Thunderbirds Spoil Lumberjacks’ Home Opener, 51-14

Saturday, September 9

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

0-2

Southern Utah

1-1

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Southern Utah	7	24	10	10	51
Stephen F. Austin	0	0	14	0	14

Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography

Thunderbirds Spoil Lumberjacks’ Home Opener, 51-14

9/9/2017 11:48:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Southern Utah hands the ‘Jacks their worst home-opening loss since 1976 after the Thunderbirds rack up 633 total yards of offense

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

Photo Gallery

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – For the second time in as many weeks, the Stephen F. Austin football team found themselves trailing by over 30 points after one half of play and could not recover. Visiting Southern Utah racked up 633 total yards of offense and held the Lumberjacks (0-2) to just 254 in SFA's 2017 home opener at Homer Bryce Stadium Saturday night. Taking advantage of big plays for the entire night, the visiting Thunderbirds (1-1) scored 24 unanswered points in the second quarter sparked by a sack and fumble recovery.

After a pair of drives from both teams that resulted in punts to start the game, a five-minute touchdown drive by visiting Southern Utah with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter broke the 0-0 tie. The first score of the game came when the Thunderbirds' Patrick Tyler found Logan Parker for a three-yard touchdown strike, giving Southern Utah a 7-0 advantage.

Southern Utah's experienced defensive front seven began to show during SFA's following possession as junior TCU transfer quarterback Foster Sawyer (Fort Worth, Texas) took the first sack of the game. The 'Jacks went three-and-out on their drive and were forced to punt, setting up the Thunderbirds for their second score of the night. It was a three-yard quarterback keeper by Southern Utah's Tyler that gave the visitors a 14-0 advantage less than a minute into the second quarter.

Another quarterback sack moments later proved to end SFA's chances of getting anything going early in the second quarter as the Thunderbirds' Chance Bearnson forced a Sawyer fumble that was recovered by Southern Utah's Taylor Nelson. The costly turnover resulted in seven more points and a 21-0 lead for the Thunderbirds. Tyler found Southern Utah's Judd Cockett for a 15-yard touchdown completion with just over 11 minutes to go before the break.

Still without a first down in the contest, the 'Jacks got their first with just under 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter on a 13-yard pass from Sawyer to senior running back Kijana Amous (Mansfield, Texas). However, SFA would be forced to punt once again after the next set of downs. It only took the visitors two plays and 93 yards to grab a commanding 28-0 lead as Tyler found Southern Utah's Landen Measom for a 96-yard catch-and-run touchdown.

SFA had its first chance to score about midway through the second quarter but after going for it on 4th-and-5 at the Thunderbirds' 36, Sawyer saw his pass fall incomplete to junior Texas A&M transfer wide receiver Frank Iheanacho (Houston, Texas). Following a 15-yard punt catching inference call on the 'Jacks, Southern Utah ended the half with a 1:53 10-play, 30-yard drive that resulted in a 23-yard field goal.

Leading 31-0 at the break, the Thunderbirds outgained SFA 332 to 62 in the first half and held the 'Jacks to negative six yards rushing and just three total first downs.

A much better third quarter for SFA resulted in the Lumberjacks' lone touchdowns of the night as the purple and white outscored Southern Utah 14-10 in the quarter. SFA came out of the locker room on a mission and took the ball 58 yards in six plays following the second-half kickoff. A 35-yard catch-and-run from Sawyer to Amous setup a 13-yard touchdown strike to sophomore wide receiver Tamrick Pace (Brownsboro, Texas). The first touchdown of the year of the year for the 'Jacks inside Homer Bryce came with 12:55 remaining in the third quarter and was answered with a nine-play, 51-yard drive by the Thunderbirds that culminated with a 39-yard field goal.

SFA's ensuing drive was cut short after a false start and Sawyer's first interception of the season. For the second time of the night, the Thunderbirds took advantage of the Lumberjacks' miscue, tacking on another seven points on the second-longest play of the game. Tyler found Isaiah Diego-Williams for a 69-yard touchdown pass, giving Southern Utah a 41-7 lead with nine and a half minutes to go in the third. SFA's longest and most successful play of the night came on the ensuing possession when the 'Jacks spent 4:05 on a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive. A 18-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Cody Williams (Pearland, Texas) and several strong runs by sophomore running back Jamall Shaw (Broken Arrow, Okla.) led to a one-yard touchdown run by Shaw, making it a 41-14 contest with four and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Southern Utah was able to eat away the final four and a half minutes of the third with a 11-play, 60-yard drive that ended in a failed fourth-down conversion early in the fourth quarter. The time-consuming drive lasted 5:26 as the 'Jacks were held to 47 total yards in the fourth. Pinned deep in its own territory, SFA went three-and-out and before the Thunderbirds scored their sixth and final touchdown of the game on six-yard rush by Janiero Green Jr.

After another three-and-out by SFA, Southern Utah went 45 yards in 10 plays and used 5:55 of the clock before Manny Berz knocked through his third field goal of the night from 28 yards out. The Lumberjacks' final drive of the night was SFA's most successful of the fourth as the 'Jacks claimed all three of their first downs of the quarter, going 52 yards in nine plays. However, SFA was not able to come away with any points as the drive was halted at the Thunderbirds' 13-yard line after an incomplete pass to senior wide receiver Trae Hart (Mesquite, Texas).

Southern Utah ended the game on three rushes and a kneel-down, finishing with 418 yards through the air and another 215 on the ground despite committing 126 yards worth of penalties. The 'Jacks were held to just 37 yards rushing after 26 carries and for the second-straight game, could not come away with a takeaway or a sack.

In his first start behind center as a Lumberjack, Sawyer went 21-of-37 for 217 yards and a touchdown. Pace once again led the SFA receiving corps with seven catches for 65 yards and one of the 'Jacks' two scores. Junior University of North Texas transfer Terian Goree (Carthage, Texas) posted 36 yards on four catches, while Shaw gained 28 yards on the ground. For the second-straight Saturday, sophomore safety Alize Ward (San Diego, Calif.) tallied over 100 yards in kickoff returns, this week recording 101 yards on five returns.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Spencer Choka (Bryan, Texas) (13), Ward (13), freshman safety Trenton Gordon (Rowlett, Texas) (11) and senior cornerback Trent Perriman (Miami, Fla.) (9) posted career highs in tackles. Choka also had a team-best 2.5 tackles for loss and two pass breakups, while Perriman broke up three passes.

The Thunderbirds' Tyler finished with 414 passing yards after going 28-of-39 with four touchdowns and rushing for another 48. Southern Utah had two 100-yard receivers with Measom (131) and Diego-Williams (101) each registering five receptions. On the ground, the Thunderbirds' Terran Beasley ran for 75 yards on nine carries.

Saturday's night's loss was the first for SFA against Southern Utah in Nacogdoches as the 'Jacks now hold a 3-2 advantage in the series.

The loss against the Thunderbirds is the worst home-opening loss for SFA since being defeated 77-7 by Texas A&I (now Texas A&M University-Kingsville) on Oct. 2, 1976.

The 'Jacks return to Homer Bryce next Saturday for their second-straight home game as SFA turns its attention to Southland Conference play. Incarnate Word visits Nacogdoches Saturday, Sept. 16, for a 6 p.m. kickoff. It will be featured as faculty and staff appreciation day and a Zeta Tau Alpha pink out game. The Southland opener will be streamed live on ESPN3 and can be watched anywhere via the ESPN app. Play-by-play from the voice of the Lumberjacks, Rob Meyers, can be heard on Q107.7 with Kevin Langford providing color commentary.

Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Lumberjack football this fall.

Quotes

Head Coach Clint Conque

Opening statement
"It wasn't the result we were looking for against Southern Utah and Southern Utah is a really good football team, we knew that going in. You have to discount the Oregon game a little bit. Just look at them in the last couple of years, they (Southern Utah) have been a really good football team in the Big Sky Conference. Right now, we are not a really good team and I've got to own the responsibility for that. With that said though, once again, we are not going to make the growth that we need to make. Kids were in position to make plays at all three phases, we made some and we didn't make a lot of others. The only way I know to improve is to go back to work. We got to block better, tackle better, throw it and catch it better and be more disciplined. It's eye discipline, it's combination block discipline, making the correct read discipline, its gap integrity discipline. Obviously, we haven't done a very good job in the last couple of weeks."

On any positive takeaways leading into week three:
"Well we start conference play next week. We are playing a lot of young kids out there, a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. This is what I just told the team, 'For the first time since they have been at SFA or freshmen playing Division I college football, there is incredible accountability when you walk on the field.' The good and the bad, sometimes you have to go through that just to punch through the other side. We have some juniors that for the first time are feeling the pressure with the large amount of accountability. With that comes a different mindset, new preparation and a different detail, we obviously have not arrived there yet. We just got a lot of work to do."

On the game plan facing Southern Utah:
"Well we had a couple of decent runs, but we couldn't strengthen together consistently. I thought Jamall Shaw ran really hard and I thought Kijana Amous did a really good job. They were a physical team, they were on the edges and you know, we had to get off our game plan and mix and match the game plan once we got behind. Several times we had false start. We had two opportunities for really big plays. Foster Sawyer's scramble out of the pocket, probably a 40-to-50-yard ball to Tamrick Pace and then we didn't get that one. Later in the game, we hit a seam route to Trae Hart and I guess the ball hit the ground at some point. You know, when we get an opportunity to make those big plays, we got to make them. We just need to get fundamentally better."

-SFA-