Central Arkansas Downs Northwestern State 42-6 to Reclaim Southland Lead
Central Arkansas 42, Northwestern State 6
CONWAY, Ark. ? The battle for first place in the Southland Conference was a one-sided affair Saturday night as the University of Central Arkansas Bears romped past the Northwestern State Demons 42-6 at First Security Field at Estes Stadium.
Central Arkansas, now 8-2 overall and 4-1 in league play, rolled to a 28-6 halftime lead and never slowed down in moving into sole possession of first place in the Southland with two games remaining. UCA finished with 495 yards of total offense and the Bears’ defense held the Demons to only 319 yards and a pair of field goals.
UCA senior quarterback Nathan Brown completed 19 of 35 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns and is now just 30 yards shy of the 10,000-yard mark for his career. He is the career leader among Arkansas college quarterbacks in both yardage and touchdown passes (96).
Senior receiver Eric Ware supplied a good chunk of the receiving yardage, catching five passes for a career-high 174 yards and a touchdown. Senior tight end Marquez Branson caught three for 37 yards and scored twice. Junior running back Brent Grimes also got in the act with a rushing touchdown of 9 yards and a touchdown reception of 50 yards that included a nifty move inside the 10 that helped him reach the end zone.
The Demons (6-4, 3-2) opened the scoring with a 41-yard field goal by Robert Weeks midway through the first quarter but UCA reeled off 21 consecutive points to pull away early. Brown hit Branson from 18 yards out for a score before UCA junior safety Pieri Feazell intercepted a Drew Branch pass at midfield and returned it 54 yards for his first career touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
Brown connected with Branson again from the 7 and Eddie Carmona made it 21-3 with the point after. Weeks added another field goal, from 45 yards for the Demons’ last points with 5:23 left in the first half.
From there, it was all UCA. Brown connected with Ware for a 71-yard touchdown, Ware’s longest of the season. Grimes then added the final two scores early in the third quarter. Brown played one more series but came up short of the 10,000-yard mark and retired for the night.
The Bears, coming off their first conference loss of the season at Nicholls State last week, completely shut down the Demons’ offense.
Northwestern State had 176 yards and three turnovers at halftime and added 143 in the second half. The Demons punted six times and finished with four turnovers.
Senior running back Byron Lawrence of North Pulaski, the second-leading rusher in the Southland at 101 yards per game, burned the Bears for 110 yards a year ago. Saturday, Lawrence was not even Northwestern State's leading rusher as William Griffin had 67 yards and Lawrence finished with 56.
For the Bears, junior linebacker James Lancaster led the defensive charge with seven tackles, including a 16-yard sack and another tackle for loss. Senior cornerback Dathan Johnson had seven tackles and senior defensive end Quad Sanders added another sack. Junior defensive back Jamie Hill nabbed UCA’s other interception, the team’s 10th of the season.
Northwestern State had the ball for 19 minutes more than UCA but averaged only 5.1 yards per play to 9.4 for the Bears.
The Bears travel to Stephen F. Austin next Saturday while Northwestern State plays host to McNeese State.
McNeese State 42, Stephen F. Austin 31
LAKE CHARLES, La. ? Todd Pendland rushed for a career high 242 yards and scored four touchdown in leading McNeese State to a 42-31 Southland Conference football victory over Stephen F. Austin here Saturday night.
The total produced by the Cowboy junior was the second highest in McNeese history, bested only by the 304 yards Tony Citizen ran for against Prairie View in 1986 to set a then NCAA freshman record.
The victory lifted McNeese’s record to 6-3 on the season and to 3-2 in league play, keeping the Cowboys in the race for the conference title. Central Arkansas, with its victory over Northwestern State on Saturday, continues to lead the league at 4-1 while the Cowboys are now tied with the Demons and Texas State.
McNeese concludes its regular season by playing games on the road against Northwestern State and Central Arkansas in the next two weeks.
McNeese totaled 512 yards in the game, 299 rushing and 213 passing, and pretty well kept the SFA passing game in check. The Lumberjacks, now 4-6 overall and 2-3 in the Southland, did pass for 331 yards, quarterback Jeremy Moses hitting on 31 of 49 for all of the yards along with four TDs.
Pendland scored on runs of one, 39 and four yards and caught a 37 yard scoring pass from Derrick Fourroux. The other McNeese scores came on a one yard run by Fourroux and on a 34 yard pass from Fourroux to Immanuel Friddle.
Stephen F. Austin's touchdowns came on passes of 28, 6 and 8 yards from Moses to Dominique Edison and on a 20-yard pass to Duane Brooks. Place kicker Cory Long also booted a 29-yard field goal.
The Cowboys had spotted SFA 10 first quarter points before coming back to tally 21 of the final 28 points for a 21-17 halftime lead.
It was a lot of Pendland in that first half for the Cowboys as he scored all three touchdowns, produced 78 yards rushing and 127 all-purpose yards.
His first half production also pushed his season rushing total over 1,000 yards.
Stephen F. Austin got on the scoreboard with its first possession, Moses hitting Edison for the first of two TDs. The initial one covered 28 yards and came at the 11:29 mark in the first period.
The Lumberjacks then added a 29-yard field goal from Cory Long.
McNeese got its offense going late in the first period. Pendland tallied his first td on a one yard run with 1:11 left in the quarter and then took the lead on a 37 yard pass from Fourroux to Pendland with 10:01 remaining in the second stanza.
The final Cowboy score of the half had Pendland taking off on a 39-yard run.
Stephen F. Austin was able to come back and score the final points of the half on a six yard pass from Moses to Edison.
For the first half, McNeese totaled 218 yards to 255 by the Lumberjacks.
In other statistics for the Cowboys, Fourroux completed 15-of-24 passes for 193 yards while Steven Whitehead led in receiving with six catches for 61 yards and Pendland had five receptions for 65 yards.
Bernardo Henry, who had a 93-yard kickoff return called back because of a penalty, broke the 100-yard barrier in the returns with 109 on three runbacks, the longest 44 yards.
In all-purpose running, Pendland ahd 307 yards the also lead the game in that department.
Defensively, the Cowboy leaders were Darrell Jenkins with nine tackles, Deron Minor with eight and Allen Nelson with seven along with a pass interception, a quarterback sack and a tackle for a loss.
Cornell Tarrant ran for 115 yards for Stephen F. Austin while Edison caught 11 passes for 140 yards and Brooks picked up 139 yards on 13 receptions.
McNeese State travels to Northwestern State next week, while Stephen F. Austin plays host to Central Arkansas.
Texas State 38, Southeastern Louisiana 24
Hammond, La. ? The Texas State football team used a quick start by its offense and defensive units to hand Southeastern Louisiana a 38-24 loss in a Southland Conference game Saturday at Strawberry Stadium in Hammond, La.
“The fast start on offense and defense was huge,” Texas State head coach Brad Wright said. “We came out fast and this is a rough trip for us because we left on Thursday and broke the trip up. Anytime you can get up on the road it is a plus. Anytime you can get out quickly on offense and get some turnovers on defense it helps your cause.”
The Bobcats scored 28 points in the first half as Bradley George threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Luke on the first offensive play of the game and Texas State intercepted three passes to put the Bobcats in scoring position on three other possessions in the first half.
“That was huge,” George said. “We have come out the last couple of weeks looking to strike early on offense. Cameron Luke made the play. It wasn’t that good of a throw. He just made an incredible catch and took the ball in for the score. That gets everyone fired up and ready to roll, knowing that we can score on offense.” After George threw his touchdown pass to Luke, the Lions came right back when Brian Babin hit Chris Wilson for a 10-yard TD to cap a 10-play, 73-yard drive and Jeff Turner added the extra point to tie the score at 7-7.
The Bobcats scored on their next possession when Stan Zwinggi ran for a 20-yard touchdown and Andrew Ireland added the extra point to give the Bobcats a 14-7 lead.
On Southeastern Louisiana’s next possession, Morris Crosby put the Bobcats in scoring position again when he intercepted Babin’s pass at SLU’s 48-yard line and returned the ball down to the 26. The Bobcats capitalized on the turnover when Karrington Bush ran for a 4-yard touchdown and Ireland added the extra point to put the Bobcats up 21-7. The Bobcat defense struck again on SLU’s next possession when Joe Bell intercepted Babin’s pass at the Lion 45-yard line and returned the ball to the 40-yard line. On the first offensive play, George hit a 40-yard touchdown pass and Ireland kicked the extra point to give Texas State a 28-7 lead.
The Lions scored the final points in the first quarter when Jasper Duckworth scored on a 6-yard run and Turner added the extra point to make the score 28-14.
Texas State picked right up where it left off in the opening quarter when the Bobcats drove 80 yards on 12 plays to open up a 35-14 lead when Bush ran for his second touchdown of the day from 4-yards out again with 10:11 left to play in the first half.
After Kenneth Hampton intercepted Babin for the third time in the game at SLU’s 43-yard line, Andrew Ireland added a 45-yard field goal to make the halftime score 38-14.
“That was a big plus for us because (Babin) had thrown just three all year coming into the game and we were able to pick off three today,” Wright said. “He may not have had his best day today, but I know one was tipped and Mo Crosby cut across and got another one.”
That was the final points of the day for the Bobcats as Southeastern Louisiana scored 10 points in the second half as Turner kicked a 41-yard field goal in the third quarter and Babin hit Sim Yarborough for a 16-yard touchdown pass with 14:29 left in the game.
Texas State’s defense shut the Lions down the rest of the way as the Bobcats forced Courtney Smith forced a fumble at the Bobcats’ 20-yard line and Will Thompson recovered the ball to thwart SLU’s final threat in the game.
Texas State took 6 minutes off the clock before Ireland’s 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked. After the blocked field goal attempt, the Bobcats held the Lions on downs and ran out the final seconds on the clock.
“You have to give the defense credit because they forced five turnovers in the game,” George added.
The victory improves Texas State’s record to 6-4 overall and 3-2 in the Southland Conference standings. The win also gives the Bobcats their fourth road win this season, marking the first time since Texas State joined the NCAA Division I ranks that they have won four road games.
Texas State returns home to play Nicholls next Saturday in the final home game of the regular season. The game kicks off at 3 p.m. Southeastern Louisiana is at Sam Houston State.
Sam Houston State 47, Nicholls State 37
THIBODAUX, La. ? James Aston rushed for 142 yards including touchdowns runs of 2, 4, 4 and 14 yards to lead Sam Houston State to a 47-37 Southland Conference victory over Nicholls State Saturday afternoon.
The victory was the second in a row for the Bearkats who upped their season record to 4-4 and stand 2-3 in Southland Conference action.
Sam Houston jumped out to a 24-0 lead, taking advantage of early Colonel turnovers.
Rhett Bomar completed 25-of-48 passes for 394 yards including touchdown passes to Trey Payne and Jason Madkins.
Catron Houston led the Bearkats in receiving with eight catches for 116 yards.
Next week, Sam Houston State plays host to Southeastern Louisiana, while Nicholls State is at Texas State.