Kats set to open Southland play Saturday
10/6/2013 8:19:00 AM | Football
In 50 years of Southland Conference football, only four teams ever have earned three league championships in a row.
The four were Lamar in 1964-65-66, Arkansas State 1968-69-70, Louisiana Tech 1971-72-73-74 and McNeese State 2001-02-03.
Sam Houston will begin its quest to become the fifth this Saturday when the Bearkats begin their 27th Southland football campaign.
The Lamar Cardinals will be the opponent Saturday in the 2 p.m. homecoming game at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium. Winners of the last two Southland titles, the Bearkats are anxious to begin the 2013 league campaign.
“We feel like we have a lot of momentum after our preconference schedule and a bye week,” Sam Houston running back Timothy Flanders said. “The bye week after the Eastern Washington game came at a perfect time. We came out here and worked hard all week.”
Sam Houston State won the 2011 Southland title with a 7-0 record and in 2012 with a 6-1 slate. The Bearkats have five Southland titles overall in their 26 years in the legue. SHSU also won championships in 1991, 2001 and 2004.
The Kats are preseason favorites to win the title and enter this week ranked No. 2 in the Sports Network FCS poll with a 4-1 record. The only loss came at the hands of FBS top 10 Texas A&M. Sam Houston trailed the Aggies by just nine points early in the third quarter.
“We're in pretty good shape right now,” SHSU head coach Willie Fritz said. “We're in a good spot. We've got some guys who are really playing at a high level.”
In their last outing, the Bearkats defeated then No. 2 ranked Eastern Washington 49-34. Lamar, SHSU's first league foe, will come into Bowers Stadium with a 3-2 record.
The next week, Sam Houston travels to Lake Charles, La., to take on another nationally ranked Southland team in McNeese State. The Cowboys are 5-1 after a 59-28 win over last year's Southland co-champion Central Arkansas. Nicholls, Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana also enter conference play with 3-2 non-conference marks
“During the open week we had to opportunity to work on some things that we haven't had a chance to work on since preseason camp,” Fritz said. “It was good for us.”
Tickets for the Lamar homecoming game, the Kats' two other remaining home contests and the 88th “Battle of the Piney Woods” at Reliant Stadium Nov. 2 are available online at www.gobearkats.com .
Fans also may purchase tickets at the SHSU athletic ticket office open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ticket office is located in the Ron Mafrige Field House in the south end zone of Bowers Stadium. The ticket office telephone number is (936) 294-1729.
