Football faces unknown in Saint Josephs Saturday
10/1/2009 7:00:00 AM | Football
Purchase Sam Houston tickets now on the web
The Sam Houston football team completes the non-conference portion of its 2009 schedule Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Bearkats play host to the Pumas of Saint Joseph's College of Indiana.The Pumas are members of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Football Conference and remain somewhat of a mystery to the Bearkats.
"Originally, we were supposed to be playing Prairie View A&M, a NCAA FCS opponent, but they opted out when they had the opportunity to go play at New Mexico State, so this game was kind of a last minute deal this summer," Sam Houston head coach Todd Whitten said. "We don't know what to expect. It will be uncharted waters. They are 3-2 this season and have good players. I think it will be game time before we know what we got."
Saint Joseph's is located in Renssalaer, IN. The Pumas are 2-0 in Great Lakes Football Conference play and are coming off a 41-7 thrashing of Lincoln University.
The Pumas are averaging 28.8 points and 338.4 yards of total offense per game. Running back Terrence Freeman has rushed for 370 yards and nine touchdowns, while quarterback Mike Hladik has thrown for 651 yards and three scores.
Defensively, Saint Joseph's is giving up 24.4 points and 359.6 yards a contest.
One thing for sure, Whitten knows from experience the Bearkats can not afford to take Saint Joseph's lightly. Since moving up to the NCAA Division I FCS level, Sam Houston is 24-5 against NCAA Division II teams. Whitten was responsible for one of those five losses when, as head coach at Tarleton State, he brought his squad to Bowers Stadium in 2003 and left with a 39-20 victory.
"Any time you play up a division it's exciting for your team and you come in primed for an upset," Whitten said. "I just hope as a team we can continue to improve and stay focused and get rid of some of these mistakes we have been making."
Saturday marks the final tune-up before Southland Conference begins next weekend, Whitten is more concerned about the Bearkats fixing everything that went wrong in the 56-3 blow-out loss to Tulsa last Saturday.
"We need to play good, sound football, getting better at the little things," the coach said. "We need to clean up the mistakes we made on both sides of the ball. We are having to get some of our young linemen up to speed and they have been getting a lot of reps this week."
The Bearkats have several players out of practice this week as the flu bug continues to roll through town. Huntsville ISD closed all of its campuses Tuesday and Wednesday because of an increased number of absenses due to the flu.
The Kats' offensive line has been hit hardest with illnesses and running back Chris Poullard missed another day of practice Wednesday as he recovers from the flu.
Sam Houston will also be without defensive linemen Kevin Smith and Justin Childs, who were injured at Tulsa.
"We are missing some offensive linemen. We have six or eight kids sick with the flu," Whitten said. "We are probably missing 16 kids in all. It's frustrating this time of year, but everybody in college football has these same issues.
"We just have to stick together and persevere."
KSAM 101.7 FM broadcasts all Sam Houston football games. The broadcast also can be heard anywhere in the world on the web at www.gobearkats.com.
Tickets for Saturday's game are $25 for reserved seats and $15 for general admission. Tickets can be purchased on line at www.gobearkats.com or at the Bearkat ticket office in the Ron Mafrige Field House in the south end zone at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
