Sewanee needs a little more time
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D3football.com
It was a long weekend for many teams in the South Region - literally.
Sewanee spent what may have seemed like an eternity in pursuit of its third victory of the new millennium, even though win came in just the fourth week of the season.
The reason for the long wait had nothing to do with any type of inconsistency or lack of effort on the part of the Tigers, however. In fact, Sewanee has been nearly perfect this year while losing only to Division I-AA scholarship school Davidson.
Nope, the long wait had only to do with time -- as the Tigers' 27-24 victory against Stillman last Saturday was actually the longest game in Sewanee history. It took four overtimes to put away a feisty Stillman team, with 37 of the game's 51 points coming after regulation play ended.
In a game that was tied at 7-7 at the end of the fourth quarter, fullback Brian Morrison scored touchdowns in two different overtimes to help lift the Tigers to victory.
The first came in the initial OT, as Morrison punched it in from 1 yard out to tie the game at 14-14. His second, and the 25th of his career and the game-winner, came on a 2-yard run in the fourth extra frame after Eric Beech nailed a 28-yard field goal to put Stillman up 24-21.
Morrison ended the contest with 99 yards on 23 carries. The only other time the Tigers have been in an overtime game came in a 1998 loss to Davidson by a score of 16-9 in one overtime.
Another standout performance from the game was Sewanee defensive back Jason Wheat, who earned Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference defensive player of the week honors for his 11-tackle effort.
Six of those tackles came for a loss, and he also had a quarterback sack. The most important of those stops came in the final overtime, where he stuffed Stillman tailback Riccardo Thomas for a 1-yard loss on second-and-one from the 2-yard line. Two plays later Stillman was forced to kick a field goal, which allowed Morrison's touchdown to seal the victory.
It will also be a long weekend for the McMurry University Indians in the American Southwest Conference. Coach Steve Keenum's squad lost its second straight conference game after losing just two in the previous two years.
This defeat came at the hands of a first-year East Texas Baptist program, which scored all 28 of its points in the second quarter while holding the Indians to a microscopic minus-3 yards rushing. It was the third consecutive game that McMurry has had an invisible rushing attack.
Cowboys still on fire
Just because Hardin-Simmons University lost its senior quarterback last year, coach Jimmie Keeling knew that didn't mean the Cowboys potent pass attack would fall by the wayside.
In fact, the passing offense has been almost as dominant as ever, with receivers Barry Donham and Kirk Rogers averaging 235 receiving yards between them.
This past weekend's 42-14 victory against Texas Lutheran was a prime example, as Donham hauled in 10 passes for 159 yards while Rogers caught eight balls for 167. The benefactor of this amazing aerial display was Cowboy tailback Tim Pharo, who scored four rushing touchdowns, three of which came from 1 yard out.
In addition to the incredible yardage totals, Rogers has now caught a touchdown pass in nine consecutive games.
Games of the Week
Sewanee at Centre, 1:30 p.m.
University of the South is coming off a big overtime win against a good Stillman team, and must now take on Centre Colonels, whose is 0-1 in conference after a tough 6-3 loss to Rhodes College.
It will be interesting to see how Sewanee comes out after an emotionally-draining four-overtime victory last week. Will the Tigers fall flat or will they feed off the energy created by such a compelling victory?
Mary Hardin-Baylor at Texas Lutheran, 7 p.m.
While this won't exactly be a matchup of ASC titans, Mary Hardin-Baylor is certainly in the running for the league crown. What makes this contest interesting is the fact that both schools started football just over two seasons ago, and have taken almost different paths in the first two years.
Mary Hardin-Baylor is predominantly a running team, while the Bulldogs like to mix it up with both the run and the pass. Last season Texas Lutheran beat UMHB in the final week of the season to taint what had been an outstanding second campaign for the Crusaders. Will the same happen this year, as the two teams square off while UMHB still has a legitimate shot at the conference title?