Sam Houston State opened Southland Conference action with a 14-3 win against Lamar on Saturday.
Senior quarterback Brian Bell ran for a touchdown in the second quarter and threw for another in the third quarter for the game's only touchdowns. The Bearkats were able to hold the Cardinals back with stingy defense and just enough offensively to stay ahead.
“It kind of teaches us a good lesson,” Bell said of the Kats struggles on offense. “We have some young guys on offense and that kind of teaches us a good lesson of staying patient. But you can't wait for somebody to make a play. You've got to go make a play.”
Lamar made only two trips to the red zone before a two-hour lightning delay stalled action with 4:30 left in the fourth quarter. A 47-yard field goal by Alex Ball was the Cardinals' only score.
Lamar's defense held all-time Southland Conference leading rusher Timothy Flanders to just 83 yards on 28 carries, his lowest output since the Kats season opener against Houston Baptist. The SHSU defense held Lamar to just five yards of total offense in the third quarter.
“Defensively, I thought we played outstanding,” SHSU head coach Willie Fritz said. “We did a good job of tackling and playing with leverage. We had a big play on a field goal block. Even though we weren't getting points, there's a long period of time when we were playing on our side of the field instead of (Lamar) crossing the 50.”
After a scoreless first quarter, Bell ran for a 45-yard touchdown with 7:53 to go in the half. Ball connected on the field goal with 10 seconds to spare until halftime.
In the third quarter, Bell found sophomore wide receiver Stephen Williams in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown toss.
“Brian put it up in the air, so it's my job as a receiver to go out and catch it,” Williams said. “It was there, I just had to go up and get it.”
Torrance Williams had a big day as well with 173 all-purpose yards. The senior wide receiver returned five punts for 138 yards with a long of 53 yards. The final three times Lamar punter, the Cardinals kicked the ball out-of-bounds rather than try and stop the speedy Williams.
The Bearkats improved to 5-1, 1-0 in conference play. SHSU holds the longest active home winning streak at 19. The last time SHSU dropped a game at Bowers Stadium was against McNeese State in 2010.
“There are a lot of different formulas to win a football game. I just got done telling our guys that,” SHSU head coach Willie Fritz said after the game. “We didn't play great offensively and a lot of that had to do with Lamar. They're a very talented football team, especially defensively.”
