HOUSTON, Texas – Jeremiah Briscoe threw for 438 yards and a school-record seven touchdowns and the No. 2 Sam Houston State Bearkats took charge early in rolling past the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks, 63-28, at NRG Stadium in the 91^st edition of the Battle of the Piney Woods.

The game was played in front of 27,411 fans, eclipsing the game's previous record attendance set a year ago.  

Briscoe and the Bearkat (4-0, 3-0 SLC) offense, which entered the game as the national leader in yards per game, was in high gear nearly from the very start. The Kats amassed 653 yards for the day, with 438 coming through the air in upping Sam Houston's all-time record over the 'Jacks (3-2, 2-1 SLC) to 54-35-2 and is the sixth consecutive win for the Kats in the series.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bearkats raced out to a 42-7 lead at the half on the strength of 402 yards of total offense and four touchdowns coming from greater than 30 yards. Briscoe did most of his damage in the first half, tossing five scores in the first two quarters.

Defensively the Kats did not allow the 'Jacks much room to operate, holding SFA to just 166 yards of offense in the first half, including just 67 yards on the ground with five sacks. The Kat defense allowed just three Lumberjack first downs on the first seven drives of the game, all resulting in either a punt or a turnover.

Yedidiah Louis was Briscoe's main target for the day, hauling in seven passes for 119 yards for and two scores while moving into fourth all-time in receiving yards at SHSU. Meanwhile, true freshman Nathan Stewart turned in five catches of his own for 183 yards for the day and two touchdowns.

Corey Avery rushed for a pair of touchdowns for SHSU, while Remus Bulmer joined in on the fun with 119 yards on 14 carries.

TURNING POINT
After stalling on its first two drives, the Kat offense struck quickly each of the next three times it touched the ball. Consecutive two-play drives in under 45 seconds resulted in a 37-yard touchdown to Louis and a 57-yard pass from Briscoe to Davion Davis gave SHSU a 14-0 lead before P.J. Giddings forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up a 7-yard rush by Avery that gave the Kats a 21-0 advantage less than 10 minutes into the game.

KEY STAT
Sam Houston scored early an often, cashing in for touchdowns on a stretch of six of seven drives in the first half. All of which lasted less than three minutes. In all the Kats ran 18 less plays than SFA, while outgaining the 'Jacks 653-446 for the game. 

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME
Briscoe finished the day 25-for-33 for 438 yards and seven scores, which went to five different receivers. His seven touchdown passes eclipsed the previous school record of five, which had been done 10 times previously.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME
The Kats finished with five sacks for the game, two coming from Derick Roberson who turned in a stellar game on the defensive side. The sophomore defensive end finished with six solo tackles for the game to go with his two sacks, while also breaking up a pass and forcing a fumble.

RECORD WATCH
Louis finished with seven catches for 119 yards and two scores for the game, moving past Jason Mathenia for fourth all-time on the SHSU receiving list with 2,189 yards for his career. Quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe tossed five touchdowns in the first half and seven for the game, surpassing his previous career high of four touchdowns. His 73-yard connection with Stewart in the first quarter was his longest completion of his career and the longest play from scrimmage for the Kats this season.

The 63 points scored by Sam Houston was a record for points in the Battle of the Piney Woods series, surpassing the mark previously set by the Bearkats of 56 in 2013.

UP NEXT
The Kats will now turn their attention to the Alamo City next Saturday when they head to San Antonio to take on Incarnate Word. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. against the Cardinals at Benson Stadium.

QUOTABLES
K.C. Keeler on the game as a whole
I thought going in that this was possibly the best opponent that we had on our schedule. We have tremendous respect for Stephen F. Austin. But we really have had two good weeks of focused practice and it was good to see us continue to push through after not playing, what we feel, was our best football earlier in the year. I think we have gotten that mentality that we are going to have tremendous preparation as we move forward and I think we played a pretty good game tonight.

Keeler on how good the SHSU offense can be
It's tough to find a weak spot on our offense. We have really talented skill kids, like Nathan Stewart who is a true freshman. To have a third running back like Remus (Bulmer), are you kidding me? He starts for everybody in this league. And Jeremiah has really blossomed as a quarterback and his leadership skills are special. It's been powerful to see him take this team over. With the tempo and the confidence we play at, I think the sky is the limit for this offense.

Jeremiah Briscoe on the Bearkats' offensive performance
This is a team with high expectations. We have played well the last few weeks, but have been frustrated because we knew that it wasn't the best we could do. We knew coming into this week that we were going to have to play our best offensive football to win and I think we did that all the way around. It's really special what our offense can do when we play our best football and I think we can still continue to grow on what we did today.

Derick Roberson on his day in the Battle of the Piney Woods
It felt good to play well. All week to hear the coaches talk about making big plays in big games and I knew today was a big day so I really wanted to show up. I think our defense had good practices all week and it was good to come out and have a performance like we did.