SFA Stays Alive in Playoffs with 44-33 Win vs. Eastern Washington
No. 12/12 Stephen F. Austin 44, No. 14/13 Eastern Washington 33
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin recorded its first postseason victory since the 1995 season with a 44-33 win over Eastern Washington Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Playoffs.
The Lumberjacks took an 11-point lead into the locker room at halftime, and exploded in the second half. Junior quarterback Jeremy Moses guided Stephen F. Austin to back-to-back touchdowns to take a commanding a 37-12 lead with 5:54 remaining in the quarter. The Lumberjacks pushed their advantage to 25 points before the Eagles mounted a rally late in the third quarter.
EWU quarterback Matt Nichols guided the Eagles on a six-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a Taiwan Jones two-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 44-26 with just over 15 minutes remaining in the contest. The Eagles were able to tack on another score to cut the deficit to 11 points with just over nine minutes remaining.
Eastern Washington appeared to be moving the ball again until freshman corner Jordan Aubrey picked off his second pass in as many weeks. The pass ended a string of 268 consecutive passes without a pick for Nichols.
The Lumberjacks finished the game with 595 yards of total offense, while Eastern Washington recorded 563 yards. Moses completed 43-of-57 passes for 432 yards and four touchdowns, but also had three interceptions. Nichols, the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year, was 43-of-76 for 461 yards and three touchdowns on the night.
Moses connected with nine different receivers led by senior Duane Brooks who tied a school record with his 15 receptions for 124 yards. Brooks became the first player in Southland Conference history to record 100 receptions in a season with his fifth catch of the night. Brandon Scott finished with 11 catches for 89 yards and two scores, all three marks are new career highs for the sophomore wide out. Freshman Cordell Roberson also added four catches for 89 yards and a score in the game.
Senior Vincent Pervis led the SFA ground attack with 16 carries for 125 yards. Freshman Romonte Hampton added five carries for 28 yards and a score.
The Lumberjack defense finished the night with five players in double figure tackles. Junior Jabara Williams led the way with 15 tackles, and a sack. Aubrey, and junior Chad Haynes each added 14 tackles.
Stephen F. Austin returns to action next Saturday at Montana, which advanced to the second round of the playoffs after its come-from-behind win over South Dakota State, 61-48. The Grizzlies scored 40 unanswered points in the final 20:25 to defeat the Jackrabbits.
No. 10/10 New Hampshire 49, No. 8/8 McNeese State 13
LAKE CHARLES, La. - New Hampshire shutout McNeese State's high scoring Cowboys in the second half and claimed a 49-13 victory in opening round play of the NCAA Division I Playoffs in front of 10,009 fans on Saturday.
The Wildcats, now 10-2 on the year, will go on to play Villanova in second-round action next Saturday. Villanova defeated Holy Cross, 38-28.
The Cowboys, who closed out their year at 9-3 and as the Southland Conference co-champions, were in the game throughout the first half and only down eight points at 21-13 after the first two periods. They also came out in the third period with possession but couldn't get anything started and had to punt the ball away.
New Hampshire then went 70 yards for a touchdown that put the Wildcats up 28-13.
However, it was the next possession by the Cowboys that maybe sealed the game's fate. McNeese had taken over at its own 18-yard line and driven to the UNH 15-yard line when a pass by Derrick Fourroux was intercepted by Terrence Klein and returned 79 yards for a touchdown.
"We felt that the most important aspect of the game was the turnover balance," New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell said.
The final tally had the Cowboys with the lone turnover of the game.
All of McNeese's scoring came in the first half of play. Freshman Josh Lewis booted field goals of 31 and 40 yards and Champlain Babin scored on an 11-yard run.
New Hampshire had quarterback R.J. Toman passed for three touchdowns, connections of 9 yards twice to Scott Sicko, and 38 yards to Tavis Negron. Also for the Wildcats, Toman ran for a 1-yard td and Chad Kackert scored on an 11-yard run.
Team totals for the game had New Hampshire with 460 total yards (183 rushing and 277 passing) and McNeese with 326 (156 rushing and 170 passing).
McNeese had entered the game averaging 37 points and 443 yards per game.
Cowboy tailback Toddrick Pendland, who was playing with a compound fracture in his left hand, led the game with 67 yards rushing while Fourroux completed 23-of-37 passes for 170 yards.
Leading New Hampshire was Kackert with 63 yards rushing and Toman with 240 yards in passing on a 17 for 25 day.
"Credit New Hampshire," McNeese coach Matt Viator said. "They outcoached us and outplayed us. They made the plays and we didn't."
Defensive leaders for McNeese were Desmund Lighten, Malcolm Bronson and Jace Peterson with five tackles each while Ryan Hinds led New Hampshire with nine.
North Dakota 17, Central Arkansas 16
CONWAY, Ark. - Central Arkansas has lost games in nearly every way imaginable this season, and they found a new way Saturday in their home season finale.
The Bears had two field goals blocked and missed another in the final six minutes as the North Dakota Fighting Sioux held on for a 17-16 victory at First Security Field at Estes Stadium. It was Central Arkansas' seventh loss this season by an average of 3.3 points per game.
The Bears, who finished 5-7, held a 16-7 lead after junior Eddie Carmona's 29-yard field goal with 10:15 left in the third period. North Dakota's Jake Landry hit Noah Dombrovski with a 22-yard touchdown pass with 2:06 left in the third quarter to close the gap to 16-14.
After that, a rash of special teams blunders and one costly penalty killed the Bears. An ill-advised fake punt attempt by senior punter Jonathan Beard deep in UCA territory early in the fourth quarter gave the Sioux the ball on the UCA 19. North Dakota made them pay with a 34-yard field goal by Brandon Hellevang, good for a 17-16 lead with 9:33 to play. Beard had converted a fake earlier in the game for a first down.
The Bears had several more chances after that. They drove down to the North Dakota 26 before Carmona's 42-yard attempt was blocked by sophomore Broc Bellmore. UCA senior linebacker James Lancaster got the ball back immediately, forcing a fumble on the Sioux's first play that junior Kit Coleman recovered at the North Dakota 49.
Central Arkansas again drove down the field, this time to the North Dakota 17. Carmona came on again but the left-footed junior pulled a 34-yard field goal attempt wide right with 2:12 remaining. Carmona tied the single-season school record earlier in the game with his 16th field goal. UCA's defense forced a three-and-out and got the ball back one last time after a North Dakota punt. Taking over at their own 44, the Bears got a 10-yard pass from Robbie Park to Brent Grimes, and another 28-yarder to Grimes, to put them on the ND 18.
Park then hit senior Preston Echols for 10 yards before the Bears were called for clipping on a 3-yard pass from Park to Rico Moss, pushing them back out to the 31. After a 5-yard pass to Dominique Croom, Carmona set up for a 43-yard field goal attempt with 17 seconds left. But Bellmore again came storming through the right side and blocked it.
Grimes, a senior from Baton Rouge, La., finished his career with another stellar effort, rushing for 137 yards and a touchdown and catching six passes for 57 more yards. He finished his career with 3,060 rushing yards and moved into fourth place all-time. He padded his career touchdown mark with his 59th and his points record with 354. He also moved into fourth in career all-purpose yards with 4,181.
Senior quarterback Robbie Park completed a career-high 33 passes (of 50) for 264 yards. Senior James Lovett tied his career high with 11 receptions. Beard punted three times for a 42-yard average and converted a fake punt in the first half, running for 22 yards and a first down.
Defensively, Central Arkansas held North Dakota to just 256 total yards. Senior linebackers James Lancaster and Jacob Bane closed out their careers with eight tackles apiece. Bane had two tackles for loss and Lancaster had a forced fumble and broke up a pass. Senior tackle Taylor Scott had 2.5 tackles for loss among his six stops, while senior end Larry Hart harassed Landry all day and helped force two intentional grounding calls.