Wildcats run for three touchdowns vs. SFA

Written by Ron Hadfield | Photos: Jeremy Enlow

ARLINGTON, Texas – Only in this pandemic-colored season could a football game featuring the year’s lone matchup of Southland Conference rivals be played in a historic baseball stadium, yet turn into a track meet by the fourth quarter.

But such was the scene across the street from tonight’s Game 4 of the neutral-field World Series: a defensive battle that morphed into a wild shootout in which the contest’s final outcome appeared to change three times in the closing minutes. Trae Self threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns, the last a game-winner in a 39-32 overtime victory Saturday afternoon over Abilene Christian University in the first college football game ever played at Globe Life Park.

SFA (3-3 overall, 1-0 in conference) took a 22-21 lead with 2:33 left, only to see ACU (0-3, 0-1) race downfield in four plays to move on top 27-22. The Lumberjacks took just three plays to tie the game at 29-29 with 51 seconds remaining, then overcame a Wildcat field goal in OT to win on a 16-yard scoring pass from Self to tight end Chad Aune.

Iowa transfer quarterback Peyton Mansell threw for 224 yards, wide receiver Kobe Clark caught six passes for 131 yards and Jermiah Dobbins ran for two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats.

ACU fought hard to overcome five turnovers – including two of Mansell’s three interceptions picked by SFA cornerback Bruce Harmon – and appeared to have won the game with 1:31 left, only to find itself unable to corral the suddenly big-play Lumberjack offense. Both teams took turns making dramatic long-distance plays in the final minutes of each half.

The Wildcats were playing their first game since backup quarterback Sema’J Davis was critically injured Oct. 9 in a vehicle accident in Abilene. The team visited his family Friday outside John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, where the junior is recovering in ICU.

For two quarters, neither team looked particularly comfortable competing on a playing surface converted to football and soccer after 25 seasons of MLB baseball.

Each team fumbled on its opening drive, ACU on its fourth play of the game and SFA shortly after on its first. The Wildcats were flagged for false-start penalties on the following two plays, called a timeout and regrouped. Their new focus resulted in the game’s first score: a 3-yard touchdown run by Tyrese White with 8:19 left. 

Self scrambled for 20 of his team’s 74 yards en route to SFA’s first touchdown of the game, a 4-yard run just inside the second quarter, to pull even at 7-7 at the 10:55 mark. 

Harmon, a redshirt freshman, made an acrobatic interception of a Mansell pass intended for Clark, and returned it 13 yards to the ACU 42-yard line. SFA marched back downfield, thanks in part to a 26-yard pass play on fourth down from Self to wide receiver Da’leon Ward.  

ACU, however, rose up to stop the Lumberjacks at the Wildcat 11-yard line, forcing Campos to attempt a 33-yard field inside the quarter’s final minute.

But in the shadow of Globe Life Park’s iconic former Home Run Porch, senior linebacker Jack Gibbens blocked the kick, and sophomore defensive back Ryan Stapp picked up the ball, racing 85 yards for a touchdown to put the Wildcats on top once more, 14-7 with 39 seconds left. 

SFA opened the third-quarter scoring when Campos redeemed himself with a 42-yard field goal just 2 minutes after halftime.

ACU’s first drive of the second half ended with the Wildcats’ third turnover of the game, an interception of a Mansell-to-Clark pass when the receiver juggled the ball and sophomore defensive back Tkai Lloyd came away with the pick at SFA’s 27-yard line. 

Campos booted his second field goal of the game shortly after, a 40-yarder with 8:59 left that cut the Wildcat lead to 14-13.

Zepeda’s 45-yard field goal atempt sailed wide left at the 5:50 mark, giving SFA the ball back.

Harmon’s second interception of Mansell on the afternoon – at the 11-yard line on ACU’s ensuing drive – turned the momentum once more. The Wildcat defense stood tall once more, however, forcing SFA to punt from its end zone and giving ACU the ball at the Lumberjack 38-yard line.

Redemption from the Wildcats’ fourth turnover of the game was short and sweet for ACU, thanks to running back Jermiah Dobbins, whose stirring 27-yard and 10-yard runs on consecutive plays at the top of the fourth quarter put the ball in the end zone and extended the lead to 21-13.

Campos added his third field goal of the game with a 38-yarder to cap his team’s ensuring drive and tighten the Wildcat lead again to 21-16 with 10 minutes remaining.

The turnover epidemic for ACU struck again on the very next play when wide receiver Jordan Brooks-Wess fumbled while fighting for extra yardage on the kickoff return. The fifth turnover of the afternoon set up SFA on the Wildcat 26-yard line.

The Lumberjacks gambled on 4th-and-1 at the 17-yard line, but Abilene Christian rose to the defensive occasion once more, with Gibbens tackling Self short on a quarterback keeper at the 16. 

ACU, however, could not move the ball against SFA, returning possession via a punt to near midfield with 6:25 remaining.

Self beat a blitzing ACU defense on 3rd-and-9 from the 50-yard line, hitting wide receiver Turn JaQuarion on a 24-yard pass to the Wildcat 26. On 4th-and-2 at the 18, Self found Jeremia Miller on a pass to the 11. On third down from the 8, Gibbens batted away a Self pass intended to running back Jaquarion Tucker.

Wide receiver Xavier Gipson rallied SFA when he caught an 8-yard TD pass from Self at the back of the end zone with 2:23 left to make the score 22-21. However, Self was tackled short of the goal line on a 2-point conversion attempt. 

ACU single-season reception record-holder Clark then came to the rescue. 

The former walk-on from Sweetwater, Texas, sailed 78 yards on a bubble screen pass play from his team’s 15-yard line, setting up the Wildcats for potential victory.

Running back Tyrese White then capped the four-play, lightning-fast drive with a 3-yard run up the middle with 1:38 left, and Mansell hopped untouched into the end zone on a successful 2-point try, padding ACU’s lead to 29-22 with 1:31 on the clock.

But Carthel’s team had other ideas.

SFA’s improbable last-minute rally took just 40 seconds and three plays to cover 67 yards, headlined by a 62-yard pass from Self to Miller. The Lumberjacks tied the game at 29-29 when Remi Simmons snagged a 5-yard pass from his quarterback.

The Wildcats ran out the clock and the two teams headed to overtime.

ACU got the ball first, with Zepeda’s 35-yard field goal making the score 32-29. 

SFA had one more rally in its pocket, with Self tossing a 16-yard TD pass to Aune, another redshirt freshman, giving the Lumberjacks the improbable win, and fans their money’s worth.

Self completed 27 of 39 passes in the game, nine of them going to Gipson for 110 yards and one TD. Miller added five catches for 91 yards.

Mansell completed 15 of 26 passes and Dobbins led the Wildcats with six carries for 56 yards (a 9.3 average per carry) and one score. White aded 46 yards on the ground.

Linebackers Chike Nwankwo and Gibbens led ACU in tackles with 10 and 9, respectively. Stapp had five tackles along with the fumble return for a TD.

ACU has yet to play a home game this season but has two straight in Wildcat Stadium on Nov. 7 against Angelo State and Nov. 14 with Arizona Christian.

Abilene Christian remains on the road next Saturday when it faces Mercer in Macon, Georgia. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. CDT at Five Star Stadium.

PLAYS THAT MATTERED

• 1Q – Tyrese White ran 2 yards for a touchdown and Blair Zepeda added the PAT kick to put ACU on top, 7-0. Scoring drive: 51 yards, 10 plays, 5:11
• 2Q – Trae Self evened the score at 7-7 when he ran 4 yards with 10:55 left in the first half, and Chris Campos added the PAT kick. Scoring drive: 74 yards, 10 plays, 4:30
• 2Q – Ryan Stapp returned a blocked field goal 85 yards for a TD. Zepeda’s PAT kick restored the Wildcat lead, 14-7, with 39 seconds left. Scoring drive: 85 yards, 1 play
• 3Q – Campos kicked a 42-yard field goal with 13:07 left to pull SFA closer, 14-10. Scoring drive: 22 yards, 5 plays, 1:22
• 3Q – Campos kicked a 40-yard field goal with 8:59 left to tighten ACU’s lead, 14-13. Scoring drive: 51 yards, 7 plays, 3:23
• 4Q – Jermiah Dobbins ran 10 yards to extend the ACU advantage to 21-13 with 14:15 left.  Scoring drive: 37 yards, 2 plays, 0:38
• 4Q – Campos kicked a 38-yard field goal with 10:00 left to pull SFA closer, 21-16. Scoring drive: 39 yards, 10 plays, 4:15
• 4Q – Xavier Gipson caught an 8-yard TD pass from Self to give SFA the lead, 22-21 with 2:23 left. Self was stopped short on a 2-point coversion attempt. Scoring drive: 51 yards, 11 plays, 4:02
• 4Q – Tyrese White ran 3 yards for a TD and Mansell ran in the 2-point conversion to put ACU ahead, 29-22 with 1:38 remaining. Scoring drive: 75 yards, 4 plays
• 4Q – Self threw a 5-yard TD pass to Remi Simmons with 51 seconds left to tie the game at 29-all. Scoring drive; 67 yards, 3 plays, 40 seconds
• OT – Zepeda kicked a 35-yard field goal on its first possession of overtime to put ACU ahead, 32-29. Scoring drive: 25 yards, 4 plays
• OT – Self tossed a 16-yard TD pass to Chad Aune to win the game in overtime, 35-32. Scoring drive: 25 yards, 2 plays

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Defensive back Ryan Stapp starred as a freshman in 2019 for ACU, leading his team in interceptions with three. His blocked field goal return for a TD today was his first as a Wildcat and nearly a game-changer. 
• Today’s game was the only matchup of Southland teams in Fall 2020. Just four of the Southland’s 11 members – ACU, SFA, Central Arkansas and Houston Baptist – are playing football this fall in the COVID-19 environment. The others have a Spring 2021 season planned. McNeese State, in particular, has extra challenges while recovering and rebuilding this fall from two hurricanes that hit Lake Charles, Louisiana, causing major damage to its campus and stadium.
• ACU’s third and final game in Fall 2020 with a FBS team is a Nov. 21 matchup at Atlantic Coast Conference-member Virginia. Last season, the Cavaliers lost to No. 3-ranked Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and played in the Orange Bowl, losing to No. 6-ranked Florida, 36-28.

STAT CORNER

• The last two ACU-SFA games have been decided in overtime: today and last year in a 31-24 double-overtime win by the Wildcats at Homecoming. Since 2014, games between the two teams have been decided by 2, 3, 9, 10, 3, 7 and 3 points, respectively.
• SFA led ACU in total yards (467-387), receiving yards (352-224), first downs (20-15) and fourth-down conversions (4 of 5).
• In the first quarter, ACU led in total offense (122-39), passing yards (49-16), rushing yards (73-23) and on the scoreboard (7-0).

NOTABLE

• ACU’s inaugural win over the Lumberjacks came in 1973 when future NFL All-Pro runningback Wilbert Montgomery scored six touchdowns in a 57-50 win Oct. 6 in Shotwell Stadium. The Wildcats went on that season to capture their first of two NAIA Division national championships.
• SFA head coach Colby Carthel was ACU’s defensive line coach from 2000-05. He first became a head coach from 2013-18 for Texas A&M-Commerce (where his team won the 2017 Division II national title), and was named the Lumberjacks’ head coach in 2018.
• ACU and SFA have only played 21 times (ACU leads the series 11-10) but the two universities were rivals in the Division II Lone Star Conference (where SFA was a founding member in 1931) from 1973-84.
• Globe Life Park is seeing new life as a former baseball venue. It was home to MLB’s Texas Rangers from 1994-2019, but was replaced in 2020 by adjacent Globe Life Field, which is serving this fall as a neutral-site venue for the World Series being played between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays. It had a seating capacity of 49,115 for baseball but in its reconfigured state for football and soccer – and with fans distanced because of the pandemic – it will likely accommodate less than 5,000 fans for this game. Globe Life Park is chiefly used for high school football and soccer, and is the home of the XFL Dallas Renegades. The ACU-SFA showdown is the first college football game to be played in the stadium.
• Many fans from Abilene were turned back from their 165-mile trek to Arlington for the game by several major accidents in Eastland County on Interstate 20, which was blocked for an extended time Saturday morning.

QUOTABLE

• “I thought we played really well defensively, well enough to win. … Our energy level was really low in the first half. I don’t know why. I was really disappointed about that.” – ACU head coach Adam Dorrel
• “We have to be better at ball security and the turnover battle.” – ACU head coach Adam Dorrel
• “We have some guys who were really nicked up today and chose to play and didn’t have to, and I think that says a lot about their love for their teammates. … We were really short-handed on defense.” – ACU head coach Adam Dorrel
• “We have another game this next week against a really good team. This one hurts, and it should hurt for a little while, but we just have to put it behind us tomorrow and get ready for Mercer.” – ACU linebacker Jack Gibbens
• [Regarding his philosophy playing in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season] “Every time we touch the grass, just see it as a blessing and play as hard as we can because we don’t know how many we’re going to get.” – ACU linebacker Jack Gibbens