Flanders carving up record book
9/25/2011 8:21:00 AM | Football
The sophomore from Midwest City, Oklahoma, set a school record for most rushing touchdowns with five. The old mark was four by Charles Harris, Sam Houston's all-time rushing leader, against North Texas in 1992 and James Aston versus Nicholls in 2008.
"It was crazy," Flanders said. "After the game, they told me that I'm the only running back to score five touchdowns in a game in Sam Houston history so that was a big deal for me."
Flanders carried 30 times for 194 yards including touchdown runs of 61, 53, three, two and four yards. The final tally was the winning TD for the Bearkats in overtime as Sam Houston picked up its third victory ever in 25 games against NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision opponents since 1986.
The 194-yard performance ranks as the 11th highest single game rushing total by a Bearkat back.
"The game went pretty good," Flanders said. "We all had a good game. The offensive line did a tremendous job. There are some things that I still need to work on, but overall as an offense we did well."
After only 13 games in his college career, Flanders already has cracked the top 25 in Sam Houston all-time rushing. The sophomore has carried 244 times for 1,361 yards as a Bearkat. His 19 rushing touchdowns ranks ninth in Kat career annals.
Saturday's performance was Flanders' fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing performance (starting with final game of 2010) and his 10th career 100 yard game, one short of SHSU school mark. With his 151,7 yards per game this season, Flanders leads the Southland Conference and ranks No. 3 nationally in Football Championship Subdivision rushing.
"We didn't feel too intimidated because of the fact that they're Division I FBS team from the Mountain West and we're an FCS team," Flanders said. "New Mexico has some guys that are bigger, but I redshirted at Kansas State and it's not a big difference to us. I think that they kind of underestimated us, but after coming out here and playing hard, we changed their minds. There are a lot of outstanding athletes in the Southland Conference."
Sam Houston head coach Willie Fritz definitely was impressed by the performance of the Bearkat offense Saturday.
"I can't say enough about our offensive staff and the play calling," Fritz said. "We got the ball in the right people's hands, and we were able to mix it up with just enough passes to keep them honest and not pack up the box.
"We have a great running back-Tim Flanders is a great player, and there are not many running backs that are better than that guy. I think he's the best. It was a great job by the offense. I think they carried us tonight. Sometimes it happens in football where one phase of the ball has to carry the other one.
"Offensive play was big this game, between the two teams there were 1,075 yards of offense. Each team was doing it a different way. New Mexico was doing it by the pass and we were doing it by the run. I felt good about it when we held them to a field goal in overtime."
Sam Houston State faces another NCAA Division I FBS team next Saturday when UTSA visits Elliott T. Bowers Stadium for a 6 p.m. non-conference contest Oct. 1. The Roadrunners are in their inaugural season of football and will begin competition in the Western Athletic Conference in 2012.
The Bearkats return to Southland Conference action in two weeks when they take on defending league champion Stephen F. Austin in the 86th "Battle of the Piney Woods" presented by YP.com at Reliant Stadium in Houston at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8.
This Monday, Sept. 26, Coach Fritz and members of the Bearkat football team will be featured in a special "Battle of the Piney Woods" chalk talk session at 12 noon at McKenzie's Barbeque in Huntsville.
Admission to each "Bearkat Chalk Talk" luncheon is $10 and includes a buffet. McKenzie's is located at 1548 11th Street in Huntsville.
Tickets for all Sam Houston home games at Bowers Stadium are available now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the SHSU Athletic Ticket Office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House in the south end zone of Bowers. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
