ABILENE – Tight end
Jamie Walker caught a 1-yard pass from
Parker McKenzie with 22 seconds left to seal an eight-minute, fourth-quarter drive and give Abilene Christian University a 21-17 win Saturday afternoon over Southeastern Louisiana University in a Southland Conference game in Shotwell Stadium.
ACU overcame a first-half shutout to score two late touchdowns and hold the two-time defending Southland champs to one first down in the decisive fourth quarter, snapping a six-game losing streak. The Wildcats improved to 3-7 overall and 3-6 in the Southland, while SLU fell to 4-6 overall and 3-5 in the league.
The game pitted two FCS teams that had not played each other since 1972. The Lions lost rushing leader Kody Sutton to injury on their first play, leaving a committee of players, led by redshirt freshman Julius Marcalin's 56 yards, to fill in for him.
The Wildcats were stymied by a painfully slow start for the eighth game this season, mustering only 98 yards of offense and just one scoring chance in the first half. Starting quarterback
Dallas Sealey, a redshirt freshman, was pulled for junior McKenzie after completing just 2 of 7 passes for 10 yards. McKenzie overcame five sacks to complete 21 of 28 passes for 219 yards and two scores in leading his team to the win.
ACU looked rejuvenated on its first drive of the second half when Sims sprinted 42 yards into the end zone on the fourth play from scrimmage.
Zach Lehr's successful PAT pulled the Wildcats even on the scoreboard, 7-7.
SLU went back on top 10-7 when Jonathan Tatum kicked a 29-yard field goal to wrap up a 12-play drive that consumed nearly six minutes. Following a Wildcat punt on the ensuing series, the Lions found themselves back in the red zone, thanks to a 38-yard punt return by Harlan Miller to the ACU 19-yard line. Four plays later, Landor tossed a 15-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Chris Biggs and Tatum's PAT kick increased the SLU lead to 17-7 with 14:54 left in the game.
The Wildcats bounced back, thanks to a 31-yard pass play from McKenzie to
Cedric Gilbert, a 15-yard roughing penalty on SLU, a 14-yard pass to wide receiver
Carl Whitley and a 14-yard touchdown pass to
Monte Green-Avery to pull within 17-14 with 12:56 left.
The momentum needle appeared to switch on the ensuing kickoff when ACU's
Adrian Duncan forced SLU's Eugene Micah to fumble and
Gavin Burford recovered the ball at the Lion 34-yard line. But the Wildcats couldn't advance closer than the 22, and Lehr's 39-yard field goal attempt hit the crossbar and bounced away.
The Wildcat defense stiffened and forced the Lions to punt, but McKenzie's first play was a pass intercepted by Eugene at the SLU 48-yard line.
ACU's final drive began at its 20-yard line with 8:08 remaining. A diving catch by Gilbert of a third-down, 17-yard pass gave the Wildcats new life at the SLU 48. On fourth and 2 at the 27, tight end
Jamie Walker caught a McKenzie pass in the right flat and lumbered to a first down at the 16.
Walker snagged another pass on third-and-6 that advanced ACU to the Lion 1-yard line. Three plays later, with 27 seconds on the clock and 1 yard left for the win, the Wildcats on fourth-and-goal again turned to Walker for the deciding touchdown pass. The senior leapt to grab the throw in the right corner of the end zone, and Lehr's PAT secured ACU's first lead of the day, and the final score, 21-17.
A desperate Lion drive back downfield ended when quarterback D'Shaie Landor's pass at the goal line was dropped out of bounds by Brandon Acker as time expired.
"That win was a long time coming," ACU head coach
Ken Collums said. "We've said all season that our guys are fighters, but we just haven't made enough plays on either side of the ball to get a win. But (Saturday) we made plays defensively to get the ball back to our offense, and our offense made plays down the stretch to win a game."
ACU senior running back
Herschel Sims, in his final game in the hometown stadium where he starred for Abilene High School and led the Eagles to the Texas Class 5A state championship in 2009, ran for 75 yards and a game-tying 42-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.
The two teams traded punts throughout a scoreless first quarter, except on SLU's first possession when ACU defensive lineman
William Moore recovered a fumble by Landor at the Lion 38-yard line. ACU could not cash in the turnover for points, however.
SLU, which scored just two points last week in a loss to University of the Incarnate Word, broke its own drought with 11:10 left in the second quarter. Landor ran 2 yards for a touchdown, capping a 66-yard drive of mostly rushing plays that consumed nearly five minutes of time.
The Lions looked to be back in business following an ACU punt on the next series, but a 45-yard return by Miller was called back by a holding penalty to the SLU 19-yard line, and the visitors were forced to punt again.
With 1:37 left in the second quarter, the Wildcats began their last drive before halftime. Successful McKenzie passes on the first two plays – 21 yards to wide receiver Cedric Gibert and 31 yards to Monte Avery-Green – ecliped their total offense for the half (50 yards) to that point. They advanced to the Lion 15-yard line but two sacks of McKenzie left ACU with a 42-yard field goal try by
Zach Lehr, which sailed wide left.
ACU outgained the Lions in yards, 310-267, on a cold, windy and rainy afternoon. Gilbert caught five passes for 83 yards and Green-Avery snagged four for 61 and a score. Linebackers
Sam Denmark and
Lynn Grady led ACU's defense with 11 tackles each, and safety
Brandon Richmond added nine.
Landor completed 17 of 27 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown, and was sacked twice by the Wildcat defense. Briggs caught four passes for 60 yards and a score.
Abilene Christian closes its 2015 season next Saturday with a 1 p.m. CST non-conferene game in Greeley, Colo., with the University of Northern Colorado.
