A promising start to a season looked all for not when the Sam Houston State Bearkats saw themselves trailing 14-0 to their arch-nemesis Stephen F. Austin last Saturday in Nacogdoches.
A week after being demoted to backup quarterback, Brett Hicks took charge in the biggest game of the season and delivered by completing 19-of-31 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown.
D.D. Terry, who has been nothing short of amazing of late, was held in check to only 39 yards on 18 carries and a one-yard touchdown run.
The Lumberjacks got on the board late in the first quarter when, working with a short field, Louie Runnels capped off a 39-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run to give the Jacks a 7-0 lead.
As short as that drive was, SFA made use of nearly an entire quarter on their next scoring drive.
Starting at their own 4-yard line, the Jacks drove 96 yards on 17 plays and chewed up 7:34 before quarterback Danny Southall snuck it in from one-yard away on fourth down.
Sam Houston would answer right back by scoring on a fourth down play of their own when Terry scampered in from a yard away as well. Stewart Pearcy missed the extra point, which has been a serious problem all year for the Kats, and thus Sam Houston State trailed 14-6.
The Kats tied the game two possessions into the second half by going to through the air. Brett Hicks hit Brandon Perry on a two-yard touchdown and then Terry ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14.
After SFA connected on a 26-yard field goal to regain the lead, the Kats came up with the go-ahead score at the start of the fourth quarter on a one-yard TD run by Andrew Audelin.
The Kats will next play Southeastern La. this Saturday.