Jeremy Moses became the Southland Conference's all-time leader in total offense as he led Stephen F. Austin to a 31-28 victory over Sam Houston in the 85th "Battle of the Piney Woods" rivalry played the Reliant Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The victory upped No. 4 ranked Stephen F. Austin to 5-1 for the year and 3-0 in Southland Conference action. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for Sam Houston as the Bearkats dropped to 4-3 for the season and 2-1 in conference.
Moses completed 30 of 53 passes for 418 yards and four touchdowns. Moses surpassed Nathan Brown of Central Arkansas for the new record. Brown produced 10,993 yards from 2005 to 2008. Moses now has rolled up 11,402 yards total offense.
The crowd of 24,685 was the largest in SHSU-SFA series history and the largest crowd for a Bearkat game vs. an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. A crowd of 18,342 saw last year's "Piney Woods" battle in Nacogdoches. The Bearkats played before 23,382 fans in the NCAA semifinals at Montana in 2004.
Tim Flanders led Sam Houston with 23 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown. Richard Sincere had 72 yards on eight carries and a score. Flanders tied a Sam Houston State record for most 100-yard rushing performance in one season with six. No Bearkat running back ever before has carried for 100 or more yards rushing in six consecutive games.
On the strength of Moses' arm, the Lumberjacks powered to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. He hit Jeremy Barnes for a six-yard score to complete an eight play, 89-yard drive with 8:29 left in the period. On the next SFA possession Moses hit Corde Roberson for a 58-yard scoring pass.
A fourth down gamble propelled Sam Houston to its first score. Bryan Randolph passed to Richard Sincere from punt formation on fourth down for a 24-yard gain to the SFA 32. Sincere then took a direct snap from center and race around left end for a 32-yard score to cut the margin to 14-7 with 12:45 in the second period.
After a successful onside kick, the Bearkats took just three plays to score as Tim Flanders broke open for a 45-yard touchdown run to knot the score 14-14 at 11:19.
Moses found Roberson for a 34-yard touchdown to put the Jacks back up 21-14 with 6:53 remaining before intermission.
The senior quarterback continued firing in the third quarter, hitting Kris Lott for a 30-yard touchdown to complete a six-play, 69-yard drive 2:18 into the second half to put SFA up 28-14.
Brandon Closner's 33-yard punt return to the SFA 19 set up a one-yard touchdown run by Tim Flanders to bring Sam Houston back to within seven, 28-21 with 2:24 to play in the third quarter.
Thomas Henshaw increased SFA's lead to 31-21 with a 34-yard field goal with 13:49 remaining in the contest.
Bell led an 11-play, 74-yard drive that ended with a seven-yard scoring pass to D. J. Morrow as Sam Houston cut the lead to 31-28 with 7:02 to go.
