HAMMOND, La. – Abilene Christian University running back
Billy McCrary ran for a career-high 222 yards and one touchdown and quarterback
Luke Anthony threw three touchdown passes Saturday night as the Wildcats went on the road and pounded Southeastern Louisiana, 48-27, in Southland Conference action at Strawberry Stadium.
The Wildcats' second straight victory pushes them to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the league, while the Lions fall to 3-5 and 3-3. ACU never trailed, leading 3-0 at the end of the first quarter, 20-10 at halftime and 27-17 at the end of the third quarter.
McCrary ran for those 222 yards on just 14 carries as he repeatedly gashed the Lions' defense for huge gains. He had an 11-yard run in the first quarter and only got better as the game continued, picking up a 25-yard gain in the second quarter, gains of 20 and 21 yards in the third quarter and finally putting the Lions away with runs of 51 and 47 yards in the fourth quarter.
His touchdown run came on a 51-yard jaunt through the middle of the Southeastern defense, giving the Wildcats a 41-20 lead with 10:24 left in the contest.
But it wasn't just McCrary who pounded the Lions; his backfield mate,
Tracy James, ran for 88 yards and two scores on 18 bruising carries as the Wildcats completely dominated the line of scrimmage. James had carries of 12 yards in the first quarter, 15 and 18 yards in the second quarter, 15 yards in the third quarter and 10 yards in the fourth quarter. He scored a pair of touchdowns, bursting in from 15 yards out early in the second quarter to give ACU a 10-0 lead, and then from 2 yards away to make it 34-17 with 14:11 left in the game.
Last year it was Southeastern that embarrassed the Wildcats on Homecoming at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium, outscoring them 35-8 to turn a close game into a 56-21 rout. The Lions ran for 443 yards and had 623 total yards while limiting the Wildcats to just 293 total yards, including 119 through the air. But the Wildcats completely turned the tables on the Lions Saturday night, rushing for 317 yards to just 126 for the Lions and putting up a season-high 612 yards of total offense.
Anthony was extremely efficient, completing 29 of 37 passes (18 of 22 in the first half) for 295 yards and three touchdowns, two of which went to
Torin Justice, who had six catches for 69 yards. Senior tight end
Cody Ennis contributed five catches for 59 yards.
Kalin Sadler – who had a 65-yard touchdown catch last week against Nicholls – had a 34-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 17-7 lead.
PLAYS THAT MATTERED
- 1Q – On ACU's sixth offensive play of the game, quarterback Luke Anthony was flushed out of the pocket, sacked and fumbled, giving the ball to Southeastern at the ACU 35-yard line. But a holding penalty on the Lions overturned the fumble and ACU dodged a huge early bullet.
- 1Q – With Southeastern driving into ACU territory on its second possession, defensive tackle Cole Burgess sacked Southeastern QB Chason Virgil for a loss of four yards back to the 50, eventually forcing the Lions to punt the ball away.
- 2Q – After ACU took a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter, Robert McKnight was whislted for a personal foul penalty on the ensuing kickoff, moving the ball out to the ACU 46-yard line for the start of the Southeastern possession. The Lions moved briskly, scoring a touchdown six plays later on a 4-yard run by Julius Maracalin, cutting the ACU lead to 10-7 with 12:07 left in the first half.
- 2Q – On ACU's ensuing drive, the Wildcsats had first-and-10 on their own 35 when Billy McCrary took a handoff from Anthony, sprinted to the right, ran through four tackle attempts and scooted 25 yards to the SLU 40-yard line before eventually being bumped out of bounds.
- 2Q – Two plays after the McCrary run, Anthony hit a wide-open Kalin Sadler for a 34-yard touchdown pass to give ACU a 17-7 lead with 9:48 left in the first half. The TD pass marked the second straight that duo has hooked up for a long-distance scoring play after hitting on a 65-yard TD pass in last week's win over Nicholls.
- 2Q – Southeastern put together its best drive of the game on its final drive of the half, moving to the ACU 11-yard line when Juwan Peetit-Frere scored from 11 yards out. But the touchdown was negated by a holding penalty and the Lions were forced to settle for a 33-yard field goal from Jonathan Tatum to end the half.
- 3Q – On first-and-15 from his own 6-yard line early in the second half, Southeastern Louisiana quarterback Chason Virgil hit TE Bransen Schwebel for a 58-yard gain down to the ACU 36-yard line.
- 3Q – A few plays after the 58-yard pass play, Southeastern had fourth-and-2 at the ACU 17-yard line and decided to go for it to keep the drive alive. But Brandon Richmond stopped running back Julius Maracalin for no gain, giving the ball back to the Wildcats.
- 3Q – Seven plays into ACU's ensuing drive, the Wildcats faced their own fourth-and-2 from the Southeastern 31-yard line when Anthony found tight end Cody Ennis in the left flat and he took the ball down to the SLU 10-yard line for a first-and-goal. After a penalty on ACU moved the ball back to the SLU 15-yard line, Anthony threw a perfect fade into the back corner of the end zone for Torin Justice, who grabbed it and got his feet down the touchdown to give ACU a 27-10 lead with 5:08 left in the third quarter.
- 3Q – After the ACU touchdown, Southeastern drove to its own score to cut the ACU lead to 27-17. On the Wildcats' first play on their next drive, Billy McCrary started right, reversed field all the way to the left sideline and scampered 21 yards to the Southeastern 49 for a big play, setting ACU off on a 70-yard drive that ended on a 2-yard touchdown run by Tracy James early in the fourth quarter to extend ACU's lead to 34-17.
- 4Q – After Southeastern scored to make it 34-20, the Lions came out with a surprise onside kick that caught the Wildcats off guard. But just before the kick, ACU head coach Adam Dorrel sprinted down the sideline and called a timeout to keep the Lions from getting another possession. With ACU set up with its hands team on its next kick, the Lions kicked deep and Chase Cokley returned the kickoff to the ACU 29-yard line.
- 4Q – It only took the Wildcats three plays to get into the end zone as McCrary ran for seven yards on first down before Anthony hit Josh Fink for 13 yards and a first down to the ACU 49. McCrary did the rest as he took a handoff from Anthony, hit the hole up the middle, cut his right and outran the Lions' defense into the enc zone for a 51-yard scoring run and a 41-20 ACU lead with 10:24 left in the fourth quarter.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Oscar Hernandez made field goals of 33 and 32 yards in the game, the Wildcats' first field goals since Taylor Williamson hit a 49-yarder at Houston Baptist on Sept. 15. The last time Hernandez made a field goal was Sept. 8 against Angelo State when he made a 37-yarder and a 39-yarder. Since the field goal at HBU, ACU kickers had missed four straight, although they didn't attempte da field goal against either McNeese or Nicholls.
- The Wildcats won in Hammond, La., for the first time since a 28-7 win over the Lions at Strawberry Stadium on Nov. 6, 1971.
- The last time the Wildcats won a game in the state of Louisiana was Dec. 8, 1973, when they beat Elon (N.C.), 42-14, in Shreveport to win the NAIA Division I national championship. ACU radio analyst Jim Reese – who was on the call for Saturday night's win in Hammond – was a redshirt freshman on that 1973 team.
STAT CORNER
- Southeastern entered the game as the most penalized team in the league (76) for the most total penalty yards (645) and most penalty yards per game (92.1 ypg), and that played a role in the first half. The Lions were whistled for five penalties for 55 yards, and two of those penalties cost them a fumble recovery on ACU's first possession and a touchdown run on their final possession of the half. Southeastern finished the game with nine penalties for 89 yards against seven for just 57 yards for the Wildcats.
- The last time the Wildcats posted at least 600 yards of total offense was Sept. 27, 2014, when they rang up 633 yards in a 59-14 win at Houston Baptist.
QUOTABLE
- "We weren't perfect, but when you play with passion and energy, you can do great things."
--- ACU head coach Adam Dorrel
- "I really can't believe the strides we've made in our running game. To be able to go out (Saturday night) and run for more than 300 yards against a team that pushed us around last year shows just how much we've grown over the last year."
--- Dorrel on his team's running game, which racked up 317 yards against the Lions
UP NEXT
The Wildcats are off next Saturday (Oct. 27) and won't play again until Saturday, Nov. 3, when they host Northwestern State (La.) in a 2 p.m. game at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.
