BEAUMONT, TEXAS – Jordan Hoy threw for 338 yards and ran for 103 more, accounting for three touchdowns Saturday night while rallying Lamar University to a 27-24 Southland Conference win over Abilene Christian University in Provost
Umphrey Stadium.
ACU (2-4, 1-3) recovered from a rough beginning to build a 24-17 lead through three quarters, only to see the Cardinals outscore the Wildcats 10-0 in the final 15 minutes. The visitors had
redshirt sophomore
Sema'J Davis making his first collegiate start at quarterback, and he combined with Lamar's Hoy to star in an entertaining performance by the dual-threat signal callers.
Wildcat running back
Tracy James scored his
FCS-leading 11th and 12th touchdowns of the season and Davis threw the first two scoring passes of his career for Abilene Christian, which surrendered 10 points in less than three minutes during a key stretch of the final quarter. Hoy threw for two touchdowns and scored the game's decisive TD on a 4-yard run with 6:20 left in the game.
"I'm proud of our players," said head coach
Adam Dorrel. "Sema'J played very well in his first collegiate start on the road. The whole team played extremely hard, and with focus and energy. I saw some good things on defense and offense. We didn't turnover the ball, and on defense we got beat on some double moves but to that you have to tip your cap to their offense."
The Wildcats had earned just one first down and trailed Lamar 10-0 with less than five minutes left in the second quarter when Davis and James ignited the ACU offense, which scored 13 points to rescue what had been a dismal first half. And they added 10 more points to begin the second half.
However, scoreless first and fourth quarters
bookended the mid-game productivity, and a breakdown on special teams led to the Cardinals' winning score late in the contest.
The teams traded punts in the first quarter – interrupted by Bailey
Giffen's missed 46-yard field goal attempt – until Hoy found a wide-open Kirkland Banks on a 55-yard scoring pass with 3:16 left.
Giffen's successful PAT kick put Lamar on top, 7-0.
Giffen added a 36-yard field goal with 10:15 left in the second quarter to grow Lamar's lead to 10-0.
With 4:52 to go in the half, ACU finally got on the scoreboard with Davis' first career TD throw, a
13-yarder to wide receiver
Kobe Clark, his first career TD reception. Blair
Zepeda's PAT attempt, however, deflected off the right upright to leave the score 10-6. The drive was enabled by Davis' 21-yard scramble on 3rd-and-7 from Lamar 44-yard line, and a piece of tough running on 4th-and-1 at the 13 by James that picked up a first down and preserved the Wildcats' progress downfield.
Lamar appeared headed for more first-half points on its ensuing drive until linebacker
Hunter Kier recovered a fumble at the ACU 36.
Four plays later, James ran 30 yards untouched for his
FCS-leading 11th touchdown of the season. The huge turn in momentum put ACU ahead 13-10 with 1:03 left in the half.
With time nearly expired in the first half, cornerback Ryan
Stapp picked off a pass by Hoy at the ACU 4-yard line and returned it 96 yards for an apparent TD, but a holding penalty gave the Wildcats the ball at the Lamar 43-yard line, where the half came to a close.
Abilene Christian forced another turnover on Lamar's first drive of the third quarter when
Brandon Richmond forced a fumble that was recovered by
Adonis Davis at the ACU 35-yard line. The Wildcats cashed in the gift when
Zepeda kicked his eighth field goal of the season, a
36-yarder with 9:25 left that grew
ACU's lead to 16-10.
Lamar bounced back with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to regain the lead, 17-16, on a 31-yard TD pass from Hoy to tight end Mason Sikes at the 4:45 mark.
ACU answered with its own 75-yard march on the
ensuring drive, to close the third quarter. James scored his second TD of the night on a 5-yard pass from Davis with seven seconds left, then James threw a halfback option pass to leaping tight end Brandon
Hohenstein for the two-point conversion, putting the Wildcats up 24-17.
The score became tighter at 24-20 when
Giffen pulled the Cardinals closer with a 41-yard field goal with 9:30 left, and Lamar got the ball right back when an onside pooch kick on the next play was recovered by Lamar's Michael Lawson at the ACU 45-yard line.
"I'm disappointed in the onside kick," said Dorrel. "We worked on that in practice and knew it was coming. We just didn't execute. We were up four at the time, and a recovery on our part may have led to another score or at least flip the field on them."
Hoy took advantage of
ACU's first and only turnover of the game, running 4 yards for a TD to put his team on top for good, 27-24, with 6:20 remaining.
James ran 12 times for 76 yards and one TD and Davis added 61 yards on the ground for Abilene Christian. Clark led Wildcat receivers with nine catches for a career-high 87 yards and one score.
Banks caught 10 passes for 145 yards and one TD for the Cardinals.
ACU returns home next Saturday to host a 6 p.m. game with Houston Baptist University in Wildcat Stadium. Four of the Wildcats' next five games are at home on Anthony Field.
"We play four of our last six games at home plus the bye week," said Dorrel. "There's a lot of football left to be played and we knew this was going to be the toughest part of our schedule travel-wise. Now we just have to regroup and continue to play hard."
PLAYS THAT MATTERED
- 1Q – Bailey Giffen missed wide right on a 46-yard field goal attempt with 4:18 on the clock.
- 1Q – Jordan Hoy threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Kirkland Banks with 3:16 left in the opening quarter. GiffenÆs kik made it
- 2Q – Davis threw a 13-yard TD pass to Kobe Clark with 4:52 left in the half. Zepeda missed the PAT kick but Lamar's lead was trimmed to 10-6.
- 2Q – The game's first turnover went to ACU when Hunter Kier recovered a fumble by Lamar's Kenny Allen at the Wildcat 36-yard line.
- 2Q – With 1:03 left in the quarter, Tracy James ran 30 yards for a TD to put ACU ahead for the first time, 13-10.
- 3Q – Zepeda kicked a 36-yard field goal to grow ACU's lead to 16-10 with 9:25 left in the quarter.
- 3Q – Lamar's Mason Sikes caught a 31-yard TD pass from Hoy with 4:45 left, pulling the Cardinals back into the lead, 17-16.
- 3Q – James scored his second TD of the game, a 5-yard pass from Davis. James took a handoff from Davis and tossed a pass to Brandon Hohenstein to complete the two-point conversion and ACU led once more, 24-17.
- 4Q – Giffen booted a 41-yard field goal with 9:30 left in the game to pull Lamar closer.
- 4Q – Lamar recovered an onside pooch kick on the next play.
- 4Q – Hoy ran 4 yards for a TD with 6:20 left, giving Lamar the lead once more, 27-24, and the game's final points.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- ACU, with Sema'J Davis getting his first start at quarterback, started the game slowly, managing just 25 yards passing, one first down and 39 total yards in the first quarter.
- Wildcat linebacker Jack Gibbens had 13 tackles for the third straight game, but ACU was led tonight by Jeremiah Chambers' 14 (12 solo). Brandon Richmond added 11 tackles (8 solo).
- Ryan Stapp, a freshman, was credited with a 53-yard interception return near the end of the first half, although a holding penalty kept the play from being a 96-yard pick-six play that could have turned the game even more in ACU's favor at that point.
STAT CORNER
- Sema'J Davis showed his amazing athletics skill in his first collegiate start, running for 61 yards and passing for 159 yards and two TDs with no interceptions. He filled in for injured starter Luke Anthony, whom Davis has previously spelled during games while running frequently out of a Wildcat formation for ACU.
- ACU head coach Adam Dorrel preaches the importance of eliminating turnovers on offense, creating them on offense, and winning special teams play. The Wildcats won the turnover battle 3-1 in a rare instance where the team with the fewest prevails over the one with the most. A surprise onside pooch kick by Lamar in the fourth quarter was untouched by ACU when the ball hit the turf and bounced into the waiting arms of the Cardinals' Michael Lawson. Lamar took the ball and scored what ended up being the game-winning TD.
- At the half, Lamar trailed 13-10 on the scoreboard but owned advantages in first downs (14-9), total yards (273-168), passing yards (172-104), rushing yards (101-64), and time of possession (18:33-11:27).
NOTABLE
- The Cardinals lead the all-time series with ACU, 13-7. Jim Lindsey was the Wildcat quarterback and Richard M. Nixon the U.S. president on Oct. 17, 1970, the last time ACU beat the Cardinals in Beaumont, with the visitors prevailing 42-17 en route to a 9-2 season, their best-ever thus far while a member of the Southland Conference.
- The first Southland conference game was played between the Wildcats and Cardinals in 1964 on this same field. ACU and Lamar were founding members of the league in 1963, along with Arkansas State University, The University of Texas at Arlington and Trinity University.
- Provost Umphrey Stadium was built in 1964 as Cardinal Stadium. It was renovated and renamed in 2010 when Lamar reinstated football; the Cardinals disbanded their program in 1989. Its record attendance of 18,500 was recorded in a 1980 game vs. Baylor.
