Six weeks to Historical 90th Battle
8/24/2015 6:06:00 PM | Football
One of the biggest highlights of Sam Houston's 100th season of football will be the 90th “Battle of the Piney Woods” presented by H-E-B Saturday, Oct. 3, at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Crowds of more than 25,000 have filled the lower bowl for each of the contests between the Bearkats and Stephen F. Austin since the historic rivalry made the home stadium of the Houston Texans its new site in 2010.
With this year's match-up less than six weeks away, it's time to look back at some important historic dates in the rivalry.
The year 1923 was a special one for the educational institution now known as Sam Houston State University.
From the university's founding in 1879 until 1923, the university's name was Sam Houston Normal Institute.
The school fielded its first baseball team in 1906 and played its first football game in October 1912 against Rice. Basketball began in 1918. The nickname used for the athletic teams was "The Normals."
Dr. S. R. Warner, who had come to Huntsville as an instructor in the biology department and had played football as a student at William & Mary, served as volunteer coach for the first two Sam Houston football teams in 1912 and 1913.
In 1923, the state legislature changed the school's named to Sam Houston State Teachers College. The nickname for SHSTC's athletic teams became "The Bearkats." The name came from a slogan of the time "tough as a Bearkat" with the spelling using a "k" instead of a "c" to denote a mythical creature.
In April 1923, Sam Houston joined the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA), the school's first intercollegiate athletics conference affiliation.
In September 1923, approximately 94 miles away, Stephen F. Austin Teachers College opened its doors. That same fall, SFATC fielded the first Lumberjack football team under the guidance of Coach Robert Shelton.
Sam Houston was a natural opponent for the new SFA squad and coach Shelton brought his Jacks to play against Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville on Nov. 17.
The contest was the beginning of what has become one of the most storied college football rivalries in Texas - "The Battle of the Piney Woods."
Stephen F. Austin won the first meeting with Sam Houston 19-6. The Lumberjacks also won the second in 1924 by a 3-2 score. Both games were played in Huntsville and the losses stung.
When the two teams met for the third time in 1925, Sam Houston head coach J. W. Jones told his team he was determined "to wipe the slate clean!"
The game marked the first time the "Battle of the Piney Woods" was played in Nacogdoches. The pair battled at Birdwell Field on November 21, 1925.
According to an account of the game in the Sam Houston annual The Alcade the contest was "the hardest fought game of the season, the Bearkats downed the sturdy Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks at Nacogdoches."
Led by team captain Herbert Sandel, the Bearkat defense held SFA scoreless.
"Several times threatened scoring by the Lumberjacks was checked by a furious display of fighting sprit on the part of the Bearkats.," the Alcalde said.
Joe Kirk, who at season's end became the first Sam Houston player to earn all-conference honors by being named as an All-TIAA selection, kicked two field goals to provide the winning points.
After only three games, the rivalry had developed into a grudge match.
The Alcalde reported "In the hardest fought game of the season the Bearkats downed the sturdy Lumberjacks at Nacogdoches. This fray was marked by unusual roughness and hard playing."
With victories in each of the last four games, Sam Houston now holds a 52-35 edge in the series with one tie. The Bearkats have won each of the last four games at NRG Stadium in Houston. Tickets to the 90th “Battle of the Piney Woods” presented by H-E-B are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com and at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office located on the west side of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
