Bearkats look to face Lamar in front of noisy crowd
10/1/2010 6:49:00 AM | Football
By Cody Stark Huntsville Item
Sam Houston State head coach Willie Fritz called the Bearkats into a huddle at the end of Thursday afternoon's workout at Bowers Stadium.
After talking over the basics that come with every post-practice speech, Fritz told the team that the only thing left to do was "finish." Regardless of how well things went during the week heading into Saturday's showdown against Lamar (2-2) in Beaumont, none of it would matter if the Kats (1-2) didn't put the hay in the barn.
"One of our goals every week to win is to finish, to win the fourth quarter," the coach said. "Really that covers everything you do. So many people get sloppy at the end of projects or whatever they are trying to accomplish. We want to finish every single play, every single series and every single rep in practice. We want to finish this week right."
Sam Houston State is covering all of its bases as the Bearkats and Lamar renew a rivalry that ended 21 years ago when the Cardinals cut the football program following the 1989 season.
With folks in the Golden Triangle excited about the return of football, a huge crowd is expected for Saturday's game at Provost Umphrey Stadium. To help simulate the environment, the Bearkats have had segments during practice this week with deafening crowd noise being piped through the speaker system at Bowers.
"I talked to the coach from Webber International, (Lamar's) only home opponent so far this season, and he told me that it was loud," Fritz said. "He said that on one of the ends, it is really loud. I'm sure they are going to be fired up and ready to go. There are only going to be about 400 Bearkat fans there, they only gave us about 400 tickets, and there will be 16,000 from Lamar.
"When we get the ball, I'm sure they are going to be screaming and yelling. I don't think it will be a problem. We have had teams play in front of crowds like that, but you don't want to leave any stone unturned."
The Sam Houston-Lamar encounter is one of only three matchups in the Southland Conference this week. McNeese State and Northwestern State kick off league action on Saturday.
The Cowboys (1-2) travel to Natchitoches, La., to battle the Demons (1-3) in the SLC Television Network game of the week. Northwestern State hasn't beaten McNeese State since a 47-17 home victory in 2004.
Saturday's 6 p.m. game with Lamar will be broadcast live on KSAM 101.7 FM in Huntsville and worldwide on the internet on www.gobearkats.com . Following the trip to Beaumont, Sam Houston will play at Nicholls on Saturday Oct. 9.
The next home game for Sam Houston State will be Saturday October 16 with the Bearkat Homecoming game with Southeastern Louisiana.
Tickets for Homecoming, the "Bearkats for the Cause" Pink Out game with McNeese Saturday November 5 and the regular season finale with Texas State November 19 are onsale now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone is 936 294-1729.
