Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston State
SFA Stumbles in BOTPW Showdown, 42-28
11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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HOUSTON – Stephen F. Austin dug itself a hole late in the first half and couldn’t recover, falling to rival Sam Houston State 42-28 in the 89th installment of the Battle of the Piney Woods at NRG Stadium. The loss drops SFA to 6-3 on the season and 3-2 in Southland Conference play.
“For all the positives that we’ve made this season, we took a little bit of a step back tonight,” said head coach Clint Conque. “Credit Sam Houston State, who is a very good football team, but I thought we made some crucial mistakes. We gave up a handful of long plays, which you can’t do against a team like this. “
SFA ended the game with more total yards than Sam Houston State, outgaining the Bearkats 516-472, while recording 28 first downs to SHSU’s 17. But 345 rushing yards for Sam Houston did in the Lumberjacks, including four rushing touchdowns for Keshawn Hill.
Gus Johnson had another solid outing for SFA, rushing 24 times for 148 yards and a touchdown. He now has 19 touchdowns on the season while upping his career rushing total to 3,474 yards, keeping him on pace to become SFA’s all-time rushing leader. His touchdown run ups his season scoring total to 114 points , making him SFA’s all-time leading scorer for a single season.
Zach Conque completed 34 of his 51 passing attempts for 266 yards in the air while rushing 18 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns, upping his season and career total to 12 rushing touchdowns.
DJ Ward set a new career-best with 12 receptions on the night for 80 yards, upping his career total to 156 catches. That moves Ward into eighth-place all-time for career receptions, passing Floyd Dixon (1982-85) and Mike Brooks (2010-13) in the process.
Aaron Thomas and Justice Liggins each pulled in six catches on the afternoon for SFA, garnering 48 and 45 yards respectively. Tyler Boyd had four catches for 38 yards as well for SFA.
Defensively, Collin Garrett finished with a game-high eight tackles for the ‘Jacks, including one tackle for loss, while Justin Owens tallied seven tackles and two for loss for SFA. The Lumberjacks finished with seven tackles for loss on the day, but failed to register a sack for the third-straight game.
For the first time since playing at Kansas State, SFA failed to score first as Sam Houston State broke a 59-yard touchdown run by Hill on their third play from scrimmage, jumping on top 7-0 early in the first quarter.
After exchanging possessions, SFA was able to pin Sam Houston deep in its own territory. The ‘Jacks applied pressure to the Bearkat offense as Mitchell Zimmerle deflected a Sam Houston State pass attempt near the goal line. The pass was thrown backward, however, resulting in a fumble which was picked up at the two by Trey Vallier and carried into the endzone uncontested, pulling SFA even at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The Bearkats got back on the board with a 31-yard run by Hill early in the second quarter. With the second half winding down, SFA was able to put together an extended drive, covering 85 yards over 14 plays and capped by a three-yard rush by Johnson, tying the game at 14-14 with 1:48 to play.
But the Bearkats showed their quick-strike ability, marching 75 yards in seven plays and adding a touchdown in the final 26 seconds of the half, taking a 21-14 lead into the half.
The third quarter couldn’t have played out any worse for the Lumberjacks as the Bearkats covered 76 yards in just three plays, doubling up SFA 28-14 just 1:04 into the second half. After an SFA three-and-out deep in its own territory, SHSU began with the ball in Lumberjack territory and covered the 48 yards in just three plays, building a commanding 35-14 lead with 10:39 remaining in the quarter.
SFA pulled to within two scores as Conque, after having a touchdown pass to Thomas called back, was able to lead the ‘Jacks into the endzone with a one-yard plunge with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 35-21 heading to the fourth.
The ‘Jacks defense stepped up in the fourth, keeping Sam Houston off the scoreboard as the SFA offensive attack was looking for a key play. But it never came as Sam Houston iced the game with a 52-yard touchdown run by Jalen Overstreet with 4:31 to play. SFA added one final touchdown on a Conque five-yard run with 1:35 to go, then recovered the onside kick, but the comeback was too little, too late as the Bearkats won the rivalry game for the fourth-straight year.
The Lumberjacks and Bearkats played in front of a Battle of Piney Woods record 26,788 fans. With the win, Sam Houston improves to 52-35-2 in the all-time series and have now won four of the five meetings staged at NRG Stadium.
The road doesn’t get any easier for SFA as the Lumberjacks now prepare for a challenging trip to Lake Charles, La., for a showdown with nationally-ranked McNeese State. Kickoff against the Cowboys is set for 6 p.m. Saturday.
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