Defense comes up big in 14-3 win
10/13/2013 9:31:00 AM | Football
The Bearkat defense came up with a stellar performance Saturday to help No. 2 ranked Sam Houston pick up a 14-3 victory over Lamar in the team's 2013 Southland Conference opener Saturday at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium.
Sam Houston limited Lamar to 286 yards total offense and a field goal. Twice the Bearkats held the Cardinals scoreless inside the red zone.
“Defensively, I thought we played outstanding,” Sam Houston 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 was a long period of time when we were playing on our side of the field instead of Lamar crossing the 50.”
Sam Houston, now 5-1 on the year, faces McNeese State in a showdown for first place in the Southland Conference next week in Lake Charles.
“We felt like we came out and showed our strength. We knew that if we stopped them, then we'll win,” Bearkat senior defensive end Jarrett Brown said. “Basically, we stopped them in good situations. We can't take any team in this conference lightly because everybody wants a piece of us since we went to the national championship game two years in a row.”
A Michael Wade interception in the end zone and quarterback sacks by Johntel Franklin, Shelby Davis, Jarrett Brown and Andrew Weaver all were big plays for the Kats.
The Bearkats held a slim 7-3 late in the third quarter. Then quarterback Brian Bell found sophomore receiver Stephen Williams in the back corner of the end zone. Williams changed his momentum in midair to make the diving catch for an 18-yard touchdown. That gave Sam Houston State a 14-3 advantage with a little less than three minutes to go in the third quarter.
“That changed the momentum a little bit,” Brown said. “It was 7-3 and we knew we couldn't let them score because it was a one-possession game and they'd be up. When Stephen caught that pass, we knew we had to get some stops.”
From that point, Lamar was limited to just one first down before lightning flashed all around Bowers Stadium and delayed the game for two hours and 19 minutes with 4:30 to play.
Once the game finally resumed, the Cardinals cranked up their offense again. On its final possession, Lamar converted three first downs and got inside the Kats' 30, but quarterback Caleb Berry threw an incompletion as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
Fritz was pleased with the way his defense picked up the rest of the team to keep them out in front and pick up a tough win.
“We feel like we've got a great football team,” Fritz said. “We're very good on offense, we're very good on defense and very good in the kicking game. You've got to win two-thirds of the war each time you go out there. We won the defensive battle and we won the special teams battle and that allowed us to win the game.”
