ABILENE – Abilene Christian quarterback
Mitchell Gale threw a career-best five touchdown passes Saturday night as the fifth-ranked Wildcats whipped East Central (Okla.), 47-7, in a Lone Star Conference game at Shotwell Stadium.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the LSC, while the Tigers are now 0-3 and 0-2 as they lost for the 16th straight time. ACU will be back in action next Saturday when it hosts Tarleton State in the LSC South Division opener for both teams at 6 p.m.
Gale – who had thrown four touchdowns in ACU's first two games – threw touchdown passes to
Edmund Gates (9 yards) and two apiece to
Darrell Cantu-Harkless (35 yards and 34 yards) and
Emery Dudensing (9 yards and 1 yards).
The Tigers struck first when Tyler Vanderzee hit Tyra Waits with a 70-yard touchdown pass on the fourth play of the game giving them a 7-0 lead just 1:08 into the game. But the Wildcats wasted little time getting on the board, moving 46 yards on 10 plays and taking 3:02 off the clock before Gale hit Gates for the game-tying score.
Those seven points were the first of 47 unanswered points the Wildcats would score in a complete domination of the Tigers. ACU finished the first half with a 44-7 lead and then got a
Morgan Lineberry field goal in the third quarter for the final points of the contest.
Gale finished his night midway through the third quarter after completing 23 of 32 passes for 263 yards and those five touchdowns. Cantu-Harkless had a big night with four catches for 90 yards and two scores and 55 rushing yards on six carries.
Gates caught five passes for 55 yards and one score, while reserve running backs
Charcandrick West (110 yards on nine carries) and
Josh Morgan (52 yards on 10 carries) provided a spark in the running game in the final 30 minutes.
The Wildcat offense finished the night with a season-best 559 yards (308 passing, 251 rushing), while the ACU defense limited the Tigers to a meager 119 yards of total offense, including just 39 on their final 52 plays of the game. For the second straight the Tigers were held to negative yards on the ground as ACU limited them to minus-12 yards rushing one week after Texas A&M-Kingsville held them to minus-9 yards rushing.
