Bearkats Devour One More
10/30/2011 7:12:00 AM | Football
Even with the sun beaming off the turf, the Bearkats hardly had to sweat Saturday. From the first play of the game, Sam Houston simply dismantled Lamar with a 66-0 beating.
The sixth-ranked Bearkats showed why they're one of the best in the country and stand as the team to beat in the Southland Conference. Sam Houston churned out 559 yards and held Lamar to 98.
"It starts with our defense. They gave us great field position," Bearkats sophomore Richard Sincere said. "The defense got a lot of turnovers, so that makes it easier for us to have momentum and go down and score."
Sam Houston, which improved to 5-0 in Southland action and 8-0 overall, started rolling right away.
On the first play of the game, Bearkats quarterback Brian Bell sucked the Lamar defense in on a play-action fake to running back Tim Flanders.
With the Cardinals defense biting on the play, Bell found a wide-open Sincere along the sideline and hit him in stride. Sincere took it all the way for a 67-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
"We knew from about Wednesday our first play was going to be a score. We knew it and we worked on that," Flanders said.
Then it was the defense's turn. After holding Lamar (1-3 in SLC, 3-5 overall) to zero yards on the first two plays of its initial possession, the Cardinals turned the ball over for the first of four times (three interceptions and a lost fumble) throughout the game.
Bearkats linebacker Kash David got pressure on Cardinals quarterback Andre Bevil for a sack, which caused the ball to go free and defensive tackle J.T. Cleveland came up with the fumble.
Taking over on Lamar's 20-yard line, Sam Houston scored a few plays later.
The Kats tried to punch it in on first- and second-and-goal by giving it to Flanders up the middle, but were denied. The Cardinals looked to stop another run, but Bell caught the defense looking and was able to roll out of the pocket before finding backup running back Ryan Wilson in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.
It wasn't until later that Lamar was able to get a drive going and push the ball into Sam Houston territory.
The Cardinals caught a break in their own end of the field after Bevil fumbled, but had running back Caleb Harmon recover the loose ball. On the next play, cornerback Daxton Swanson, whose interception earlier in the possession was wiped away because of an offside penalty, snared another one and almost scored. The sophomore returned it all the way to the Cardinals' 1.
"We knew they were going to throw the ball a lot and that they were going to try and test us," Swanson said. "Last time, they had a good game passing, so we knew they were going to come out passing, so we just tried to make plays, get interceptions."
Flanders wasted little time and beat Lamar defenders on a sweep for his first score of the day.
All of that was just the first quarter.
But it didn't stop there.
Lamar struggled to get yards, while the Bearkats kept adding to their lead.
Following a solid 20-yard punt return by Trey Diller, Sincere scampered 40 yards, juking a pair of Cardinal defenders along the way, for a score.
Flanders then bulled in for a 7-yard touchdown, and after Swanson stole the ball from a would-be Lamar receiver, Flanders found the end zone for a third time on a 2-yard run.
"When you get close to the end zone, the playbook gets a lot shorter and they stack more people in the box. All it takes is one cut. If you try to make a second cut, it's not going to turn out too well. That's all we're trying to do is stay between the tackles," Flanders said.
With a hefty 42-0 cushion at halftime, Sam Houston put in its reserves, but even then Lamar couldn't contain the Bearkats, who scored 24 points in the second half.
In the second half alone, backup running back Keyshawn Hill bruised over the Cardinals for 135 yards, including a 28-yard gash up the middle.
"What a game he had - 135 yards off 14 carries, 9.6 yards per carry. The kid's got a lot of power to him," Sam Houston head coach Willie Fritz said.
"We made the decision at halftime not to play Brian or Tim anymore. We also had quite a few of the defensive guys out. We're a little banged up at a few positions or we would've had a lot of guys in."
Lamar tried using three different quarterbacks and even gave several tailbacks the ball, but couldn't find any relief against the Bearkat defense, which held the Cardinals to 75 passing yards on 30 attempts and just 23 rushing yards.
"They've got some weapons over there. I thought our corners played really well. I thought maybe we could've had another five sacks. We pressured the heck out of the quarterback," Fritz said.
"I thought (defensive coordinator) Scott Stoker, (safeties coach) Ben Beasley, (assistant coach) Johnny Jernigan - those guys are working all the time - did a great job of finding chinks in there armor as far as protection is concerned. As I've said before, we run a very complex defense. The kids went out and executed."
Sam Houston will now travel to Hammond, La., next weekend to take on Southeastern Louisiana (0-4, 2-6), which lost to Central Arkansas 55-29 on Saturday.
Saturday's game was originally scheduled to be played at 7 p.m., but due to scheduling conflicts, kickoff will now be at 3:30 p.m.
Bearkat notes and quotes
Another dominant display - For the fifth straight time in as many Southland contests, Sam Houston made it look easy. After five conference games with just two remaining, the Bearkats are outscoring their SLC foes 227-41, an average score of 45.4 to 8.2.
Sam Houston's defense has been a force in the Kats' winning streak and have yet to allow a team to rush for more than 100 yards in a game.
Reunion of Bearkat champions - During halftime of Saturday's game, the conference championship teams from 1956, 1961, 1986, 1991 and 2001 were honored.
A reception was also held before the game in the lounge of the Ron Mafrige Field House for members of those teams.
Among the those honored who made the trip to Huntsville were Bobby Grisham and Ted Minyard, who were All-America selections on the 1956 and 1961 Lone Star Conference champion teams, respectively.
Murphy Yates, an All-America offensive lineman from the 2001 squad, and Keith Heinrich, a 2004 All-America selection also made an appearance.
"It's a great opportunity to come back and see how everything's changed," said Heinrich, who played seven years in the NFL. "Coming back and seeing how the campus has grown is exciting, especially the atmosphere too, with them winning."
The former players also got an interesting perspective of the current Bearkats, who are two wins away from winning their first Southland title since 2004.
"I'm already thinking about playoff games and where they might travel and traveling to those locations," Yates said. "Days like this are really enjoyable because it's gameday, we're here. Contrast to when we played, you're relaxed versus the pregame where you have jitters."
The sixth-ranked Bearkats showed why they're one of the best in the country and stand as the team to beat in the Southland Conference. Sam Houston churned out 559 yards and held Lamar to 98.
"It starts with our defense. They gave us great field position," Bearkats sophomore Richard Sincere said. "The defense got a lot of turnovers, so that makes it easier for us to have momentum and go down and score."
Sam Houston, which improved to 5-0 in Southland action and 8-0 overall, started rolling right away.
On the first play of the game, Bearkats quarterback Brian Bell sucked the Lamar defense in on a play-action fake to running back Tim Flanders.
With the Cardinals defense biting on the play, Bell found a wide-open Sincere along the sideline and hit him in stride. Sincere took it all the way for a 67-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
"We knew from about Wednesday our first play was going to be a score. We knew it and we worked on that," Flanders said.
Then it was the defense's turn. After holding Lamar (1-3 in SLC, 3-5 overall) to zero yards on the first two plays of its initial possession, the Cardinals turned the ball over for the first of four times (three interceptions and a lost fumble) throughout the game.
Bearkats linebacker Kash David got pressure on Cardinals quarterback Andre Bevil for a sack, which caused the ball to go free and defensive tackle J.T. Cleveland came up with the fumble.
Taking over on Lamar's 20-yard line, Sam Houston scored a few plays later.
The Kats tried to punch it in on first- and second-and-goal by giving it to Flanders up the middle, but were denied. The Cardinals looked to stop another run, but Bell caught the defense looking and was able to roll out of the pocket before finding backup running back Ryan Wilson in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.
It wasn't until later that Lamar was able to get a drive going and push the ball into Sam Houston territory.
The Cardinals caught a break in their own end of the field after Bevil fumbled, but had running back Caleb Harmon recover the loose ball. On the next play, cornerback Daxton Swanson, whose interception earlier in the possession was wiped away because of an offside penalty, snared another one and almost scored. The sophomore returned it all the way to the Cardinals' 1.
"We knew they were going to throw the ball a lot and that they were going to try and test us," Swanson said. "Last time, they had a good game passing, so we knew they were going to come out passing, so we just tried to make plays, get interceptions."
Flanders wasted little time and beat Lamar defenders on a sweep for his first score of the day.
All of that was just the first quarter.
But it didn't stop there.
Lamar struggled to get yards, while the Bearkats kept adding to their lead.
Following a solid 20-yard punt return by Trey Diller, Sincere scampered 40 yards, juking a pair of Cardinal defenders along the way, for a score.
Flanders then bulled in for a 7-yard touchdown, and after Swanson stole the ball from a would-be Lamar receiver, Flanders found the end zone for a third time on a 2-yard run.
"When you get close to the end zone, the playbook gets a lot shorter and they stack more people in the box. All it takes is one cut. If you try to make a second cut, it's not going to turn out too well. That's all we're trying to do is stay between the tackles," Flanders said.
With a hefty 42-0 cushion at halftime, Sam Houston put in its reserves, but even then Lamar couldn't contain the Bearkats, who scored 24 points in the second half.
In the second half alone, backup running back Keyshawn Hill bruised over the Cardinals for 135 yards, including a 28-yard gash up the middle.
"What a game he had - 135 yards off 14 carries, 9.6 yards per carry. The kid's got a lot of power to him," Sam Houston head coach Willie Fritz said.
"We made the decision at halftime not to play Brian or Tim anymore. We also had quite a few of the defensive guys out. We're a little banged up at a few positions or we would've had a lot of guys in."
Lamar tried using three different quarterbacks and even gave several tailbacks the ball, but couldn't find any relief against the Bearkat defense, which held the Cardinals to 75 passing yards on 30 attempts and just 23 rushing yards.
"They've got some weapons over there. I thought our corners played really well. I thought maybe we could've had another five sacks. We pressured the heck out of the quarterback," Fritz said.
"I thought (defensive coordinator) Scott Stoker, (safeties coach) Ben Beasley, (assistant coach) Johnny Jernigan - those guys are working all the time - did a great job of finding chinks in there armor as far as protection is concerned. As I've said before, we run a very complex defense. The kids went out and executed."
Sam Houston will now travel to Hammond, La., next weekend to take on Southeastern Louisiana (0-4, 2-6), which lost to Central Arkansas 55-29 on Saturday.
Saturday's game was originally scheduled to be played at 7 p.m., but due to scheduling conflicts, kickoff will now be at 3:30 p.m.
Bearkat notes and quotes
Another dominant display - For the fifth straight time in as many Southland contests, Sam Houston made it look easy. After five conference games with just two remaining, the Bearkats are outscoring their SLC foes 227-41, an average score of 45.4 to 8.2.
Sam Houston's defense has been a force in the Kats' winning streak and have yet to allow a team to rush for more than 100 yards in a game.
Reunion of Bearkat champions - During halftime of Saturday's game, the conference championship teams from 1956, 1961, 1986, 1991 and 2001 were honored.
A reception was also held before the game in the lounge of the Ron Mafrige Field House for members of those teams.
Among the those honored who made the trip to Huntsville were Bobby Grisham and Ted Minyard, who were All-America selections on the 1956 and 1961 Lone Star Conference champion teams, respectively.
Murphy Yates, an All-America offensive lineman from the 2001 squad, and Keith Heinrich, a 2004 All-America selection also made an appearance.
"It's a great opportunity to come back and see how everything's changed," said Heinrich, who played seven years in the NFL. "Coming back and seeing how the campus has grown is exciting, especially the atmosphere too, with them winning."
The former players also got an interesting perspective of the current Bearkats, who are two wins away from winning their first Southland title since 2004.
"I'm already thinking about playoff games and where they might travel and traveling to those locations," Yates said. "Days like this are really enjoyable because it's gameday, we're here. Contrast to when we played, you're relaxed versus the pregame where you have jitters."
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