Pair of Wildcats earn LSC honor
9/6/2010 4:44:18 PM | Football
RICHARDSON – ACU sophomore quarterback Mitchell Gale and redshirt freshman return man Darrell Cantu-Harkless have earned Lone Star Conference South Division Player of the Week honors, which were announced Monday.
Gale was honored as the division's co-Offensive Player of the Week, while Cantu-Harkless was named the division's Special Teams Player of the Week.
Gale – who shared his honor with Texas A&M-Kingsville quarterback Nate Poppell, who led the Javelinas to a 16-7 win last Thursday over No. 1 Northwest Missouri State – led the No. 6 Wildcats to a 34-26 win over No. 9 Washburn last Saturday in Topeka, Kan.
Gale completed 24 of 30 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns, leading a Wildcat offense that didn't commit a turnover against the Ichabods. After an 8 of 10 performance in the first half, Gale was 16 of 20 in the second half to help the Wildcats to their third straight season-opening win over an MIAA team. At one point from midway through the second quarter to the end of the third quarter, Gale completed 13 straight passes for 148 yards and two scores.
He threw touchdown passes of 41 and 51 yard to Edmund Gates and 4 yards to Emery Dudensing. The 51-yard pass to Gates with less than five minutes to play gave the Wildcats a 34-19 lead, effectively sealing the win.
In his first action as a Wildcat after sitting out a redshirt season in 2009, Cantu-Harkless made an immediate impression, helping the Wildcats dominate in the special teams area against Washburn. Cantu-Harkless returned four kickoffs for 163 total yards (40.8 yards per return), including a 93-yard return from two yards deep in the end zone to the Washburn 7-yard line.
That 93-yard return is tied for the 11th-longest kickoff return in school history, and it's the longest non-scoring kickoff return in school history. Cantu-Harkless was the return man on the game's opening kickoff, and the first time he got his hands on the ball as a Wildcat he returned the kick 42 yards.
