Kats host Nicholls Saturday on Senior Day
11/7/2013 2:18:00 PM | Football
After a promising start, Nicholls State will be looking to end a three-game losing streak Saturday when the Colonels visit Elliott T. Bowers Stadium for a 2 p.m. Southland Conference football game.
Nicholls defeated Western Michigan 27-23 in their second game of the season Sept. 7 and knocked off Northwestern State 33-21 in the Colonels' Southland Conference opener.
“Nicholls is a good ball club. We can't take them lightly,” Sam Houston head coach Willie Fritz said. “They have a win over an FBS program and started the conference strong with that win over Northwestern State. They had a strong offensive line, a good running game and a solid quarterback.”
With four victories already this season, the Colonels have doubled their win total from the past two seasons. Nicholls also posted wins over Langston and Arkansas Tech.
Colonel quarterback Tuskani Figaro is third in the Southland Conference in rushing with 108.9 yards per game. He has totaled 871 yards rushing this year which is the most for any Colonel back since 2001.
With their rushing attack, Nicholls ranks seventh in the FCS in time of possession, averaging 33:25 minutes per game. The Colonels had two game this season where they held the ball for 40-plus minutes and only two times has the other team had the ball for more time.
“Over the past couple of years, our players have done a great job of concentrating on going 1-0 for the week,” Fritz said. “We definitely have to be in that mode this week.”
Saturday is Senior Day at Bowers Stadium with 15 Bearkats making their final home regular season appearance at home.
“In 97 years of Bearkat football, there has never been a senior class like this one,” Fritz said. “They've changed the way people look at Sam Houston football. We hope the fans will come in from tailgate a bit early to salute these fine young men that definitely have left their mark on the Huntsville community.”
The senior day festivities will take place at approximately 1:45 p.m. The 15 seniors to be honored have led the Bearkats to back-to-back Southland Conference titles and appearances in the NCAA Division I national championship game.
Since Sept. 9, 2011, they have ranked among the nation's FCS Top 25 including more than 30 consecutive weeks in the Top 10.
With Sam Houston's all-time top rusher and passer plus players who ranked among the top 10 in career all-purpose yards, the group has helped set 51 school records.
At halftime, Sam Houston's 1963 NAIA World Series championship baseball team will be honored.
Tickets for the Sam Houston versus Nicholls football game Saturday are available online now at www.gobearkats.com. The SHSU athletic ticket office is open Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, the West Side Bowers Stadium ticket office will open at 10 a.m.
For more information, fans may call the ticket office at (936) 294-1729.
