Sophomore quarterback Jared Johnson broke the most rushing yards by a quarterback at Sam Houston State in one game to upset No. 4 McNeese State 38-22 on Saturday at Bowers Stadium.
Johnson rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns to break the record previously set by Ashley Van Meter from 1990.
SHSU started off the game strong taking a 7-0 lead only three minutes into the game off a four-yard rushing touchdown by senior running back Keshawn Hill. Ten minutes later, Johnson completed a nine-yard pass to LaDarius Brown to give the Bearkats a 14-0 lead right before the end of the first quarter.
Johnson threw for 192 passing yards and two passing touchdowns to add to his rushing performance. Johnson went 15-29 on pass attempts with one interception and rushed the ball 11 times averaging 17.3 yards per rush. Red-shirt freshman Yedidiah Louis led all receivers with five catches for 65 yards and one touchdown.
McNeese was able to score its first touchdown at the beginning of the second quarter off a Daniel Sims keeper for 29 yards. This was the only bright moment McNeese had offensively in the first three quarters of the game.
Redshirt freshman defensive end P.J. Hall led a defensive charge that only allowed 298 total yards and two trips in inside the red-zone for the Cowboys. McNeese only had 89 passing yards. Hall led the Bearkats with eight total tackles including two and half tackles for a loss. The Bearkats forced nine punts and allowed 4.8 yards per rush, compared to SHSU’s 7.2 yards per rush.
Midway into the third quarter, Johnson ran a 67-yard touchdown to give the Bearkats a 35-7 lead. The Cowboys would add 15 points in the fourth quarter, but the Bearkat lead was too much for the Cowboys to come back.
A strong SHSU offense and defense performance improves the Bearkats’ Southland Conference record to 2-0.
SHSU’s next game is Oct. 11 at Northwestern State.