KINGSVILLE ? The ACU Wildcats haven't been able to lay claim to a Lone Star Conference championship in football since 1977.
Saturday night in Javelina Stadium, the second-ranked Wildcats won at least a share of the title with a 42-17 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Wildcats are now 9-0 overall for the first time since 1950, but more importantly improved to 8-0 in the LSC and 5-0 in the LSC South Division.
The Wildcats ? ranked No. 1 in NCAA Division II Super Region Four ? can clinch the program's first outright LSC football championship since 1973 next Saturday when they close out the regular season at 2 p.m. at home against Midwestern State. ACU can win the title with a win over the Mustangs or a Tarleton State win over West Texas A&M.
But the Wildcats don't want any help to win the title; they want to win it outright all by themselves.
"This (co-championship) means a lot, and it'll mean a lot more next week if we can win it outright," ACU head coach
Chris Thomsen said. "There are a lot of guys here with us who were here when I got here in 2005, and they all heard everyone saying we couldn't win here. But this team has believed and has been blessed and we know where the credit belongs, and it doesn't belong to us."
ACU redshirt freshman quarterback
Zach Stewart got the call again in place of injured starter
Billy Malone, and once again he delivered, completing 24 of 34 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns. He was clutch when the Wildcats needed him, helping the Wildcats convert on two key fourth downs.
The Wildcats fell behind 10-7 with 6:52 left in the first half ? the first time they had trailed in a game since the 10:20 mark of the third quarter in the season-opening win at Northwest Missouri State ? on a 20-yard field goal from Christian Brohm.
But the Wildcats answered as Stewart led ACU on a six-play, 64-yard drive that took 2:23 off the clock and was capped by a 9-yard scoring strike from Stewart to
Chris Morris. After the ACU defense forced a punt, the Wildcats went back to work again, this time putting the longest drive of the season, an 11-play, 95-yard drive that took 3:22 off the clock and saw Stewart hit
Johnny Knox for a touchdown from 31 yards out.
On the drive, Stewart completed a big fourth-and-three pass to
Kendrick Holloway that got the ball to the 31-yard line, and then on the next play Stewart hit Knox for a touchdown. The redshirt freshman from Abilene dropped the ball into Knox right over his shoulder and he just barely got his right foot into the end zone for a touchdown before stepping out of the back of the end zone.
ACU's defense forced a punt on the Javelinas' opening possession of the second half, and then Eliot Allen blocked Cody Smith's punt to give the Wildcats the ball at the Kingsville 17-yard line. Four plays later,
Bernard Scott bulled in from the 1-yard line to give ACU a 28-10 lead with 11:12 left in the third quarter.
The defense continued to play well throughout the second half, stopping Kingsville on three fourth-down attempts in the second half. Sophomore outside linebacker
Fred Thompson led the Wildcat defensive charge, finishing with 11 tackles, one sack and three tackles for loss.
Stewart threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Knox on a fade with 5:14 left in the third quarter, and then Scott finished it off with a 1-yard touchdown run with 7:06 to play to make it 42-17. Scott finished with 116 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries and caught four passes for 52 yards.
