Ward’s Pick-Six Lifts Lumberjacks over Incarnate Word

Saturday, September 16

Nacogdoches, Texas

6:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

1-2 , 1-0

Incarnate Word

0-3 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UIW

Stephen F. Austin

Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography

Ward’s Pick-Six Lifts Lumberjacks over Incarnate Word

9/16/2017 11:21:00 PM | Football

Box Score

SFA claims first win of the season and starts conference play 1-0 after sophomore safety Alize Ward ends the game on a game-winning, 70-yard interception return

By: Luke Bolanos | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

Photo Gallery

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Sophomore safety Alize Ward intercepted Incarnate Word's Sean Brophy on a flea flicker pass with 16 seconds remaining and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown as time expired, lifting Stephen F. Austin to a 37-31 victory in the Lumberjacks' Southland Conference opener. Trailing 31-21 with under nine minutes left, SFA (1-2, 1-0 Southland) scored 16 unanswered points in the final eight and a half minutes of play to top the visiting Cardinals (0-3, 0-1 Southland).

A 37-yard field goal by sophomore Storm Ruiz (League City, Texas), the Lumberjacks' first field goal attempt of the season, capped a 10 play, 29-yard drive and got SFA within a touchdown of UIW with 8:24 remaining. After forcing a three-and-out on the Cardinals' following drive, the 'Jacks immediately capitalized on their defensive stop. SFA went 73 yards in 51 seconds on just four plays, highlighted by a 41-yard sliding catch by senior wide receiver Trae Hart (Mesquite, Texas). Junior TCU transfer quarterback Foster Sawyer (Fort Worth, Texas) found sophomore Tamrick Pace (Brownsboro, Texas) in the back of the end zone on fade rout for a 24-yard score, tying the game at 31-31 with 5:24 to go.

The 'Jacks' defense came up big again and forced another Cardinal punt with just over three and a half minutes to play, however, SFA was stopped at its own 48. The five-play, 33-yard drive was hampered by a five-yard sack by UIW's Mar'kel Cooks and Darrius Montgomery. Junior punter Caleb Lewallen (Kingwood, Texas) pinned the Cardinals back at their own five-yard line as UIW had 1:11 left of clock to work with.

Following a first down, the Cardinals were facing third-and-six when head coach Clint Conque elected to burn one of his two final timeouts with 16 ticks to go. UIW came out of the timeout and ran one of their special situation plays as Brophy handed the ball off to the Cardinal's Derrick Mitchell, who tossed it right back to Brophy for the flea flicker. However, would-be recipient Phillip Baptiste was in triple coverage as Ward came down with the interception and returned it down the home sideline for the game-winning touchdown with 00:00 showing on the clock. Redshirt freshman Rayshad Nichols (Bridge City, La.) and sophomore linebacker Teddy Britton (San Antonio, Texas) threw tremendous blocks to help the San Diego, California, native leap his way into the end zone.

The mesmerizing finish to the game came after SFA raced out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, followed by 31-straight points by the visitors. A three-yard run by senior running back Kijana Amous (Mansfield, Texas) gave the 'Jacks their first score of the game less than two minutes in as the SFA scored on its opening possession. After three-and-out on UIW's opening drive of the game, the 'Jacks took the ball 70 yards on five plays in in just under a minute and a half. Sawyer collected his first rushing touchdown in a SFA uniform on a 19-yard scamper down the middle of the field, forcing his way past the goal line to give the 'Jacks a 14-0 lead. Later on in the quarter, junior University of North Texas transfer wide receiver Terian Goree (Carthage, Texas) collected his first touchdown for the purple and white when he reeled in a 28-yard pass from Sawyer with just under three minutes to go in the first. The touchdown catch capping an eight-play, 69-yard drive in 2:14.

The longest drive of the game took 7:33 as the Cardinals went 82 yards in 17 plays to put their first points on the scoreboard, scoring with just over 10 minutes to go in the second quarter after a four-yard pass from Brophy to Marcus Valverde. A Jose Perez 40-yard field goal made it a 21-10 game right before the half as UIW finished off a nine-play, 64-yard drive.

SFA's offense was nothing short of sluggish in the third quarter as the 'Jacks gained just 11 yards on 12 total plays, while the Cardinals rushed for 92 and passed for another 61 for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Between the second and third quarters, SFA was outgained 261 to 63 in total yards. A 12-yard touchdown catch by Malik Harris from Brophy capped an eight-play, 59-yard drive by UIW as the Cardinals got to within four at 21-17 after six minutes of play in the third.

UIW took its first lead in the game at 24-21 with just over three minutes to go in the third when Brophy found Andre Zaire for a 16-yard touchdown strike, completing a nine-play, 70-yard scoring drive. A four-minute drive by the visitors began the fourth quarter as the Cardinals tacked on another touchdown. UIW's Harris collected his second touchdown catch of the game on a 25-yard pass from Brophy, giving the Cardinals a 10-point, 31-21 lead with just under 12 minutes to go before SFA began its comeback march.

Sawyer finished the game with a season-high 33 completions for 283 yards and pair of touchdown passes, while Hart tallied eight receptions for 77 yards. Amous teamed up with sophomore running back Jamall Shaw (Broken Arrow, Okla.) to combine for 47 yards rushing as the 'Jacks were outgained 205 to 66 on the ground.

Defensively, sophomore linebacker Anthony Jacobs (Houston, Texas) led SFA with a career-high 13 tackles, including seven solo stops. Ward added 10 tackles as Nichols notched a career-high eight, including two tackles for loss and a sack. Junior defensive tackles Demetrion Amie (Fort Worth, Texas) and Lamont Alexander (Nolanville, Texas) and senior defensive end John Franklin (Greenville, Texas) each recorded a sack, while Jacobs and sophomore linebacker Spencer Choka (Bryan, Texas) combined for another.

UIW gained 422 total offensive yards, compared to 349 by SFA as University of Iowa transfer running back Mitchell racked up 174 on 25 carries. The Cardinals' Brophy tossed for 217 yards and four touchdowns on 24 completions, while Baptiste grabbed five catches for 60 yards and Harris scored twice on four catches for 48 yards.

Up next…

The 'Jacks will hit the road next week for their first Southland road game of 2017, taking on Abilene Christian in a 6 p.m. kickoff from the Wildcats' brand new Wildcat Stadium.

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

Notes

Saturday night's win keeps the 'Jacks undefeated against UIW with a perfect 4-0 record, including a 3-0 mark inside Homer Bryce Stadium. Coach Conque improves to 5-0 against the Cardinals after defeating UIW in his final year at Central Arkansas.

SFA's first turnover of 2017 resulted in a game-winning, 70-yard pick six on the final play of the game. It was the Lumberjacks' first interception touchdown return since Oct. 15, 2016, when George Stone had a 50-yard pick six during SFA's home loss against Southeastern Louisiana. The interception was just Ward's second of his career.

For the second time this season, SFA gained 200 kickoff return yards as three different players – Ward, Shaw, redshirt freshman running back Josh McGowen (McAllen, Texas) – each recorded at least 60 yards off of returns.

Sawyer's 19-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was a career long, while sophomore wide receiver Cody Williams (Pearland, Texas) had a career-long 31-yard reception in first quarter.

Franklin, who had eight sacks a year ago and was among conference leaders, claimed his first sack of the season with a minute to go in the first half. Nichols' first career sack with 6:32 remaining in the fourth quarter ended UIW's drive and gave the ball back to the 'Jacks, which would result in SFA's game-tying scoring drive.

Ruiz' first field goal of the season in the fourth quarter extends his make streak to five, dating back to last season.

Sophomore Pace is now just five yards shy of reaching the 1,000-yard receiving mark for his career after registering five catches for 43 yards. He had a 67-yard catch in the second quarter called back due to an ineligible receiver downfield penalty.

Quotes

Head Coach Clint Conque

Opening statement
"I've been doing this for 34 years, 18 as a head coach. Won and lost games on the last play, but never on an interception from a flea flicker from about 70 yards. We're 1-0 in the conference and these young men showed a lot of grit tonight and a tremendous amount of resiliency. First quarter may have come a little bit too easily, but it came easily because we played clean. We played assignment sound and tackled well. We executed, and that's what happens, you score points and make stops. Then for two quarters we lost our legs, that's the quality of a young team trying to figure out how to win. In the fourth quarter we're down 10 with nine minutes to go, defense makes a stop, we have a drive, Storm (Ruiz) nails a 37-yarder, which might have been the play of the game actually. Defense goes out and makes a stop, then foster takes us down four plays, 73 yards in 50 seconds to tie the game. I called a time out after second down, I just wanted to extend the game to see if they would make a mistake, and they made a mistake. Alize (Ward) is a game changer for us, we've seen that in his kick return ability. Last year he had a huge interception against McNeese that gave us an opportunity to win that game. He picked up some hellacious blocks and God's blessed him with vision and running skills. I've always said that he's probably the best running back on our campus. No disrespect to our running backs that are playing, because they are playing really well right now. One of the most bizarre endings that I've been a part of."

On struggling to run the ball and issues with stopping the run through the first three weeks
"It's obviously something we're working on. Now four sacks doesn't help our rushing average. We've got to be better running the football. It takes pressure off the pass game so we can play-action pass and do some things. Give credit to those guys, there were some pretty big guys up there and they moved on us and we missed a couple of assignments. There is no question about that, we turned some people free. We've got to get more cohesive there, no question about it. On the other side of the football, I thought we came out and tackled well. We fed our gaps, our discipline was good and then we started missing tackles. Part of that was the offense was three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out and the defense got tired. We lost Trenton Gordon, a freshman and another playmaker we feel like for us back there, he was put in concussion protocol tonight. That hurt us, we were already down Trey Ramos there. But, we have to make tackles. Give those guys some credit. No. 6 (Derrick Mitchell) is a transfer from Iowa, he's a stud. We had an opportunity, many times, to hit him in the backfield, on the line of scrimmage or for a three-yard gain and he broke those tackles. That's what happens when you get tired. We all have to work together, the offense has to keep the defense off the field and move the chains, and then when the defense is out there they have to make tackles and make stops. Early in the game we did that, the middle part we didn't to the defense's credit."

Sophomore Safety Alize Ward

When you were running the ball back, did you have any intention of going out of bounds?
"I was trying to score. Great blocks. Great blocks. I saw three blocks in front of me. Great blocks. That's all I've got to say on that one, great blocks on the defensive side."

Junior Quarterback Foster Sawyer

That final Drive there to tie the game up at 31, how much confidence does that give you and your offense?
"It speaks lots of volumes to our offense. I told the offensive line, we're going to step on this field and score. If you're in then get on the field, and get off if that's not your mind set. Sure enough, we put points on the board and the defense had our back at the end. It's good momentum. We have to stay calm when things don't go so well, including myself. But I'm proud of these guys and a win is a win. It's not easy to win. Give credit to UIW, they're a good team. Let's enjoy this while we can and then tomorrow night focus on the next team."

-SFA-