Football Recap (Week 2) - Around the SCAC

Football Recap (Week 2) - Around the SCAC
Posted: Sep 16, 2013

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - Texas Lutheran took control of the SCAC standings after knocking off Trinity in San Antonio for the first time since 1976. The Bulldogs now sit at 2-0 in the SCAC and just need a win over Austin College on October 12th to claim their first outright SCAC Championship.

AROUND THE SCAC 

The Austin College football team fell 52-34 in an offensive shootout to East Texas Baptist on Saturday, with the two teams combining for more than 1,000 yards of total offense in the game. The 'Roos are now 0-2 overall this season with the loss. The 'Roos used a huge day passing the ball to keep things close, trailing just 23-20 at halftime, but ETBU pulled away with 16 fourth quarter points. Noah Jesko completed 26-of-47 passes for 333 yards with three touchdowns against two interceptions, and Kyle Crawford had a career day with six receptions for 113 yards and a pair of scores. Madison Ross caught nine passes for 56 yards and a touchdown and added another score on the ground, while Bryce Murphy led the ground attack with 45 yards on 11 carries. Stephen Young had 12 tackles to lead the defensive unit, while Scott Loy added an interception and Tre Stewart had seven tackles, including a sack, and also forced a fumble. This week the 'Roos travel to California to take on Occidental.

The Southwestern defense gave the Pirates a lead at halftime; however, Bacone College scored 21 unanswered points late in the second half to hold onto a 32-14 win Saturday night in non-conference college football action. The Pirates (0-2) took their first lead of the season when Jarrett Bornstad picked off a Warrior pass on the Bacone (2-1) 31-yard line. From there the Pirates would need just three plays as Dante Smith found Colten Shea for a 17-yard touchdown pass and catch to take a 14-12 lead. Although the numbers were not as impressive from Shea as last week's numbers, Wilburn burst through the line from the 8-yard line to cap a five play 51-yard drive to pull Southwestern within a touchdown, 12-7. After holding a 14-12 lead at halftime, Southwestern saw its defense complete another solid effort as they held the Warriors to a punt and missed field goal in their first possessions of the second half. The solid defensive effort included an interception and two fumble recoveries; however the Warriors controlled the ball for almost 10 minutes more than the Pirates to wear the defense down. Linebacker Tyler Frisby led the Pirate defense with 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He also added 3.5 tackles for a loss as Southwestern finished with 7 tackles for a loss in the game for 37 yards. After holding Bacone scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Warriors scored on a long 71-yard pass from Karl Birkenfield to David Chapman. The touchdown gave Bacone an 18-14 lead after the two-point conversion failed. The Warriors would get two more quick strikes late in the fourth quarter to extend its lead. Kyle Kuban found Chapman again followed by a 57-yard touchdown from Kuban with 2:57 remaining to ice the game.

The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs erased a 17-point, second-half deficit Saturday evening and secured a 42-38 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win over Trinity University. The win is TLU's first victory over the Tigers in San Antonio since 1976. The Bulldogs were 0-6 against Trinity in San Antonio and 2-11 overall since the two teams re-started the area rivalry in 2000. TLU improved to 2-0 overall and to 2-0 in the SCAC. The Bulldogs are one win shy of clinching the SCAC football conference championship. TLU faces Austin College for the outright conference title on Oct. 12 in Seguin's Matador Stadium. The SCAC does not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. TLU trailed 31-14 at the half after allowing 330 yards of total offense to the Tigers. The Bulldogs also endured a string of eight plays in the first half inside the Trinity 7-yard line that did not yield points. The Bulldogs came out of the locker room and reeled off four touchdown drives in the six total drives of offense in the second half. TLU was stopped at the Trinity 1-yard line on four plays in the second half but rallied for touchdown drives of 38 and 85 yards to take the lead for good. TLU ran out the clock on its final drive with a one-yard run by Marquis Carrollton 4th-and-1 at the Trinity 33.

Trinity opened SCAC play with a 42-38 loss to Texas Lutheran University on Saturday night, dropping a home game against the Bulldogs for the first time since 1976. Robert Broyles, filling in for injured starter Mason Blaschke, threw for 344 yards and three touchdowns in the game.  Matthew Kennemer finished with 178 yards receiving to tie for seventh on the all-time list for a single game.  The last time a Tiger player had more receiving yards in a game was 2002, when Jason Hunt had 179 yards receiving against DePauw University. Trinity piled up more than 540 yards of offense in the game, which marked the most in a game for the Tigers since 2007 (DePauw).  Linebackers James Hix (12) and Connor Yorloff (11) led the team in tackles. Trinity and Sul Ross continue their series on Saturday, squaring off for the 19th time on the gridiron.  The Tigers have lost four straight meetings heading into the 2013 season, including a 62-35 loss last year.  Trinity's last win was a 21-20 decision in 1980, and each team has won nine games in the series.

To view the entire SCAC Gridiron Daily for week one, click here.