Gameday
ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats return to Shotwell Stadium on Saturday, one week after their record-setting win over Concordia (Ala.) College in the 2013 season-opener. ACU whipped an out-manned Concordia squad, 84-6, in the highest-scoring season-opener in school history and second-highest scoring game in school history.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., and the game can be heard locally on KTLT 98.1 FM The Ticket . The game can be viewed online at acusports.com.
Awaiting the Wildcats at Shotwell will be the War Hawks of McMurry, who are in their second year of transition to NCAA Division II status. McMurry will begin competing in the Lone Star Conference in 2014. ACU beat McMurry, 51-0, in the 2012 season-opener at Shotwell Stadium in what was the War Hawks' first game at the NCAA Division II level.
John David Baker's debut as the Wildcats' starting quarterback was one of the best in school history as his seven touchdown passes broke the school record of 6 set first in 1973 by Clint Longley and later by Billy Malone in 2006 (vs. West Texas A&M) and 2008 (93-68 playoff win over West Texas A&M). Baker's 88-yard touchdown strike to
Darian Hogg early in the second quarter is tied for the fourth-longest scoring pass in school history, tying the mark originally set when Don Davis hit Gary Cohn from 88 yards out against Trinity in 1961 and tied in 1975 when Jim Reese hooked up with Johnny Perkins against then-East Texas State.
Baker also set a school record (minimum 20 attempts) for completion percentage in a game as he completed 85.0 percent of his passes (17 of 20), breaking the old mark of 81.8 percent set by Malone when he completed 18 of 22 passes for 271 yards in the Wildcats' 56-12 NCAA Division II playoff win over Mesa State (Colo.) on Nov. 17, 2007. And Baker's 322 yards through the air are the second-most passing yards by an ACU quarterback in his debut as the team's starting quarterback, trailing only the 387 thrown for by Greg Wiggins in a loss to Southeastern Oklahoma State on Oct. 6, 2001.
Senior wide receiver
Darian Hogg of Arlington had the biggest game of his ACU career last Saturday, hauling in 10 passes for a career-best 208 yards and two scores. When he caught his 88-yard touchdown pass from Baker early in the second quarter, it pushed his streak of consecutive touchdown catches of at least 80 yards to three dating back to last season (85-yard game-winner vs. Texas A&M-Commerce on Oct. 27, 2012, and an 80-yarder against Incarnate Word on Nov. 10, 2012). His 208-yard receiving effort is the seventh-best single-game total in ACU history, and his 10 catches are tied with several other players for 13th on the single-game list.
Tyler Chapa's 31-yard interception return for a touchdown early in the second half last Saturday was part of a five-interception game for the Wildcats. Linebackers
Thor Woerner,
Blake Rudd, Dez Powers and
Vicente Cantu-Harkless also picked off passes for the Wildcats, who returned them for a total of 103 yards. The five interceptions are one short of the ACU single-game record of six interceptions set in 1983 when ACU picked off Angelo State six times, led by Mark Wilson, who set the ACU single-game record with four interceptions.
OTHER NOTES
• ACU senior wide receiver
Taylor Gabriel should be fine to play Saturday against McMurry after suffering an injury early in last Saturday's game that kept him out the remainder of the game. His helmet was knocked down onto his nose and face and he suffered from blurred vision. His helmet was taken away and he was ruled out for the rest of the game as a precautionary measure.
• Saturday night's game has been designated the "Pediatric Cancer Awarenes Game benefitting the P4X Foundation"as the Wildcats and War Hawks join the fight against pediatric cancer. September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness month and ACU football players will join those from Hardin-Simmons and McMurry universities as well as Abilene, Cooper, Wylie, Abilene Christian and Fort Worth Christian high schools in wearing a special ribbon decal on their helmets at each of their respective games during the entire month. The ribbons were purchased by the P4X Foundation, which was established earlier this year in memory of Rex Fleming, the late son of ACU associate director of athletics
Lance Fleming and his wife, Jill.
ACU athletics is playing a vital role in helping raise money for both the P4X Foundation as well as the Rex Fleming Endowed Scholarship at ACU. At Saturday's game, $1 from each ticket sold on both sides of the stadium will go directly to the scholarship fund. Also, the ACU athletics training staff and stadium workers will be wearing P4X Foundation T-shirts and a booth will be set up under the home stands on the west side of the stadium where fans can order those same T-shirts or make a donation to the foundation fund.
