior wide receiver Cameron Luke, who ended the game with nine catches for 142 yards.
Sophomore running back Karrington Bush also ran for 127 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries giving him his third-straight, 100-yard game and the ninth 100-yard game of his career.
"We knew coming in that we were going to have to execute offensively to have a chance to win the game," Texas State head coach Brad Wright said. "We attacked the whole game. Defensively, we had some key stops."
McNeese State scored the first points of the game on their first possession when Todd Pendland ran for a 22-yard touchdown on the game's second play from scrimmage.
But, Texas State answered when George hit Luke for a 39-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 7 with 11:39 left in the game.
The Bobcat defense had a fourth-down stand at its own 41-yard line when Marcus Clark tackled Steven Whitehead for a one-yard gain on a fourth-and-one play.
The Bobcats took advantage as they drove 60 yards in six plays. Bush capped the drive with an 11-yard touchdown run.
McNeese answered when Cowboy quarterback Derrick Fourroux hit Richard Conner on a 15-yard TD strike to make the score 14-14 through the first quarter.
The Cowboys looked like they would regain the lead before Marcus Clark forced a fumble by Todd Pendland and Derek Lopez recovered on the Bobcats' two-yard line.
Texas State took over and marched 98 yards in 11 plays. Stan Zwinggi and Karrington Bush combined for 22 yards and George completed five of his six passes for 75 yards before Blake Burton scored on a one-yard run up the middle to give the Bobcats a 21-14 lead.
Texas State closed out the scoring in the first half when Andrew Ireland kicked a 36-yard field goal on the last play to make the halftime score 24-14.
The Bobcats came right back in the third quarter when George threw for two touchdown passes in the first eight minutes. The first TD pass was to Luke from 11 yards out to cap a 10-play, 69-yard drive. Then he completed another 11-yard TD pass to Daren Dillard to increase Texas State's lead to 38-14.
"That has been the script for us the last three times we have played here," Wright said. "We have gotten ahead by a couple of touchdowns and they started scrambling a bit. It doesn't matter who you are playing, if you can get a couple of touchdowns ahead, you have to like your chances."
McNeese closed to within 38-20 when Fourrou hit Wes Mangan for a 27-yard touchdown pass, but Texas State answered again as George hit Luke for a 45-yard touchdown pass to give the Bobcats a 45-20 lead.
The Cowboys made the game interesting down the stretch, as Fourrou threw two more touchdowns to Whitehead and Pendland to make the score 45-34 with 3:14 left. After McNeese recovered an on-side kick, the Cowboys scored the final points of the game when Fourrou ran for a 2-yard TD run and Whitehead ran for the two-point conversion with 56 seconds left to play.
This time, the Bobcats recovered the on-side kick and ran out the final seconds to win for the third straight time in Lake Charles and improve their record to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in Southland Conference play.
Texas State returns home on Oct. 18 to play host to Central Arkansas in its annual homecoming game that kicks off at 3 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium.
Central Arkansas 48, Sam Houston State 46
CONWAY, Ark. ? Television was good to the University of Central Arkansas Bears for the second consecutive year and the eighth straight time Saturday night.
The 14th-ranked Bears got a late stop from their defense and held off the Sam Houston State Bearkats 48-46 in the Southland Conference opener for both teams. The game was played before a Homecoming crowd of 12,312 at First Security Field at Estes Stadium, the second largest in school history, and before a Southland Conference Television Network audience.
UCA beat Texas State 63-21 in its only televised game a year ago and is now 8-0 in televised games since the 2000 season under head coach Clint Conque.
The Bears (5-1, 1-0) took a 48-40 lead on a 60-yard pass from senior quarterback Nathan Brown to sophomore Willie Landers with 5:51 remaining in the game Saturday. The Bearkats (2-2, 0-1) took over on their own 20 and drove all the way down to the UCA 3. Senior wide receiver Catron Houston scored from there to close the gap to 48-46 with 1:40 remaining.
The Bearkats chose to go for the two-point conversion and quarterback Rhett Bomar attempted to hit junior receiver Chris Lucas over the middle. UCA junior free safety Derrick Boyd broke up the pass, preserving the Bears third consecutive victory over the Bearkats since joining the SLC.
The game featured two of the league’s most high-powered offenses and neither disappointed. The Bears took a 34-27 halftime lead but were outgained by the Bearkats by nearly 100 yards (384 to 289). Landers’
first touchdown of the game came on a 10-yard pass from Brown that matched SHSU’s on its opening drive. UCA then got a pair of field goals from sophomore Eddie Carmona, from 19 and 37 yards to take a 13-7 lead midway through the first quarter.
Bomar scored on a 4-yard run but UCA’s Leonard Ceaser answered with one of his own to close the high-scoring first quarter with UCA leading 20-13. Neither team slowed down in the second period as the Bearkats tied it at 20 on a 4-yard run by James Aston, who finished with a game-high 136 yards on 16 carries (8.5 per carry). Junior tailback Brent Grimes scored the first of his two touchdowns, this one from 10 yards out, to give the Bears the lead again.
Lucas was on the receiving end of a 6-yard touchdown pass from Bomar before Brown found senior tight end Marquez Branson for a 49-yard score, and a 34-27 lead with 1:30 remaining in the half. It was Branson’s fifth touchdown reception of the season, tying him with Landers.
The defenses picked up the pace in the third quarter as the teams combined for only 10 points, all by the Bearkats as they took a 37-34 lead heading into the final 15 minutes. UCA struck first in the fourth period when Grimes cut up the middle and dove into the end zone for a 12-yard score. Taylor Wilkins answered for the Bearkats with a 30-yard field goal that left SHSU trailing 41-40 with 7:33 remaining.
Brown then hooked up with Landers for the longest pass of the night by either team. Landers finished with five catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns, giving him back-to-back 100-yard outings for the first time in his career.
Brown finished 20-of-28 passing for 269 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception. It was Brown’s first interception of the season and came after 178 consecutive passes without one. He set the school record with 235 consecutive passes last season.
Bomar completed 29-of-47 for 361 yards and three touchdowns and one interception and also rushed for a touchdown. UCA finished with 413 yards of total offense while SHSU had 575. It was the first time UCA had allowed more than 500 yards of offense and still won the game since the Stephen F. Austin game in 2006. UCA also won despite a season-high 12 penalties for 128 yards.
UCA junior linebacker Larry Hart was named the L.B. Jackman Award winner as the Most Valuable Player of the Homecoming game as he finished with 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss and also broke up a pass. Junior safety Phillip Johnson led all defenders with 12 tackles and also returned a fumble 44 yards to the SHSU 8 in the first quarter.
Junior Anthony Gambles recorded the Bears’ interception in the final minute of the first half to halt the Bearkats at the UCA 32.
The first punts of the game came late in the second quarter and SHSU only had one for the game and UCA 2, including a 47-yard quick kick by Brown.
Central Arkansas travels to San Marcos, Texas, next Saturday to take on Texas State, an upset winner over No. 3 McNeese State on Saturday. Game time is 3 p.m.
Northwestern State 36, Nicholls State 28
NATCHITOCHES, La. ? After a 36-28 Southland Conference football season-opening win Saturday night over visiting Nicholls State, Northwestern State coach Scott Stoker couldn't stop bragging on his defense.
And his young offensive line. And his backup quarterback, his resilient senior tailback, his money-in-the-bank kicker and most of all, his team's heart.
The Demons (4-2 overall, 1-0 in the Southland) halted the Colonels (0-3, 0-1) twice inside the Northwestern 20 while protecting a 33-28 fourth-quarter lead. Nicholls did not score an offensive touchdown after halftime and was held to field goals in the first half when Nicholls took possession at the Northwestern 27 and 26, and had a first-and-goal at the 5 on the third series.
Northwestern posted 449 total yards, running for 258, with an offensive line including a true freshman, a redshirt freshman and a sophomore transfer, with all five linemen playing virtually every one of the 73 offensive snaps due to injuries among the backups.
Backup quarterback Drew Branch led three scoring drives in the second half in the Demons' final five possessions, not counting a kneel-down play to end the game after Nicholls' last bid for a tie ended on downs at the Demons' 39 in the final minute.
Tailback Byron Lawrence, who had only 62 yards rushing in the first three games this year, posted his second-straight 100-yard output with 191 yards on 31 carries. The longest one was the most crucial, a 51-yard burst in the closing moments to set up a pivotal 29-yard Robert Weeks field goal with 1:22 remaining to expand the precarious five-point lead.
Weeks also nailed a career-best 48-yard field goal early in the third quarter, knocked through a 43-yarder on the Demons' next series and remained perfect on all of his kicks this year (20 extra points, 8 field goals) while he climbed near school career records for scoring and field goals. His last field goal was made possible by a nifty play by holder Phil LeBlanc, who deftly handled a low snap and got the ball in position for Weeks.
"This team has got some guts," Stoker said. "There were a lot of times when they could have folded. Nicholls kept coming back at us again and again. But the biggest thing was our defense did a great job with its backs against the wall time after time. To hold their offense off the board for the whole second half, that's a great job."
Scoring on three of its first four possessions while the Purple Swarm defense held the Colonels to two early field goals after long kickoff returns, Northwestern raced to a 21-6 lead early in the second quarter. John Hundley hit Dudley Guice for a 46-yard TD on the Demons' opening possession, Lawrence plunged in from 1 yard out and Hundley hit Gordon Freeman from the 1 to provide Northwestern's early burst.
But Nicholls scored on its final three series before halftime, getting the third of three Ross Schexnayder field goals (27, 36, 20 yards) and then a 63-yard Antonio Robinson pass from Chris Bunch and a go-ahead 1-yard Isa Hines touchdown on a bizarre fourth-and-goal play from the 1 with 3:13 left in the half.
Bunch made a quick pitch to halfback A.J. Williams that squirted loose behind Nicholls' left tackle, and after a scramble for the ball, Hines scooped it up at about the 8 and sliced down the left sideline, diving and hitting the pylon at the goal line to score for a 22-21 Colonels lead.
That was the first of four lead changes. Weeks sandwiched his first two field goals around a 73-yard kickoff runback for a touchdown by Nicholls' Ladarius Webb, who had an epic performance on returns with three kickoff returns for 178 yards and two punt returns for 36 yards.
But the Demons took the lead for good on the first play of the fourth quarter when backup tailback Sterling Endsley swept 10 yards for a 33-28 advantage, capping a 10-play, 80-yard march including three Branch completions for 35 yards.
Webb took the ensuing kickoff back 48 yards to the Demons 28, but five snaps later Northwestern safety Gary Riggs recovered a fumble by Bunch at the Northwestern 17.
A short punt gave Nicholls more good field position, starting at Northwestern's 45, but the Demons stuffed a fourth-and-2 at the 20 when nose tackle Scott Wattigny and linebacker Mack Dampier stacked up the running back a yard shy.
The teams traded punts, with the Demons having pinned the Colonels at their own four with the clock winding down. Northwestern's next possession started with 2:59 left at its own 40, with Lawrence racing for his 51-yarder on the first play to get the Demons to the Colonels' 9 before they settled for the Weeks field goal that clinched no worse than overtime, if Nicholls could pull off a drive in the closing 1:17.
The Colonels did get a 20-yard completion to Robinson into Demon territory, but failed to complete a pass in the next four downs and gave the ball up to Northwestern at the 39 with 47 seconds to go.
Lawrence posted his 12th career 100-yard rushing game, tying Clarence Matthews (1993-96) for second in school history behind Tony Taylor (20 from 1998-2000). He moved into sixth on the Demons' career rushing list with 2,658 yards, more than 1,000 behind Taylor's record 3,720 but within 400 of second all-time.
Weeks' three field goals moved him within one of tying the school career record of 37 by Keith Hodnet (1985-88). His 12 points, including three conversion kicks, gave him 190 in his career, passing star running backs Charlie Tolar (182, 1956-58) and Joe Delaney (188, 1977-80) to rank sixth all-time, 16 behind record-holder Derrick Johnese (206, 2002-04) and nine back of kick scoring record-holder Hodnett (1990).
Northwestern won its conference opener for the sixth time in seven years under Stoker, and rose to 17-5 all-time in SLC debuts since joining the league in 1987.
Nicholls will become the last Division I team in the nation to make its home debut next week when it hosts Stephen F. Austin. The Colonels had their first two games, one at home, cancelled due to Hurricane Gustav.
Stephen F. Austin 49, Kentucky Wesleyan 0
NACOGDOCHES, Texas ? The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack football team racked up more than 600 yards of total offense to defeat Kentucky Wesleyan, 49-0, Saturday night at Homer Bryce Stadium in the team's final non-conference game of the season. The win improved Stephen F. Austin to 3-3 on the season.
The `Jacks scored 28 points in the first half and cruised to their first shutout since the 1995 season. SFA's air assault offense was too much for an over-matched Panther team that surrendered 463 yards and five touchdowns through the air. Sophomore quarterback Jeremy Moses posted another strong outing, finishing the game 25-of-34 for 386 yards and five touchdowns.
Moses connected with 11 different receivers on the night, but all the scoring damage was done by senior Dominique Edison and junior Aaron Rhea. Edison hauled in four passes for 92 yards and three touchdowns, while Rhea finished the night with three catches for 41 yards and two scores. Freshman Roderick Warren led all receivers with eight catches for 87 yards.
The Lumberjack defense was equally impressive against the visitors from Owensboro, Ky. SFA held the Panthers to 147 yards of total offense, and only 64 on the ground. Freshman linebacker Derrick Choice led all `Jacks with nine tackles including two for losses. Sophomore Terrance Nurse added eight stops, while junior Tim Knicky recorded six tackles, including one sack. As a team the Lumberjacks finished the night with eight tackles for losses, and three sacks.
The Lumberjack special teams had another big night blocking a Brandon Hodnett 38-yard field goal to preserve the shutout. Sophomore linebacker Jabara Williams not only recorded the block, but picked up the loose ball and rambled 72 yards for the score.
SFA recorded their strongest night of the season on the ground. The Lumberjacks carried the ball 21 times for 154 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Vincent Pervis had nine carries for 79 yards and a TD, while Cornell Tarrant added nine rushes for 71 yards.
The Lumberjacks return to Southland Conference action Oct. 18, when they travel to Thibodaux, La., to face Nicholls. The game against the Colonels is slated to begin at 2 p.m.