Harrington's touchdown runs were for five and 73 yards. The running back also caught a 77-yard screen pass for a touchdown to start a 21-point second quarter for the Cardinals. The 230 yards were a career high and the second highest rushing total in program history.

Lamar never trailed although the Bearkats tied the score twice at 7-7 and 14-14. A near capacity crowd of 10,116 witnessed the game.

"Tonight was really disappointing," Sam Houston head coach K. C. Keeler said. "Lamar is a good football team and Ray (Woodard) did a nice job. They gave Baylor a hard time and we knew coming in they were a good team. You can't make the kind of mistakes we made at Texas Tech and tonight and expect to beat anyone on our schedule. The reality right now is we're an 0-2 football team."

The three touchdown second quarter gave the Cardinals a 35-14 halftime lead. Sam Houston roared back to cut the margn to 42-39 with 3:21 to play and 49-46 with 58 seconds left. But the on-sides kick attempt failed and Lamar ran out the clock for the victory to up the Cardinals' record to 2-1.

Quarterback Jared Johnson rushed 15 times for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns and completed 15 of 25 passes for 235 yards and two more scores. The junior's touchdown passes came on throws of eight yards to Donavan Williams to tie the score 14-14 with 4:01 left in the first quarter and 55 yards to Gerald Thomas to pull Sam Houston to within 42-32 with 7:21 to go.

Johnson scored the Bearkats' final two touchdowns on runs of 16 and six yards.

"We gave up too many big plays on defense and made too many mistakes on offense," Keeler said. "The little things add up. Ironically, it was at this same time last year that we lost to Colorado State-Pueblo and were 1-3. We turned things around and finished strong. Right now, we have to take things day-by-day and concentrate on becoming a 1-2 football team next week."

Lamar quarterback Carson Earp completed 14 of 25 passes for 223 yards and four scores. The Cardinals racked up 551 yards on 66 plays while Sam Houston racked up 565 yards of total offense on 92 plays n the four-hour plus game. 

Yedidiah Louis led Sam Houston with six catches for 151 yards and a score. Gerald Thomas had four receptions for 112 yards.

Mikell Everett and Tristan Eche led the defensive with 14 and 11 tackles respectively.

The loss drops Sam Houston to 0-2 for the year and is the Bearkats' first home Southland Conference loss in Bowers Stadium since 2010. The Kats were 27-1 on the turf at Bowers in the past four years.

 Box Score (Final)
Score by Quarters    1     2     3     4    Score
Lamar                    14   21    0    14 --  49 Record: (2-1,1-0)
Sam Houston State  14    0     9    23 --  46 Record: (0-2,0-1)

 Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter

9:20 LU Begelton, Reggie 4 yd pass from Carson Earp (Ball, Alex kick), 11-56 4:53, LU 7 - SHSU 0

7:50 SHSU Yedidiah Louis 46 yd pass from Jeremiah Briscoe (Luc Swimberghe kick), 5-75 1:30, LU 7 - SHSU 7

4:01 LU Begelton, Reggie 19 yd pass from Carson Earp (Ball, Alex kick), 4-76 0:49, LU 14 - SHSU 7

2:18 SHSU Donavan Williams 8 yd pass from Jared Johnson (Luc Swimberghe kick), 7-75 1:43, LU 14 - SHSU 14

2nd Quarter

12:40 LU Harrington, Kade 77 yd pass from Carson Earp (Ball, Alex kick), 3-91 1:01, LU 21 - SHSU 14

5:51 LU Harrington, Kade 5 yd run (Ball, Alex kick), 6-89 2:45, LU 28 - SHSU 14

1:29 LU Devonn Brown 18 yd pass from Carson Earp (Ball, Alex kick), 5-82 2:24, LU 35 - SHSU 14

3rd Quarter

9:06 SHSU Luc Swimberghe 36 yd field goal, 10-43 4:38, LU 35 - SHSU 17

1:08 SHSU Donavan Williams 5 yd run (Jared Johnson pass failed), 13-59 4:12, LU 35 - SHSU 23

4th Quarter
14:55 SHSU TEAM safety, , LU 35 - SHSU 25

9:17 LU Carl Harris 27 yd run (Ball, Alex kick), 4-73 2:04, LU 42 - SHSU 25

7:51 SHSU Gerald Thomas 55 yd pass from Jared Johnson (Luc Swimberghe kick), 5-75 1:26, LU 42 - SHSU 32

4:59 SHSU Jared Johnson 16 yd run (Luc Swimberghe kick), 3-81 2:18, LU 42 - SHSU 39

3:21 LU Harrington, Kade 73 yd run (Ball, Alex kick), 3-80 1:27, LU 49 - SHSU 39

00:58 SHSU Jared Johnson 6 yd run (Luc Swimberghe kick), 6-70 2:23, LU 49 - SHSU 46