Box Score Sept. 25, 2010
Box Score
NACOGDOCHES - Lamar University's impressive run to open its first football season in 21 years came to a humbling end Saturday night in a discouraging 71-3 loss to sixth-ranked Stephen F. Austin State University.
In absorbing the largest margin of defeat in school history, the Cardinals committed four turnovers (all in the first half) and yielded a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown. They also lost star quarterback Andre Bevil, who sat out the second half with a sprained ankle.
The previous high margin of victory was 62 points by the 1970 Cardinals in a 69-7 loss to Arkansas State, and the Lumberjacks' 71 points came within six of the most ever given up by a Lamar team in a 77-40 loss to Louisiana Tech in 1969.
Lamar's only points came on Justin Stout's 47-yard field goal with 2:32 left in the second quarter. It trimmed the Cardinals' deficit to 38-3, but the Jacks exploded for 33 third quarter points before the teams played a scoreless final period.
The Homer Bryce Stadium crowd of 13,281 saw the Lumberjacks pile up 540 yards of total offense and hold the Cardinals to 176, including 39 in the second half.
Before leaving the game midway through the third quarter, SFA quarterback Jeremy Moses completed 23 of 40 passes for 353 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receiver Cordell Roberson snared TD passes of 24 and 30 yards in the Lumberjacks' 33-point third quarter, and Moses' other scoring tosses went 9 yards to Anthony Foster in the first quarter and 22 yards to Gralyn Crawford in the second.
The Lumberjacks, who improved to 3-1 on the season, also received scoring runs of 12 and 3 yards from Ramonte Hampton, 8 yards from Travis Walker and 16 yards from Jeremy Barnes. The Jacks also scored on Logan Barrett's 33-yard field goal, Nelson Caleb's 29-yard interception return and Delano King's 7-yard return of the blocked punt.
Bevil, who was under intense pressure from the Lumberjack defense throughout the first half, completed 14 of 24 passes for a season-low 119 yards, and he threw his sixth and seventh interceptions of the season.
In falling to 2-2 on the season, the Cardinals managed only nine first downs to 30 for SFA, and they lost two of three fumbles. Marcus Jackson and Doug Prewitt subbed for Bevil at quarterback in the second half, and they were a combined 5-of-7 for 20 yards.
"I thought SFA was a good team coming in, but they were even better than I thought," said Lamar coach Ray Woodard. "It's tough to win you the ball over as much as we did, but against a team as Stephen F. Austin you just can't survive it. That was the longest first quarter of my life.
"We thought under the circumstances at halftime Andre's ankle would just get worse, we felt it was more important to hold him out and save him for Sam Houston State next week.
"You give a quarterback like Moses too many opportunities as we did tonight, he's going to put a lot of points on the board."
The Cardinals survived their first turnover - a Bevil interception - as they held the Jacks on downs at LU's 32-yard line. They couldn't escape the second - a Bevil fumble at the Cardinals' 38-yard line, however.
On first down, Moses completed a 21-yard pass to Crawford to gain the 17-yard line, then he threw three-straight incompletions. That brought in Barrett for his 33-yard field goal.
After forcing a Lamar punt, the Jacks drove 77 yards on five plays to notch their next score - a 19-yard pass from Moses to Foster. The drive also featured a 39-yard Moses-to-Kris Lott pass.
It took the Jacks only 16 seconds to run their advantage to 17-0 as Nelson picked off a Bevil pass and returned it 29 yards to the end zone with 7:02 left in the opening quarter.
A short punt of 27 yards by Kollin Kahler left the Jacks only 48 yards to drive for their third touchdown. They covered that distance on seven plays with the payoff being a 12-yard run by Hampton to run the score to 24-0 with 12:51 left in the second quarter.
Another short punt - this one of 22 yards - led to the Jacks' next scoring drive, a 50-yarder on five plays Moses' pass of 22 yards to Crawford. Barrett's fourth conversion of the opening half made it 31-0 Jacks with 9:26 left before intermission.
Kahler didn't even get off his next punt as the Jacks sent 10 men. Octavious Hypolite got the block, and King scooped up the loose ball and returned it 7 yards for the score that made it 38-0 with 7:21 remaining in the half.
The Cardinals drove 46 yards on 10 plays late in the half, but they stalled after Bevil was sacked for a 10-yard loss to the SFA 30. With 2:32 showing on the clock, Stout kicked the 47-yard field goal that cut their deficit to 38-3.
The Cardinals yielded a 260-137 deficit in total-yards to the Jacks in the first half. Bevil was sacked four times for 21 yards in losses, and he threw both interceptions and he was charged with one their two lost fumbles in the opening 30 minutes.
The Cardinals did not make a first down and, they managed a mere 43 yards during the second quarter, which the Jacks dominated 21-3.
The second half was only 44 seconds old when Moses completed his third touchdown of the half, a 24-yarder to Roberson. The Cards gained a little consolation by blocking Barrett's extra point attempt.
With Bevil sitting out the second half, the Cardinals went with Jackson at quarterback on their first possession and were unable to muster a first down. The Jacks quickly capitalized as Hampton ended another short drive with his 2-yard scoring run.
Again, the Cardinals blocked the conversion attempt, but the Jacks still led 50-3 with 12:03 left in the third quarter.
The Moses-to-Roberson combination clicked again before the third quarter ended, this time for a 30-yard score to make it 57-3 with 8:28 remaining in the period. Walker's 8-yard run three minutes later gave the Jacks their fourth TD of the third quarter and a 64-3 lead with 5:27 left, and Barnes' 16-yard scoring run with 1:10 left was the game's final touchdown.
The Cardinals will return home to newly-renovated Provost Umphrey Stadium for their next three games. First up will their final test against fellow Southland Conference school when Sam Houston State comes to Beaumont this Saturday for a 6 p.m. game.
LAMAR
