HBU Huskies (1-1, 0-0 SLC) at Abilene Christian Wildcats (0-1, 0-0 SLC)
Saturday, Sept. 19 – 6 p.m.
Shotwell Stadium – Abilene, Texas
All-Time Series: ACU leads, 1-0
Audio (Lonnie King/Alonzo Williams)
Live Stats
Game Notes ABILENE, Texas - HBU football hits the road for the first time and for the first game of its only set of back-to-back games away from home when it opens Southland Conference play against Abilene Christian Saturday at 6 p.m. at Shotwell Stadium. The audio broadcast with Lonnie King and Alonzo Williams can be heard on HBUHuskies.com.
The Huskies (1-1) are led by sophomore quarterback
Max Staver, who has completed 23-of-48 passes for three touchdowns and two interceptions. HBU is averaging 216 yards per game on the ground, led by sophomore running back
Terrance Peters' 125 yards and 7.8 yards per carry, and 99 yards and a touchdown by sophomore
B.J. Kelly. Sophomore
Ethan Fry has made seven catches for 127 yards and a touchdown to pace the receiving corps.
Sophomore linebacker
Garrett Dolan anchors the defense and leads the conference with 19 tackles, while sophomore linebacker
Cody Moncure and senior defensive end
Josh Jones have made 14 apiece. Jones is also tied for second in the Southland with 2.0 sacks. Sophomore punter
Christian Guzman, who earned freshman all-America honors, is off to another solid start, averaging 41.5 yards on eight attempts.
HBU suffered a 34-10 loss to Northern Colorado last week after opening the season with a 51-7 victory over Bethany College. Last season, HBU dropped the only official meeting with ACU by a 59-14 score on Sept. 27, 2014, in Houston.
ACU (0-1) is coming off a bye week after dropping its season opener to FBS Fresno State. Quarterback Parker Mackenzie completed 18-of-29 passes for 168 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. De'Andre Brown was the Wildcats' leading rusher with 32 yards, while Jonathan Epps led the team with 55 receiving yards.
Cedric Dale and Sam Denmark had eight tackles each in the Wildcats' opener, while Junior Henderson and D.J. Arnold both recorded interceptions.
Next week, the Huskies travel to face No. 3 Sam Houston State Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.
HEAD COACH VIC SHEALY QUOTES
On loss to Northern Colorado: "We made too many mistakes with three turnovers, 10 penalties and two kicking game mistakes, so obviously those cost you the ability to win the game. I thought there before halftime we had a chance to take the lead and we threw an interception in the red zone. Those things you have to purge out, we've not gotten there yet. There's a lot of things on film where I see growth in our kids, so you take some confidence in seeing some of the things we executed. It's a mixed bag when you're trying to grow a program, but we're beyond just growing a program, we've got to start playing better for four quarters and getting it done."
On running game: "We are blessed with three or four backs who are pretty capable players. This past week we were able to run the ball better than what the end result was in terms of getting the ball in the end zone, due to penalties and some other things, but we're tyring to be multiple and trying to do a lot of things to make the defense try to defend. I'm comfortable where we are in the progression of our running game, we just need to be a little more proficient throwing and catching and with protection, so we can blend it with the passing game."
On defense: "We came out and played realy well on defense in the first half -- statistically it was probably the best half of defense we've played against an FCS school. I was proud of not just the effort, but the technique and being able to finish. We gave up a punt return right before half, and I felt like we didn't come out in the third quarter and play with that same intensity. We allowed some things to happen that kind of snowballed on us. I think we're starting to build some consistency in our linebacking corps, I believe that
Garrett Dolan is a good player,
Josh Jones is a guy who plays consistently and we need to get a little more production out of him this week. We're excited about some of the things happening with our young kids in the secondary, but I think at the end of the day, we do have some kids who can compete day in and day out in this league and Dolan and Jones are two of those who need to be able to play significantly every week."
