"Piney Woods" sales crack 20,000 mark
10/4/2011 1:43:00 PM | Football
The annual rivalry game between Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin will be played at Reliant Stadium at 2:00 p.m. this Saturday, October 8.
The 2010 Battle of the Piney Woods set an attendance record for both schools with a crowd of 24,685. Capacity for the game is limited to Reliant Stadium's lower bowl, which seats approximately 26,000, and luxury suites.
The Southland Conference attendance record of 27,500, set at a 1976 game between McNeese State and Louisiana-Lafayette in Lake Charles, La.
"Our ticket sales are pacing ahead of where we were a year ago at this point, and we have an opportunity to make Saturday a record-setting day," said LSSE Director Heather Houston. "The fans and alumni from both schools have really gotten behind this game and are helping to make it a truly special event every year."
Tickets range in price from $15 to $35 and are available online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the Sam Houston ticket office at Bowers Stadium (telephone 936 294-1729). Bearkat athletic ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Tickets will be on sale at the ticket office through 5 p.m. Friday. Online orders at www.gobearkats.com will be accepted until 12 midnight Friday night.
Sam Houston comes into the contest ranked No. 11 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision national poll. The 4-0 Bearkats are one of three FCS teams who have not lost a game this season. Top-ranked Georgia Southern and No. 5 North Dakota State are the other undefeated teams.
Sam Houston beat Western Illinois in the season opener and then opened conference play with a 31-10 win over Central Arkansas. It then went to New Mexico, out of the FBS' Mountain West Conference, and won 48-45 in overtime. Last week the Bearkats won 22-7 over UTSA, a first-year program playing as an FCS Independent.
Stephen F. Austin is two-time defending champion of the Southland Conference.
The Battle of the Piney Woods presented by YP.com dates back to 1923, making it the oldest NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision football rivalry in the state of Texas.
Sam Houston State holds a 48-35-2 edge in the series, although Stephen F. Austin has won the last two meetings. The teams moved the annual game to Houston's Reliant Stadium in 2010 in a partnership with Lone Star Sports & Entertainment.
