Football | 11/9/2016 11:33:00 PM
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
HAMMOND, La. – The ACU Wildcats close their 2016 season Saturday in the Bayou when they visit Southeastern Louisiana for the first time in 45 years to take on the Lions in Strawberry Stadium.
The game kicks off at 7 p.m. and it can be heard on The Ticket 98.1 FM.
ACU enters Saturday night's contest at 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the Southland Conference after last week's 25-22 comeback win over Northwestern State in the Wildcats' final game in Shotwell Stadium. The Lions are 5-4 overall and 5-2 after they beat Incarnate Word, 30-10, last Saturday in San Antonio.
ACU hasn't visited Hammond, La., for a football game sine Nov. 6, 1971, when the Wildcats beat the Lions, 28-7. ACU leads the all-time series 2-1, including last year's 21-17 win in Abilene. The Wildcats scored on a 1-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal from
Parker McKenzie to
Jamie Walker with 22 seconds to play to give ACU the victory.
ACU redshirt sophomore quarterback
Dallas Sealey will be closing out a superb individual campaign Saturday night when he starts his 10th game of the season (missed the Lamar game with a concussion). Sealey leads the Southland Conference in passing completions (209) and attempts (343) and is second in the league in passing yards (2,473) and total offense per game (302.1 yards per game). Sealey is also third in the league in completion percentage (60.9 percent), touchdown passes (18), and passing yards per game (274.8). He ranks 15th in NCAA FCS football in completions per game (23.2), 20th in total offense per game, and tied for 25th in total passing yards.
Sealey is also the Wildcats' second-leading rusher with 246 yards on the ground, and is the team leader in rushing touchdowns with six. Sealey has 246 rushing yards this season, which is the fourth-best number posted by an ACU quarterback since 1965 when Jacky Roland ran for 598 yards.
Since Roland posted 598 yards, John David Baker is second on that list with 256 yards in 2013, followed by Clint Longley's 251 in 1973 and Sealey's 246 yards this season. With 27 passing yards and 54 yards rushing against the Lions, Sealey could become the first ACU quarterback in program history (95 seasons) to throw for at least 2,500 yards and rush for at least 300 yards in a single season.
Junior middle linebacker
Sam Denmark is second in the Southland Conference and tied for fifth in FCS football in total tackles with 102 and leads the league in solo tackles with 45. Denmark is second in the Southland and 12th in FCS football in tackles per game at 10.2.With his current total of 102 tackles in 2016, Denmark now has 240 tackles combined in the 2015-2016 seasons is the second-highest total in back-to-back seasons by an ACU player since Chip Bennett racked up a mind-boggling 345 tackles in the 1968 and 1969 seasons.
Bennett – the Defensive Player of the Century on ACU's all-Century Team, selected in 2005 – had a single-season record 184 tackles in 1968, followed by 161 tackles in 1969.
