BEAUMONT – Lamar running back Kade Harrington had a record-setting night Saturday and the ACU Wildcats had no answer for him as the Cardinals dealt ACU its second straight loss with a 44-28 win in a Southland Conference game at Provost Umphrey Stadium.
Harrington set a single-game rushing record by an ACU opponent with 347 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. The previous best for a Wildcat opponent was 290 yards by Midwestern State quarterback Daniel Polk on Nov. 10, 2007, in Wichita Falls. Harrington also set the Lamar single-game rushing record, breaking the old mark of 259 yards by Burton Murchison in a 1985 game against Rice.
Harrington – who also set the Southland Conference single-game rushing record – had touchdown runs of 80 and 62 to help Lamar to a 34-7 lead late in the third quarter. As a team, Lamar rushed for 391 yards on 47 carries (8.3 yards per attempt), while limiting the Wildcats to just 24 rushing yards on 29 carries.
The game was decided in the first half as Lamar jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead, the second straight week ACU was taken out of the game in the first half. Last week against Central Arkansas, the Bears led ACU 32-7 at halftime in a game the Wildcats would lose 42-14.
"We've got to get the first half figured out," ACU head coach
Ken Collums said. "That obviously wasn't good enough, but we kept fighting. I don't know how well we really even played in the second half, but I like the way our guys kept after it. Harrington is a really good football player; probably the most dynamic running back our league, and he played like it (Saturday)."
Incredibly, the Wildcats actually had a couple of different chances to get back into the game after absorbing body blow after body blow in the first half. Trailing 24-0 at halftime, ACU took its opening possession of the second half and drove 60 yards on eight plays to a 19-yard touchdown pass from
Parker McKenzie to
Cedric Gilbert to make it a 24-7 game with 9:35 left in the third quarter.
After holding Lamar to a field goal, ACU got a 40-yard kickoff return from
Jonathan Epps and set up shop at its own 40-yard line trailing 27-7. But on the first play, McKenzie's pass to Gilbert, went through his hands and into the arms of freshman Rodney Randle, giving the ball back to the Cardinals.
Lamar scored 10 plays later to go up 34-7 and seemingly put the Wildcats away. ACU, though, responded in just three plays as McKenzie hit Epps with a 58-yard touchdown pass to cut the Cardinals' lead to 34-14 with 1:49 left in the third quarter.
After the defense forced another punt to start the fourth quarter, the Wildcats drove 65 yards on just four plays to a 2-yard touchdown run by
Herschel Sims, cutting the deficit to 34-21. The drive was highlighted by a 51-yard catch-and-run from McKenzie to
Carl Whitley, who made a great catch with a defender draped on his back.
Once again, however, the Cardinals had an answer as Harrington keyed Lamar's final touchdown drive of the night. He carried the four times on a five-play drive, capping it with a 62-yard touchdown run down the Lamar sideline to make it 41-21 with 10:57 to play. The Wildcats had a chance to get off the field early in the drive, but on third-and-10 from the Lamar 27, quarterback Joe Minden hit Reggie Begelton with a 12-yard pass to keep the drive alive.
After a 47-yard kickoff return to the ACU 47-yard line by
Byron Proctor, the Wildcats moved smartly to a first-and-goal at the Lamar 2-yard line. But on the eighth play of the drive,
De'Andre Brown was hit hard by Seth Ellis and fumbled the ball with the Cardinals' Willie Wowkanyn recovering at the Lamar 19-yard line.
That effectively put an end to the Wildcats' comeback hopes, although they would score again on a 1-yard touchdown pass from McKenzie to Gilbert with 37 seconds to play.
McKenzie recorded the seventh 300-yard passing game of his career as he finished 24 of 36 for 316 yards and three touchdowns. Epps caught four passes for 99 yards and one score, while Gilbert caught four passes for 36 yards and two touchdowns.
The loss drops ACU to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in the Southland, while the Cardinals improve to 3-2 and 2-1. ACU will be back at home next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when it hosts pre-season conference favorite Sam Houston State in the annual Homecoming contest at Shotwell Stadium.
