Improving UIW next on Bearkat radar
11/8/2014 7:54:00 AM | Football
The Bearkats' football game at Bowen Stadium in San Antonio Saturday at 6 p.m. offers a study in contrasts.
On the visitor's side of the field is Sam Houston, a team in its 99th season that has won the Southland Conference championship two of the past three years and is striving to earn its fourth consecutive FCS playoff berth.
On the home side is Incarnate Word, a program that played its inaugural football season six years ago and in the transition period to NCAA Division I football.
Saturday's contest marks the third meeting between the pair with Sam Houston winning in Huntsville 54-7 in 2012 and 52-21 in 2013.
SHSU head football coach K. C. Keeler will be the first to tell everyone that his Bearkats cannot afford to take the Cardinals lightly.
“Incarnate Word is a team that is getting better every week,” Keeler said. “They got a big road win last week. In the Southland Conference, any time you get a win on the road that means something.”
The Cardinals won their first-ever road game against a Southland Conference opponent last week, defeating Nicholls in Thibodaux 38-20. It was the second road win for the team in the past three seasons.
The UIW offense was clicking with four scoring drives of at more than 55 yards and
24 first downs. The Cardinals had the ball for 35:02 and converted 8-of-14 third down attempts.
“Their quarterback does a really good job running the offense,” Keeler said. “They have a good tight end and, on defense, two fine defensive ends.”
Cardinal quarterback Jordan Scelfo became the program's first player to pass for more than 250 yards for the second straight. Scelfo was 16-of-30 for 260 yards and two touchdowns in the win at Nicholls.
Junior tight end Cole Wick has drawn comparisons to current New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham for his performance at Nicholls on Saturday. He hauled in four catches for a career high 116 yards and a touchdown. Each of his receptions went for at least 21 yards and he averaged a school-record 29.0 yards per reception in the game.
Sam Houston counters with an offense that has posted 187 points and 459.4 total yards per contest in the Bearkats' five Southland Conference games this year.
Senior running back Keshawn Hill is averaging 115.6 all-purpose yards per game and has scored 11 touchdowns. For his career, Hill stands No. 6 at Sam Houston in all-purpose yards (3,365) and No. 3 in rushing touchdowns (30).
Hill's 31 career touchdowns both running and receiving stand behind only Timothy Flanders (70) and McNeil Moore and Luther Turner (35).
Quarterback Jared Johnson is averaging 72.9 yards per game on the ground and 191.4 yards in the air. He has run for five touchdowns and thrown for eight.
Freshman wide receiver Yedidiah Louis is Johnson's top target with 42 catches for 488 yards this year.
Safety Michael Wade, linebackers Myke Chatman and Tristan Eche and defensive end P. J. Hall lead the Bearkat defense in tackles.
