Young Kats throw scare into No. 4 ranked Jacks
10/24/2010 7:01:00 AM | Football
Football truly is a game of inches.
Bearkat quarterback Brian Bell barely overthrew wide receiver Richard Sincere for what could have been the go-ahead touchdown with 2:21 left in the game on fourth down as Sam Houston State narrowly missed pulling off an upset of fourth-ranked Stephen F. Austin in the Battle of the Piney Woods on Saturday afternoon at Reliant Stadium.
The Lumberjacks avoided another Bearkat drive in the closing seconds to escape with a 31-28 victory over SHSU in a clash of Southland Conference unbeatens.
In front of 24,685 fans at the home of the Houston Texans, Sam Houston State (2-1 in SLC, 4-3 overall) held its own with SFA (3-0, 6-1), which was a near unanimous pick to repeat as league champions and boasts 12 preseason all-conference players.
But reigning Southland player of the year Jeremy Moses found holes in the Bearkat secondary, throwing for 418 yards and four touchdowns to help the Lumberjacks take a quick lead they never relinquished.
"I thought it was a heck of a ballgame," Bearkats head coach Willie Fritz said. "... Obviously we didn't start off real well. Playing the number four team in the country, we were 14 points in the hole right away. We had to dig ourselves out the rest of the ballgame. I told the kids in the locker room that when you play a team like this, a quality opponent, you have to make plays in the end both as coaches and players. We just came up short.
"There were two or three opportunities for us, I thought, to take charge of the game. We had an opportunity to win and it just didn't quite happen."
The Lumberjacks opened the second half with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Moses to Cordell Roberson to go up 28-14. It was the second time Sam Houston was down two scores and it seemed like that might be the cushion SFA needed to pull away.
But the Bearkats didn't go away. After both teams traded possessions, senior Brandon Closner provided Sam Houston with a big spark by returning a punt 34 yards deep into SFA territory.
Bell, a true freshman who threw for 177 yards and score, hit Seth Patterson and Kevin Matthews to move inside the 4-yard line and freshman running back Tim Flanders, who rushed for 100 yards for the sixth straight game, eventually scored from a yard out to make it 28-21.
Sam Houston came up with a key stop, holding the Lumberjacks to a 34-yard field goal after SFA drove into the red zone thanks to a pass interference call with 13:19 left to play.
The Bearkats marched back down the field and got within three again when Bell hit sophomore running back D.J. Morrow for a 7-yard touchdown.
Sam Houston forced another punt with less than five minutes left. On fourth-and-4 from the Bearkat 31, a low snap forced Bell to roll out of the pocket and he turned a busted play into a near game-winner. He had Sincere wide open down the left sideline, but Bell had to hurry the throw and just sailed the ball past Sincere's outstretched arms.
"We got a little confusion at the start, but we got everything straightened out," Bell said. "I picked up the snap and went with the first thing I saw. I made a bad throw, but that is the way it goes sometimes."
The Lumberjacks owned Sam Houston in the first quarter. Moses threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Jeremy Barnes and found Roberson, who finished with 162 receiving yards, from a 58-yard score to make it 14-0.
With Halloween a week away, Fritz dug into his bag of tricks to get the Bearkats back in it. On fourth-and-6 from the SHSU 44, backup quarterback Bryan Randolph snuck onto the field for punter Matt Foster and caught the Jacks off-guard with a fake-punt pass to Sincere that went for 24 yards.
Two plays later, Sincere broke free for a 32-yard touchdown to make it 14-7.
Sophomore kicker Miguel Antonio appeared to come up lame on the extra point, so backup Craig Alaniz came out for the kickoff. The junior executed a perfect onside kick to give the ball back to the Kats at the SHSU 43.
Flanders rumbled his way for a 45-yard scoring run to tie the game at 14 with 11:19 to go in the half.
"We got down and had to get something happening," Fritz said about the fake punt. "At that point in time, we weren't playing real well defensively. ... Randolph did a really good job executing, hitting Richard Sincere in stride. That really provided a spark for us in the ballgame."
SFA retook the lead when Moses connected with Roberson again, this time a dump off over the middle that went for a 34-yard touchdown.
Sam Houston had another chance to get back on the board with the ball at the SFA 46 with 58 seconds before the break following a 40-yard punt return by Closner. The Lumberjacks were able to come up with a fumble by wide receiver Melvis Pride, who appeared to be down, to end the threat.
"Those calls are split-second calls the officials have to make," Fritz said. "Obviously that was a tough one for us because we were getting field position and had an opportunity to come away with a field goal or get a score coming off that great punt return by Closner."
Moses and the SFA offense moved the ball with ease in the first half. The Lumberjacks gained 327 of their 447 yards of total offense in the first two quarters.
But the Bearkats made some adjustments at the half. Roberson was held without a catch and SFA couldn't muster any kind of running game to milk the clock.
But the damage had already been done and Sam Houston's four-game winning streak came to an end.
"They weren't doing anything we didn't think they were going to do, we just got together as a defense and said, 'Hey, we are better than these guys and we have to show it," SHSU linebacker Kash David said.
"The young guys responded on the outside, the corners shut them down, we brought pressure and did what we have been doing for the last four weeks. Sure enough, everybody bought in and it worked. It was just too little too late."
