After an open date this weekend, the Sam Houston football team travels north Saturday for the team's second road game of the 2010 schedule as they face the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Macomb, Ill. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
More than half of this year's Bearkat football squad weren't part of the Sam Houston program last September when WIU visited Bowers Stadium to open the 2009 season for both teams. But the 28 players who played in that contest can tell them it was a battle that literally went down to the final gun, and then some.
The game was in doubt until the final play as Sam Houston drove to the one yard line with 21 second to go but the Leathernecks stopped the Bearkats on three straight plays. Blake Joseph's pass from the three for Jason Madkins in the end zone with no time remaining after a penalty fell short.
Dre Gibbs rushed 29 times for 101 yards including a six-yard run with 14:19 to play in the fourth quarter that proved to be the winning touchdown as Western Illinois defeated Sam Houston State 35-28 in the season opener for both teams at Bowers Stadium.
Running back James Aston led the Bearkats with 18 carries for 126 yards including touchdown runs of 6 and 10 yards. Chris Brown gave Sam Houston a 28-21 lead with a 64 yard interception return for a touchdown at the 10:17 mark of the third quarter.
"The game was a heartbreaker," said Bearkat safety Victor Carmichael, who returned a fumble 21 yards for a score to give Sam Houston a 14-7 lead in the first quarter. Carmichael is one of the 28 lettermen returning from last year who will make the trip to Macomb Saturday.
"We did well early on, but we didn't finish," Carmichael added. "We came out in the second half flat, and they came out and gave it to us. I guess we went into halftime thinking we were going to roll over these boys. They're a good football team and we're going to have to bring our best to beat them on their home field this week."
Matt Barr, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 437 yards, hit Lito Senaturs for a 30 yard touchdown to tie the game 28-28 with 3:55 to go in the third. Barr also threw scoring passes to Matt Warner for 49 yards with 8:40 to go before half and to Senatus for 26 yards with 14:09 to play in the third quarter.
Madkins led the Bearkats in receiving with 5 catched for 60 yards including a long of 22 to give the Bearkats an opportunity to tie the game and force overtime with seconds remaining. Jake Lebens also had five catches for 46 yards and Aston pulled in four passes for 46 yards.
The start of the contest was delayed 35 minutes due to lightning.
With Western Illinois leading 35-28 with 28 seconds to go, Bearkats quarterback Blake Joseph hit senior Jason Madkins for what appeared to be a touchdown. The cannon fired and the Bearkats started celebrating, thinking they were an extra point away from tying the game.
But an official ruled Madkins down just outside the goal line and Sam Houston State failed to punch it in on three tries as the Leathernecks knocked off the Kats 35-28.
The Bearkats also had three promising drives end on two fumbles by Joseph and one by senior wide receiver Jake Lebens.
Western Illinois quarterback Matt Barr connected with wide receiver Lito Senatus 11 times for 235 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the victory. The Sam Houston State defense was caught off-guard from the start by the Leathernecks' passing attack. Western Illinois likes to run the ball a ton, but that wasn't the case Thursday.
The Leathernecks came back from a seven-point deficit to go up 21-14 when Barr hit Senatus for a 29-yard score to start the second half. Western Illinois tied the game in the second quarter thanks to a 49-yard scoring grab by Matt Warner.
The Bearkats regained the lead in the third quarter when senior defensive end Chris Brown tipped a pass to himself and raced 64 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-21 following freshman Miquel Antonio's kick.
The Leathernecks answered with a pair of scores, the last coming on a 6-yard run by running back Dre Gibbs with 14:19 left to play.
The win over Sam Houston was Western Illinois' only victory in a 1-10 campaign last year. But the Leathernecks look much improved this season after an opening victory at home a week ago over Valpariso and a close 31-21 loss at Purdue Saturday.
Sam Houston looks to make good use of its open weekend.
"We have been using this week to get crisper and sharper in some of the areas we have been making mistakes in," head coach Willie Fritz said. "Hopefully that will pay of for us. I told the kids that we were going to be fresh and frisky next Saturday. We are going to take a look at film of Western Illinois from last year and we expect they are going to do a lot of similar things."
Sam Houston opens its home schedule on Saturday Sept. 25 with Bearkat Family Weekend against Gardner-Webb. Special events during the evening include an appearance by the Houston Texans cheerleaders, a salute to Hillcrest Heroes honoring local veterans and police and fire department emergency service personnel, a huge pregame tailgate and a postgame fireworks display.
Other home games will be Oct. 16 (Homecoming) vs. Southeastern Louisiana, Nov. 6 vs. McNeese State and Nov. 20 vs. Texas State. The final three home games will kickoff at 2 p.m.
Tickets for all Sam Houston home games at Bowers Stadium and the "Battle of the Piney Woods" contest with Stephen F. Austin October 23 at Reliant Stadium are onsale now at www.gobearkats.com/tickets .
Fans also may visit the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House located in the south end zone of Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
