James’ TDs power ACU to 31-24 OT Homecoming win over SFA

ABILENE, TEXAS – Tracy James continued his season-long scoring onslaught, adding three more to secure Abilene Christian University's 31-24 double-overtime win over Southland Conference rival Stephen F. Austin on a Homecoming Saturday afternoon in Wildcat Stadium.
 
Luke Anthony tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Kobe Clark in the second overtime period to nail down the victory for ACU (4-4, 3-3) and preserve its FCS playoff hopes. SFA dropped to 1-6 overall and 1-3 in the league. The overtime win was ACU's first since a 2012 victory over West Alabama.
 
SFA rallied with 10 fourth-quarter points – including Storm Ruiz' 27-yard field goal with 27 seconds left – to tie the score after ACU went stone cold following a 17-0 run and domination of the third quarter. Both teams missed field goals in the first overtime period.
 
Anthony completed 29 of 46 passes for 236 yards and James ran for 106 yards while scoring his 14^th, 15^th and 16^th TDs of the season as a national leader in that category. James has scored in all eight games this season for ACU, and this was his sixth multi-TD game of the year.
 
Josh Fink caught 12 passes for 110 yards, his second consecutive game for ACU with double-digit receptions. The senior moved to No. 3 on the Wildcat career reception list with his effort.
 
SFA sophomore quarterback Trae Self was 25 of 49 for 318 yards and one score, and the Lumberjacks had two receivers pass the century mark in receiving yards: Xavier Gipson with 109 and Da'Leon Ward with 102. Gipson caught two for TDs.
 
The game, played before 11,096 on a sunny afternoon, was a study in contrasts.
 
ACU dominated the third quarter as part of a 17-0 scoring run, holding SFA to 23 yards of offense – and just 2 rushing – while maintaining a nearly 4-1 advantage in time of possession. SFA flipped that script in the fourth quarter, when it scored 10 unanswered points and held ACU to 36 yards of offense – and just 8 rushing – while the Wildcats hurt themselves with penalties and poor field position.
 
The Lumberjacks' first two scoring drives of the game consumed a total of 1:05 and just three plays. Their last two of regulation were time-eating 16-play marches that rallied them to a 24-24 tie with half a minute to play.
 
ACU put itself in an early hole, turning in a scoreless first quarter for the third time in four weeks, and the fourth time this season. Despite the game's drama and momentum switches, the Wildcats found a will and a way to win when it mattered most in the second overtime period.
 
With two fumbles recovered in the first half and an interception in the second, ACU padded its reputation in turnover margin, which ranks second in the Southland and 11^th in FCS.
 
SFA surprised Abilene Christian with a one-play scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead with 8:01 left in the first quarter. Self's second completion of the game was a long-distance call to a wide-open Xavier, who raced untouched downfield with an 87-yard touchdown pass.
 
The Wildcats collected their first turnover with 13:06 left in the half when Koy Richardson recovered a fumble at the Lumberjacks' 40-yard line. ACU cashed it in eight plays later when James ran untouched around left end for his 14^th TD of the season.
 
Self connected on another long scoring pass play, this time a 56-yarder to Da'Leon Ward with 6:-0 left in the first half, putting SFA back on top, 14-7.
 
James evened the score with 35 seconds remaining in the second quarter when he caught a swing pass from Anthony in the right flat and muscled his way into the end zone with a 23-yard TD pass.
 
Blair Zepeda capped ACU's first drive of the second half – a 12-play, 69-yarder – with a 23-yard field goal to restore the Wildcat lead at 17-14. James tallied his third touchdown of the game on the Wildcats' next drive, a hard-earned 3 yards up the middle to grow his team's advantage to 24-14 with 5:25 left in the quarter.
 
Freshman cornerback Ryan Stapp's third interception of the season stopped the Lumberjacks' next drive.
 
Xavier caught his second TD pass of the game from Self with 10:09 left in the game, a 12-yarder to pull SFA closer at 24-21.
 
The Wildcats twice began fourth-quarter drives inside their 10-yard line – once at the 3 and again at its 8 – that resulted in punts that breathed life into SFA's second-half comeback.
 
On its game-tying drive, Self converted a 4^th-and-7 from the ACU 42 for a first down with a little more than three minutes left, and again on 4^th-and-13 from the Wildcat 37 – both on clutch pass completions. Ruiz tied the score with 27 seconds left on a 27-yard field goal.
 
The Wildcat defense stood tall on SFA's first possession of overtime, with Jeremiah Chambers throwing Ward for an 8-yard loss after the Lumberjacks had reached the Wildcat 2-yard line. Ruiz then missed wide left on a 27-yard field goal attempt.
 
On ACU's first possession of overtime, SFA called a timeout as Zepeda was about to attempt a 36-yard field goal. When play resumed, the Wildcat sophomore's kick missed wide right.
 
The second OT possession for ACU lasted just three plays, with Anthony lofting a 22-yard TD pass into the hands of Clark, and Zepeda's kick put the Wildcats up 31-24.
 
The game ended on SFA's final possession when Temisan Kuyatsemi hurried Self into throwing an incomplete pass on 4^th-and-goal from the Wildcat 22-yard line.
 
Jack Gibbens led ACU in tackles with 13, while Stapp added 11 and Jeremiah Chambers recorded nine and recovered one fumble. Trenton Gordon's 12 tackles and Eli Jones' 11 led SFA on defense.
 
The Wildcats were penalized 10 times for 80 yards, while SFA was flagged just once for 8.
 
ACU travels to Thibodaux, Louisiana, next Saturday to play Nicholls in John L. Guidry Stadium. Kickoff at Manning Field is 3 p.m.
 
PLAYS THAT MATTERED

• 1Q – The Lumberjacks broke out on top, 7-0, following a 78-yard scoring pass from Trae Self to Xavier Gipson, and Storm Ruiz's successful PAT kick.
• 2Q – Tracy James ran three yards for a TD with 10:11 left in the half. Blair Zepeda added the successful PAT to even the score at 7-7.
• 2Q – Da'Leon Ward caught a 56-yard scoring pass from Self with 6:09 left to put the Lumberjacks up 14-0.
• 2Q – James scored his second TD of the game on a 23-yard pass from Luke Anthony with 35 seconds left in the half. Zepeda's second sucessful PAT kick tied the game once more at 14-14.
• 3Q – Zepeda kicked a 21-yard field goal with 10:53 left in the quarter to put ACU back on top, 17-14.
• 3Q – With 5:25 left, James scored his third TD of the afternoon, a 3-yarder.
• 4Q – A 16-play SFA drive was capped by Xavier's second TD reception of the game, a 12-yarder from Self with 10:09 remaining. ACU's lead tightened at 24-21.
• 4Q – Ruiz kicked a 27-yard field goal with 27 seconds left to tie the game 24-all.
• 2OT – Kobe Clark caught a 22-yard pass from Anthony and Zepeda booted the PAT to put ACU ahead for good, 31-24.

 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• ACU overcame a sloppy game, penalty-wise: The Wildcats were flagged 10 times for 80 yards and SFA just once for 8.
• Josh Fink is the first ACU wide receiver to catch double-digit passes in back-to-back games since Taylor Gabriel in 2013, and is the first in the Wildcat's Division I era to do it. He passed Arthur Culpepper and now ranks No. 3 all-time at ACU in receptions.
• James has four multi-TD games this season, and has scored at least once in all eight contests. This was the third three-TD game of his career.

 
STAT CORNER

• At the half, the Lumberjacks held leads in total offense (249-211) and passing yards (185-108), while ACU led in rushing yards (103-64), first downs (13-9) and time of possession (16:52-13:08). Anthony was 12 of 23 for 108 yards and 1 TD through the air and Tracy James had rushed 16 times for a game-high 80 yards. Josh Fink had six catches for 53 yards for ACU, and Da'Leon Ward had two for 63 yards.
• Anthony moved past John Mayes and Loyal Proffitt and into fifth place in career TD passes (48), trailing Billy Malone (114), Mitchell Gale (97), Rex Lamberti (84) and Jim Lindsey (61).
• James (3,205) passed V.T. Smith Jr. and D'Andre Brown for 10th place in all-purpose yards in ACU's record book. His 32 career TDs now tie him with Edmund Gates.

 
QUOTABLE

• "It felt amazing. It felt better than my first touchdown catch, honestly. It was on a play that usually never gets thrown to me but I was just wide open and Luke (Anthony) found me in the end zone. It was a great feeling … I was saying to myself, 'if I miss this, I'm going to be known at ACU forever,' so I was trying to do all I could to focus and catch the ball." – Sophomore wide receiver Kobe Clark on game-winning touchdown reception           

 

• "It was awesome. We knew that we needed to get a stop and at least force them to a field goal. Thankfully he (kicker Storm Ruiz) actually missed the last field goal. It was really close on that first overtime drive, he (running back Da'Leon Ward) actually almost scored but we pushed him right out on the 1-yard line, and then we just tied down knowing that they weren't going to run the ball on us. That's the mindset we've installed for the last two years and we executed really well." – Senior linebacker Jeremiah Chambers on big red zone stops

 

• "I'm not going to say I'm used to it, but I always work on it in practice trying to score all the time. Long, short runs, whatever it is. After every play I'm always trying to get to the end zone. It's something I always practice." – Senior running back Tracy James on knack for scoring touchdowns

 

• "It was a good one to finish, but I think there were a lot of things that went on during the course of the game today that we're disappointed with. The penalties were something that we're upset with because we had been doing good with that, where on the other hand they (SFA) only had one penalty for eight yards. That was a huge deciding factor and we were behind the sticks a lot.

 

• "But the flip side was our senior class had never beaten SFA, we won homecoming for the second year in a row, our recruits got to experience an awesome atmosphere, and we were +2 in turnover margin. Those are the good things that helped us win a close football game at the end. We got into a pressure situation, and I was proud of the way our players handled the situation. I think the things that can be fixed will be fixed through an attention to detail and preparation. There are some things we need to be focused on a little better." – Head coach Adam Dorrel on the homecoming victory

 
NOTABLE

• At kickoff, ACU running back Tracy James ranked second in the nation (FCS) in touchdowns with 13. SFA kicker Storm Ruiz leads FCS with 2.33 field goals per game and is ranked seventh in field goal percentage (.875). The Lumberjacks rank 14^th in the nation in red zone offensive efficiency (.920).
• ACU leads the series with SFA, 11-9, but had lost the previous three matchups. The Wildcats are 7-2 at home against the visitors from Nacogdoches.
• Today's attendance was 11,096. The Wildcats are 55-35-1 at Homecoming, including 5-2 since moving to NCAA Division I and the Southland Conference in 2013. With today's victory, ACU is 3-1 against SFA on Homecoming in Abilene, winning in 1981 (31-0) and 1983 (24-10) but losing in 1979 (27-21).
• SFA's head coach is former ACU assistant Colby Carthel, who was a Wildcat defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator from 2000-05. This is his first season as the Lumberjacks' head coach after leading Texas A&M-Commerce to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2017 to cap a six-season head-coaching tenure with the Lions.
• This fall, 167 players from FCS schools were part of the 32 opening-day rosters of NFL teams. An additional 43 were signed to practice squads. Former ACU standout Taylor Gabriel, a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears, is the lone NFL Wildcat this season.