Elimination week claims one in ASC
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A wet field didn’t slow things down, as the two combatants combined for more than 900 yards of total offense. The Cowboys (5-1, 3-0 ASC) held the offensive edge, racking up 248 yards on the ground to go with a career-best 312 passing yards from Jordan Neal (26-for-42 for 3 TDs and no interceptions). The rushing attack was paced by junior Lance Moore, who gained 126 yards on 22 carries, scoring once, while Neal added 79 yards and a score on 11 attempts.
No fewer than seven Cowboys tallied receiving yardage, as Neal got great protection from his line and had time to find receivers. Senior wide receiver Joe Lemberg set the pace with eight catches for 118 yards. Junior linebacker Brent Gailey had 14 tackles (11 solo), three for loss including a sack, and forced a fumble which took the momentum away from Howard Payne (2-3, 2-2 ASC) just as the Yellow Jackets were driving for an early 21-10 lead. Gailey timed the snap count perfectly, hit Adam King just as he received the shotgun snap, and forced a fumble which was recovered on the HSU 11-yard line. Instead of going in to the locker room down 21-10, HSU immediately drove 83 yards for a touchdown to take a 17-14 lead.
Neither team could stop the other in the second half, as five consecutive possessions resulted in touchdowns — three for Hardin-Simmons, and two by Howard Payne. HSU’s defense finally made a stand on HPU’s first possession of the fourth quarter, holding the Jackets to minus-3 yards and forcing a punt.
 Photo by Pat Coleman, D3football.com Hardin-Simmons' Jordan Neal made Howard Payne tacklers miss on a second-quarter draw play. |
King had a solid day, going 23-for-35 for 301 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions, but the Cowboy defense limited his effectiveness by sacking him four times on the afternoon and knocking him down several other times. HSU held the Jackets to just 97 yards on the ground.
Summing it up, HSU’s safety-turned-running back Lance Moore said “this game was a little more personal after they beat us last year and ended our streak.”
Landing permanently on offense has helped Moore, who was playing both ways early in the season. “I can really concentrate on one thing,” said the junior. “When I was playing both I was in-and-out all the time. Now I come to the sidelines and they have time to tell me what to do.”
The narrow win keeps the Cowboys’ hopes alive for a fourth ASC championship in five years. They travel to Sul Ross this week before a huge matchup against East Texas Baptist in Week 8.
Centre takes the lead in the SCAC
For the first since it happened under similar circumstances in 2001, there’s a team besides Trinity (Texas) at the top of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference standings. Centre (5-1, 3-0 SCAC) took over the conference lead in a 51-41 victory over Millsaps (0-6, 0-2) that went from a laugher to nearly too close for comfort in one short quarter.
First, the good: Led by quarterback Brian Behrendt, the Colonels rushed out to a 44-0 lead after three quarters. Behrendt had his best game of the season, completing 23 of 29 passes for 319 yards and 3 touchdowns. RB Lorenzo Engleman, second in the conference in rushing, did most of his damage on the receiving end with 147 yards on 7 receptions. Behrendt and Engleman hooked up on an 86-yard catch-and-run which made the score 31-0 midway through the second quarter. In the meantime, the Colonel defense totally shut the Majors down, allowing just four first downs and under 100 yards in the first half. As Centre head coach Andy Fry told the Danville Advocate-Messenger, “This was our best effort (of the season). We just shut them down all the way.”
What do you do when you’re routing a team 44-0 after three quarters? You put in the second- and third-stringers, whom Millsaps treated as a starving bear would honey. Fry told the paper “I decided — against the rest of my coaches — that about two-thirds of the way into the third quarter we were going to start playing our twos and threes, Millsaps kept their first team out there, and we just didn’t play very well.”
That was an understatement, as the Majors proceeded to score 41 points in one quarter on their way to 435 yards of total offense. Fry became so disgusted with the situation that he sent both starting units back onto the field for a series in the fourth.
“I’m hoping our kids will disregard that [fourth quarter] and just get back to where we were,” said Fry, but with a huge tilt at Trinity coming up in two weeks, you wonder which Colonel unit will show up. Will it be the one that utterly pounded Millsaps for three quarters, or the one which lost unexpectedly to Washington and Lee and seemed to make an unwelcome return in the fourth quarter last Saturday? Either way, the Colonels have one more game — at home against improving Maryville (Tenn.) unit — to prepare for what could be the SCAC championship.
Around the Region
The Mary-Hardin Baylor juggernaut (5-0, 4-0 ASC) put in another appearance, with a record-setting 67-7 thrashing of Mississippi College (2-3, 1-3). The Crusader offense (525 yds) is finally catching up to the defense, a scary thought for both regular-season and playoff opponents ... Choctaw quarterback Scotty Elliot was injured early in the first quarter and did not return. Adding insult to injury, MHB’s Chris Arp averaged 55.5 yards per punt on the rare occasions when the Crusaders were forced to kick.
And, speaking of thrashing, East Texas Baptist (4-1, 4-0) did it record-setting fashion against Sul Ross State, 66-10. The record was the 578 yards of total offense, an ETBU high. The Tigers have won six consecutive road games at this juncture. The Lobos kept it close for a quarter, trailing 14-10, before the Tigers rattled off 52 unanswered points. RoShawn Johnson added 146 yards and a touchdown to his ASC-leading pace.
Austin College (1-4, 1-3 ASC) used a 21-point third quarter outburst to defeat Texas Lutheran (0-5, 0-4), 31-14. The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak dating to last season. AC’s appropriately named offensive lineman Brandon Rushing scored his first career touchdown on an 8-yard run following a lateral, and Chris Moore returned a Bulldog fumble 8 yards on the ensuing kick for the Kangaroos’ final touchdown of the day. Austin will try to make it two in a row against Louisiana College, which spoiled McMurry’s homecoming 34-18.
Trinity (5-1) temporarily fell half a game behind Centre after a non-conference tilt against Washington U. (2-4). The 21-7 win came in soggy conditions in San Antonio, and the Bears outgained the Tigers 398-308. It was a case of “bend but don’t break” for the Trinity defense, which allowed Wash U. to drive the field before stiffening in or near the red zone on several occasions. As a result, the Bears were only 1-for-3 in the red zone, and were held to 1-for-4 on fourth down. D3football.com preseason All-America defensive lineman Jarrod Smith had three of Trinity’s season-high five sacks, and returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown. The battered Tigers, who have already lost several players for extended periods to injury, have the week off to prepare for Centre in week 8.
DePauw (4-2, 2-1) kept its SCAC hopes alive with a 21-0 victory at Sewanee. Ross Wiethoff was the key for the Tigers, as he led all gainers with 143 yards, including 1- and 64-yard touchdown runs. DePauw’s other score came on a 56-yard punt return from Adam Sisson. The Tigers outgained the Tigers 355-255 and ruined Sewanee’s homecoming in so doing. Like Trinity, DePauw has a week off before facing its next opponent, winless Millsaps.
Notes
ETBU’s RoShawn Johnson has rushed for over 100 yards in all five games this year - and ten times in his career.
Speaking of ETBU, Charlie Chitwood, the voice of East Texas Baptist University athletics and AFCA’s Aztec Bowl, was named the inaugural recepient of the ASC’s Outstanding Media Service Award. Congratulations!
Centre’s 51-41 victory over Millsaps was the second-highest scoring game in SCAC history.
DePauw’s Jemarcus Shephard was one of the “Faces in the Crowd” in the October 13th issue of Sports Illustrated. Shephard was recognized for his performance against Hanover, where he threw a 75-yard touchdown pass, returned a kickoff 88 yards, and caught three passes for 52 yards.
Trinity’s Ray Valencia was the first person to rush for over 100 yards against Wash U this season, and only the fourth in the last 48 games.
Louisiana College’s win at McMurry was its first road win in more than a year.
Around the ASC
Offensive POW: Wayne Davis, RB, Sr., Louisiana College: ran for an ASC-record 322 yards on 34 carries, tied the ASC record with 4 rushing TDs in Louisiana College’s 34-18 comeback win against McMurry (2-3, 2-2 ASC). 252 of Davis’ yards came in the second half. The Wildcats moved to 2-3, 2-2 ASC with the win.
Defensive POW: Brent Gailey, LB, Jr., Hardin-Simmons: 14 tackles (11 solo), three for loss, one sack, and forced a fumble which changed the complexion of the game against Howard Payne.
Special Teams POW: Chris Arp, P, Jr., Mary Hardin-Baylor: kicked an ASC season-long 67 yard punt and had another downed inside the five in MHB’s win over Mississippi College.
Around the SCAC
Offensive POW: Brian Behrendt, QB, Jr., Centre: 23-for-29 for 319 yards in three quarters against Millsaps. His efficiency rating on the day? 205.85.
Honorable mention: Daniel Swanstrom, QB, Rhodes: 33-for-43 for 316 yds and two TDs in a win against Rose-Hulman
Defensive POW: Jarrod Smith, DL, Sr., Trinity: Four tackles, all for loss, including a career-best three sacks; two quarterback hurries, one pass breakup, one forced fumble, and a 50-yard interception for his first career score.
Honorable mention: Kevin Titus, Centre: four tackles, one pass breakup, two interceptions, returning one 43 yards for a touchdown.
Games of the Week (times local)
Averett (2-2) at Huntingdon (0-3) Montgomery, Ala., 1 p.m.: Kudos to Averett, which saw Huntingdon needed a game and decided to add a 10th game to its schedule late in the game. Huntingdon, a first-year program playing an independent schedule, lost University of Dallas from its slate for this week when the club program was unable to field a team.
No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor (5-0, 4-0 ASC) at Howard Payne (2-3, 2-2), Brownwood, Texas, 2 p.m.: It’s a light slate in the ASC this week. If HPU plays at the same level it did against Hardin-Simmons, it might be the first team to give MHB a game since Willamette in week 1. HPU’s run defense, allowing 143 yards per game, will have to be at its absolute best if the Yellow Jackets are to stay close.
Maryville, Tenn. (2-4) at Centre (5-1), Danville, Ky., 2:30 p.m.: With DePauw and Trinity both on hiatus this week, Maryville’s game at Centre is as compelling as anything within the conference. The improved Fighting Scots are better than their 2-4 record might indicate, and played 4-1 Case Western Reserve even for a half before falling, 27-17. For Centre, it’s a chance to get everything ready for the big Week 8 matchup in San Antonio.
Next week the conference races start to get interesting, as ETBU visits HSU and Centre visits Trinity. See you then!
Comments? Complaints? Praise? Have an interesting story idea for an upcoming column? Think your team isn’t getting enough coverage? If so, contact me at ron.boerger@d3football.com