Sam Houston, Northwestern State meet in TV game Saturday
10/27/2009 8:45:00 AM | Football
The telecast begins at 6 p.m. with kickoff scheduled for 6:05 p.m. This will be the seventh broadcast this season on the network, which is in its second year. Southland TV will broadcast 11 games this season, two more than it did a season ago.
Doug Anderson will provide play-by-play and LaDarrin McLane will be the color analyst for the telecast. For more information about Southland TV, including a list of affiliates, please visit the conference Web site at Southland.org.
As the fourth week of the 2009 Southland Conference race arrives, Stephen F. Austin stands as the only remaining unbeaten team in the league . Southeastern Louisiana dropped its first conference game last Saturday at McNeese State, 36-35. The Lumberjacks put the win streak on the line Saturday at Texas State, which claimed the 2009 conference championship. The Bobcats' homecoming game begins at 2 p.m.
Behind 3-0 Stephen F. Austin, four teams are 2-1. Among those are McNeese State and Central Arkansas, teams which lost to the Lumberjacks. Southeastern Louisiana and Texas State are also 2-1. Sam Houston State is 1-2 while Nicholls and Northwestern State have yet to win in any of their three conference games.
Nicholls will try to put an end to its five-game losing streak when it plays host to McNeese State Saturday at 1 p.m. Central Arkansas visits Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m. and then at 6 p.m., Sam Houston State will play host to Northwestern State with the Demons trying to find their first win of the season.
The rankings look a little differently this week though the same three teams are ranked. In the FCS Coaches Poll, McNeese State is the top-ranked team. The Cowboys are ranked 11th for the second consecutive week, followed by Central Arkansas (12th) and Stephen F. Austin (15th). Central Arkansas is up from 14th last week and SFA climbed from 18th to 15th.
In the Sports Network poll, Stephen F. Austin catapulted the league's two other ranked teams, jumping from 15th last week to 11th this week. McNeese State slipped one spot from 12th last week to 13th and Central Arkansas improved from 18th a week ago to 15th this week.
Southeastern Louisiana and Texas State continue to receive votes in the Sports Network poll, though no other Southland team is garnering attention out of the top 25 in the coaches' poll.
McNeese has won three games this season with last-minute heroic. Last week, the Cowboys got a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Derrick Fourroux to wide receiver Richard Conner with only 39 seconds left in the game for a 36-35 win over Southeastern Louisiana. In a 27-24 win over Henderson State Sept. 5, Fourroux scored on a 4-yard keeper and Toddrick Pendland tacked on a two-point conversion with 1:04 left. A week later, McNeese upset Appalachian State, 40-35, when the Mountaineers were ranked No. 2 in the nation. In that game, freshman place kicker Josh Lewis booted an 18-yard field goal with only four seconds remaining to lift the Cowboys. A safety was added on following the ensuing kickoff.
Northwestern State nearly picked up its first win under first-year head coach Bradley Dale Peveto last Saturday vs. Texas State. The Demons led 17-14 in the fourth quarter, but a pair of field goals by freshman kicker Justin Garelick, the last from 21 yards with 1:55 to play in the game. Northwestern is now 0-7 on the season and 0-3 in Southland play. Quarterback Paul Harris made his first start and ran a turnover-free attack that produced 402 yards, the second-best total offense output this season, and a season-high 289 yards on the ground. Harris ran for 118 yards on 22 carries and threw for 117 more on 10-of-16 aim. He became the first Northwestern true freshman to run for 100 yards since 1998. He and William Griffin, who totaled a career-best 121 yards on 14 carries, gave the Demons their first 100-yard rushing tandem in the same game for the first time in two years.
The Southland Conference has four of the nation's top-10 scoring teams this week. Stephen F. Austin leads all Division I teams (including FCS and FBS), averaging 44.4 points per game through seven games. McNeese State is fourth, averaging 36.4 points per game, while Southeastern Louisiana is fifth with its 36.0 it is averaging. Texas State is 10th, scoring 34.4 points per game.
Three Southland Conference players - Stephen F. Austin kicker Evan Engwall, Southeastern Louisiana receiver Simmie Yarborough and McNeese State tailback Toddrick Pendland - rank in the top six nationally in individual scoring.
Engwall ranks third overall and is the second-highest ranked kicker in the rankings. He is averaging 10.14 points to lead the Southland. Yarborough is the top ranked receiver on the list, averaging 9.71 points per game to tie for fourth. Pendland is averaging 9.67 points per game to rank sixth in the FCS. He is the second-highest running back on the list behind Montana's Chase Reynolds, who leads the nation.
The second-oldest Division I Football Championship Subdivision rivalry in Texas will have a new home at Reliant Stadium beginning next season, Lone Star Sports & Entertainment announced Oct. 20. Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin will face off in the Battle of the Piney Woods in Houston next October. Game organizers plan to open Reliant Stadium's lower bowl, which seats approximately 26,000, for the game. Tickets will range in price from $15 to $35 and will go on sale to the general public Nov. 16 through all TicketMaster outlets. Both schools will also include tickets to the game in their season ticket packages. The Battle of the Piney Woods dates back to 1923, with Sam Houston State holding a 48-34-2 edge in the series. Stephen F. Austin snapped a five-game losing streak to Sam Houston State last Saturday with a 42-3 victory in Nacogdoches.
Tickets to Sam Houston State football at Bowers Stadium are $25 for reserved chairback seats and $15 for general admission. Order tickets now on-line at www.gobearkats.com.
For more information about all Bearkat sports events, contact the Sam Houston State Athletic Ticket Office located in the Ron Mafrige Field Events Center at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone number is (936) 294-1729.
