The offensive woes continued for the Sam Houston State Bearkats after the team dropped its third straight game to a ranked team, the Nicholls State Colonels, 34-16 Saturday at Bowers Stadium.”I thought we played well offensively in the first half of the ball game,” said Sam Houston head coach Ron Randleman. “We just weren’t able to move the ball as well in the second half as we did the first half.”The Bearkats were able to jump to a seven-point lead on the team’s first possession of the game thanks to a costly fumbled pitch from Nicholls State quarterback Josh Son to his running back. Junior free safety DeJuan Davis recovered the ball on the Nicholls State 44-yard line. Senior quarterback Vance Smith led the Bearkats down to the one-yard line where Jason Godfrey punched it into the end zone. Nicholls State responded with a 14 play, 80-yard touchdown drive to even the score at 7-7. Son fumbled the snap on the first play of the drive, but the Bearkats were unable to recover the ball. The Bearkats again were able to move the ball down the field, but this time the drive stalled at the Nicholls State 11-yard line and the Kats had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Joey Price. The rest of the first half and the third quarter belonged to the Colonels as Nicholls State was able to score 27 unanswered points to put the game out of reach for the Bearkats.The Colonels and their triple option running attack were able to post 349 rushing yards. Leading the way for the Colonels was Son who had 21 carries for 93-yards. The Colonels spread the ball around by having five different players score for them. The Bearkats had a chance to cut into the Colonels lead before the end of the first half, when the Bearkats drove the ball down to the Nicholls State 30-yard line, courtesy of a Stevie Smith 49-yard run. The Bearkats decided to take two shots at the end zone and Vance Smith second pass was intercepted.”It would have helped us, no doubt about it, to get some points on the board there right before half,” Randleman said. “When your team is struggling a little bit, confidence is awfully important and our confidence level right now isn’t as high as we would like to have it.” Smith started the game red hot by completing 6-of-6 passing attempts and leading the Bearkats to two first half scoring drives, but could not get things going the rest of the game and finished 14-of-24 for 137 yards and two interceptions. Stevie Smith put together his second 100-yard rushing game of the season by carrying the ball 13 times for 105-yards.Davis added his name to the SHSU record books after he blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter and returned it 52-yards for a touchdown. Davis tied a SHSU single season record by blocking his fifth kick of the season. The blocked kick brought Davis’ season total to five, tying him with Trey Woods who also blocked five in 1994.”DeJuan Davis is a very fine football player and has always had a good knack for blocking kicks,” Randleman said. “Five blocked kicks in one season is remarkable, and we have certainly had some bright spots on special teams throughout the year.”
Sections