Sept. 8, 2010

Lamar vs. Webber Game Notes

BEAUMONT - Encouraged by a strong showing in a 30-27 season-opening road loss to McNeese State, Lamar University will play its highly-anticipated first home game in 21 years Saturday night against Webber International at 6 p.m. in 16,000-seat Provost Umphrey Stadium.

With junior quarterback Andre Bevil throwing for a school-record 429 yards last Saturday, the Cardinals put a serious scare into the then 11th-ranked Cowboys. He completed 25 of 42 passes, including touchdown strikes of 26 yards to Marcus Jackson, 12 yards to Josh Powdrill and 4 yards to J.J. Hayes.

In Webber International, coach Ray Woodard's Cardinals will be facing a squad enthused by a 2-0 start. The Warriors defeated Virginia Wise 30-10 in their opener, and they held off Georgetown College 27-20 Saturday afternoon.

Lamar and Webber, an NAIA independent with an enrollment of 700 and located in Babson Park, Fla., will be meeting in football for the first time.

The last time the Cardinals played at home, they scored 16 fourth-quarter points to rally for a 22-17 victory over favored McNeese State in November of 1989, just a couple of weeks before the school's board of regents cast a 5-4 vote to discontinue the program due to a mounting deficit in its operation.

Bevil's standout performance against the Cowboys shattered the previous school record of 412 yards set by Shad Smith in a 1987 game against Louisiana Monroe. In addition to his touchdown passes, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior from West Orange-Stark went deep to set up three scores.

Bevil lofted a 57-yard first-quarter pass to Hayes to set up the 26-yard strike to Jackson to give the Cardinals their first points since 1989. Bevil also had long connections of 73 yards to Josh Powdrill to put the Cards in position for Justin Stout's 31-yard field goal that registered a 16-13 score early in the third quarter and a 63 yarder to Prejean that carried to the Cowboys' one-yard line, setting up Bevil's eventual 4-yard toss to Hayes for the game's final score.

Both Jackson, who had six catches, and Powdrill, who had five, finished the game with 123 receiving yards to enable them to share the 10th-highest total in school history with Chris Ford of the 1989 team and Ronnie Gebauer of the 1968 Cardinals. Prejean finished with three receptions for 87 yards, and the receivers averaged 17.2 yards per catch. Once the glitz and glamour of Saturday's pregame ceremonies marking the grand re-opening of the refurbished stadium subsides, the Cardinals will get down to the business of protecting their gaudy record in home-opening games. After Lamar lost its first three home-opening games as a four-year institution, the Cardinals went on to win 28 times and register one tie in their remaining 36 home debuts before the program was discontinued after the 1989 season.

The Cardinals were at their best on both sides of the ball in their last home debut as they overwhelmed Sam Houston State 41-0 on Sept. 23, 1989. With Ed Hickey hauling in a 41-yard touchdown pass from John Evans, tailback Kenny Franklin sprinting 21 yards for a score and Waylon Patterson returning a blocked punt 13 yards for another, the Cardinals leaped to a 21-0 first-quarter lead, and they were up 28-0 after Evans hit wide receiver Chris Ford with a 17-yard TD pass 2:08 into the second quarter.

Quarterback Torrence Moise, a 5-8, 174-pound sophomore, is Webber International's leading rusher and passer. Through two games, he's averaging 180.5 passing yards and 98.0 ground yards, and he has accounted for three rushing touchdowns and one through the air. His longest TD run was a 91-yarder in the Warriors' 30-10 season-opening victory over Virginia Wise.

The Warriors, who posted a 4-6 record last year, are in their fifth season under head coach Kelly Scott, a 1986 Indiana University graduate who played his collegiate football as a defensive back at Manchester (Indiana) College. He has a four-plus season record of 13-21.

After Saturday's game, the Cardinals will go on the road for their next two - Sept. 18 against Southeastern Louisiana and Sept. 25 vs. Stephen F. Austin State. The Cards' next home game will be against Sam Houston State on Oct. 2.

LAMAR