Conque’s Comments: ‘Jacks Take on Incarnate Word for Southland Opener

THE KICKOFF
Stephen F. Austin football turns its attention to league play as the Lumberjacks host Incarnate Word Saturday, Sept. 16, for their 2017 Southland Conference opener. For the second-straight week, SFA will play a night game at 6 p.m. inside Homer Bryce Stadium as Saturday's tilt begins the Lumberjacks' nine-game conference schedule. It is the second of three home games SFA will play in the month of September.

FOLLOWING THE LUMBERJACKS
Saturday's game against Incarnate Word will be streamed live online at ESPN3, available at ESPN3.com or through the ESPN app on mobile devices. Rob Meyers, the voice of the Lumberjacks, will call the game along with color commentator Kevin Langford on Q107.7 FM, available online at Q1077.com as well as through the Lumberjack Sports Network on the TuneIn app. Live stats will be available at SFAJacks.com, complemented by Twitter updates from @SFA_Football.

ABOUT THE GAME
The Southland opener will be featured as faculty and staff appreciation day and a Zeta Tau Alpha pink out game. It will also be the fourth annual Cally Belcher game as the SFA football program and SFA athletics honor the late Cally Belcher with senior safety Marlon Walls wearing the retired No. 16 jersey in remembrance.

REMEMBERING CALLY
The game against the Cardinals will be much more than just a conference opener for Stephen F. Austin. The 'Jacks will remember Presley Calloway "Cally" Belcher, a SFA all-conference defensive back who passed away from a brain aneurysm following a spring practice in 1994. Born in 1971, Belcher was a three-year letter winner for SFA at the strong safety position and helped lead the 'Jacks to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs in 1993. During a spring practice on March 22, 1994, Belcher was going through drills and took a blow to the helmet. He collapsed on the field and was transported to the hospital where he stayed in a coma for a week. On March 29, 1994, at 22 years old, Belcher died. Known as one of the hardest hitters in the Southland at the time, Belcher's number 16 jersey was permanently retired on Sept. 10, 1994, with a special halftime ceremony during a game versus Montana State. For 20 years the No. 16 jersey was never worn by a SFA player until the 20th anniversary of Belcher's passing in 2014, when the first Cally Belcher game was held inside Homer Bryce. Wide receiver Aaron Thomas was the first player to wear the No. 16 jersey since its retirement during the 'Jacks' 35-20 home win over Weber State on Sept. 20, 2014.

WALLS IN NO. 16
A football player who best exemplifies Belcher's traits of determination, a desire to succeed and a love of the game earns the Cally Belcher Award during SFA athletics' annual Champions Dinner. This past May, Marlon Walls was named the Cally Belcher Award recipient, becoming just the second defensive player to wear the No. 16 jersey since 1993. Now an annual remembrance, Walls joins former teammates defensive end Jamal Allen, who wore the number in 2016, running back Joshawa West, who wore the retired

HEAD COACH CLINT CONQUE'S COMMENTS

Looking back at the Southern Utah game:
"Certainly we are disappointed by how we played, but we came out and competed pretty hard early, particularly defensively. Nothing close to the results that we had hoped for and anticipated. We knew that we were playing a really good Big Sky team and really good football players with skills improved. Their quarterback (Patrick Tyler) played exceptional against us, with his dual threat ability and with his accuracy in the passing game. I don't know that they dropped more than one ball the entire night. We've got a lot of new players, new coaches and schematically we're new a little bit on defense. Foster Sawyer made his first start here at SFA and he missed the last month of summer and the first two and a half weeks of camp, so he looked extremely rusty, particularly early in the game, or two quarters anyways."

"When you are playing with younger type players it's about confidence and detail, eye discipline, gap integrity discipline and just playing consistently, and we are not getting that. As I said after the first two drives of the game, we give up a couple first downs and then we get off the field. The offense can't get out from under the goal post a couple of times and give them short fields. I was disappointed that we gave us some big plays on defense and, obviously, the inconsistency that we had offensively. I thought we did pretty solid in the kicking game for the most part. Caleb Lewallen was punting the ball well, we seem to be covering it pretty well, but we are not where we want to be, not where we need to be. The way we look it there is no experience for game experience and there is no substitute for that."

"We got two games under our belt now and the only way I know how to go about it is staying positive, sawing wood and working hard every day. Do the things we feel like we can do and do them in practice. That was the thing that was really a shocker. I thought we had a pretty good week of practice last week. For all of our walk-throughs, practice times and meetings, it was a little surprising that we let go of the rope like that. But we got two games under our belt, we move on and we've got UIW."

"What's exciting is we start conference play at home. They (UIW) are in a similar boat to what we are. They played a Mountain West opponent and a Big Sky opponent. Fundamentally, they are very sound in their principles. They play very hard, they have a lot of new on offense and defense, they had some quarterback issues as well as far as starting the year with one and then he gets hurt, and now they have their backup in. We've got to prepare for both of them this week. I love their roster as far as their tight ends. Their running backs runs hard, I like their linebacker play and they got a couple of speedy wide receivers. Their kicking game, a very good kicker, a very good punter so we will be challenged there. I want to say that they ran a kickoff back against us two years ago in a game that we won but certainly, it was a big momentum shift in that game. We are glad to be back to work today with the players and get ready for UIW. It's an opportunity to be back at home and start conference play"

On any one area that will make the team much better:
"Well I like the talent of the team. They just haven't play together and again, new schematics, new quarterback. If you look at the guys, several of the guys that have played a lot of football here. They are playing pretty hard and at times playing well. What it is to me, it's just consistency. Early in the game we are able to get off the field on defense but we're not working together because the offense can't sustain first downs or flip the field. We had a critical turnover in the second quarter and I think that really let the air out of us.

"I thought that Foster was tight and when your quarterback is tight, everybody feels that around you. He's just got to breathe and play within the system and value the football better. We've basically given up four offensive touchdowns in the first two games. It's going to be hard to beat anybody when you do that. Then, we made two or three nice plays on defense and then you give up a big ball, and that goes back to not talent but just discipline and consistency of doing your fundamentals. Our approach this week is we're going to do it until we can't get it wrong. That's six offensive plays, two defensive schemes and that is what we are going to do. If we can graduate passed that, fantastic, but we're going to do what we have to do every day in practice until we can't get it wrong. Then, we'll take the next step and add to the plan."

"I think the kids want to win, I think they want to play well. Again, from what I know from my experience is that when you're a backup and the guy in front of you graduates and you earned the job from practice – and there's a bunch of them like that, there is probably half of our starting group that is in that situation – there is different pressure and responsibility of preparation and accountability in practice and accountability on gameday than when you're a rotation guy, a backup, a special teams player or you get a spot starting here or there, like some of our players had in their past. We've got a lot of sophomores in that group, we've got transfers that are just coming on board and we have not progressed the way that we hopefully would. So, we're going to take a step back, pop the roster and throughout all three phases we're going to do it until we can't get it wrong. Once we feel like we've mastered those tasks, then we'll graduate to next task. Then we'll play a game Saturday and hopefully put ourselves in a better position to be competitive. Until we stop we stop making the fundamental mistakes and play more consistently, we're going to find ourselves in these tough situations on Saturdays."

-SFA-

Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography

Conque’s Comments: ‘Jacks Take on Incarnate Word for Southland Opener

9/15/2017 6:30:00 AM | Football

SFA head coach Clint Conque talks about last weekend’s home opening loss versus Southern Utah and previews this Saturday’s Southland Conference opener with Incarnate Word

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations