Football | 10/3/2014 3:28:00 PM
Gameday CentralABILENE – Two original Southland Conference members will renew an old rivalry at Shotwell Stadium Saturday when the ACU Wildcats host the Lamar Cardinals in a conference contest.
The is set for a 6 p.m. kickoff and can be heard locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket or online at
www.the98x.com. Fans can also watch and listen to the game live at
www.acusports.com.
Abilene Christian and Lamar were two of the league's founding members when the league was formed in 1963 and played each year from 1963-72. They also played from 1953-54 and 1959-62 with Lamar holding a 9-7 edge in the series. The Cardinals won each of the last two meetings in the series, 30-28, in 1971, and 31-10, in 1972.
The Wildcats have won three straight overall, including a 59-14 win last Saturday at Houston Baptist that pushed their record to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Southland. During its three-game winning streak, ACU has outscored its opponents 118-49 with 35 of those opponent points coming in the 38-35 win at Troy on Sept. 13.
Sophomore quarterback
Parker McKenzie continues to lead the Wildcat offense as he completed 21 of 31 passes for 359 yards and four touchdowns last Saturday against the Huskies. McKenzie has now thrown for at least 300 yards in four of the Wildcats' five games and at least one touchdown pass in each game. He leads the Southland Conference in completions (111), completion percentage (69.4), yards (1,568), yards per game (313.6), touchdown passes (14), passing efficiency (175.6), and total offense (320.8 yards per game).
ACU's junior running back,
Herschel Sims, posted the first 100-yard rushing day of his Wildcat career last Saturday with 128 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries in the big win over Houston Baptist. Sims had a 62-yard gallop in the second quarter that led to a short touchdown run and a 17-7 Wildcat lead. Sims also caught four passes for 66 yards in the game, with his 194 all-purpose yards pacing the Wildcats as well. Sims should have some help Saturday in the form of backup running back
De'Andre Brown, who should be back on the field against Lamar after he missed the last two games with a lower leg injury.
Junior wide receiver
Cade Stone recorded the first 100-yard receiving day of his career with a game-high seven catches for 121 yards and two scores, a 19-yarder and 20-yarder. Junior wideout
Cedric Gilbert also caught two touchdown passes
Seniors
Justin Stewart,
Lynn Grady and
Angel Lopez each had seven tackles for the Wildcats against HBU. Their performance helped ACU limit the Huskies to just 300 yards of total offense on 58 plays. The Huskies totaled 187 yards on four pass plays, managing just 113 yards on the remaining 54 snaps from scrimmage.
