BEAUMONT, Texas – HBU senior quarterback
Tony Dawson threw two second-half touchdown passes and the Huskies' defense turned away a late comeback by Lamar to hold on to a 24-17 win in Southland Conference football Saturday night at Provost Umphrey Stadium.
The victory sets a season-high for wins (3), conference wins (2) and marks the Huskies' first-ever Division I and conference road win in the third full year of the program.
"One of the things that is probably important to understand, when you're growing from ground zero up, you're working to become good, so you have a chance to win," Shealy said. "Once you kind of get there, you find a way to win the close games, so maybe one day we'll find a way to win going away, but we'll take it tonight."
"I would have liked to have thought there midway in the fourth quarter where we had a 14-point lead and the ball it wouldn't have come down to this, but our kids showed great resolve and they kept on fighting. Even when we had some adverse moments there late in the fourth, our guys still found a way to win and it's a real credit to how hard they've worked and how committed they are to doing the little things right."
Dawson competed 9-of-24 passes for 193 yards, two touchdowns, and added 73 rushing yards for the Huskies (3-5, 2-4 SLC). Junior running back
B.J. Kelly rushed 13 times for 58 yards and a score, while junior running back
Terrance Peters carried 10 times for 36 yards. Sophomore
David Racine caught two passes for 60 yards, junior
Isaiah Hall caught two for 49 yards and a touchdown, while junior h-back
Mev Ajdin added a 31-yard receiving score.
Junior linebacker
Garrett Dolan led HBU's defense with 14 tackles, added a key forced fumble and recovery. Senior linebacker
Dorrin Turner added eight stops, while junior cornerback
Derek Broussard and junior linebacker
Cody Moncure made seven each. Junior punter
Christian Guzman averaged 37.7 yards on seven punts, landing two inside the 20, and rushed for 25 yards on a fake to pick up a Huskies first down. Sophomore
Alec Chadwick was 1-for-3 on field goal attempts, having one blocked.
Austin Krautz rushed 21 times for 114 yards, while Kendrick King ran 11 times for 26 yards for Lamar (3-5, 3-3). Case Robinson was 7-for-12 for 66 yards and a touchdown, while Adam Morse came in relief and completed 7-for-14 for 54 yards and a touchdown. DeWan Thompson made seven receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown.
Cameron Hampton led the Cardinals with 10 tackles, while Matt Johnson made nine, Xavier Bethany made eight and Jaylon Bowden had seven and forced a fumble. Juan Carranco averaged 36.4 yards on eight punts and went 1-for-1 on field goal attempts.
HBU had 395 total yards, 193 passing and 202 rushing, while limiting Lamar to 269 yards, 120 passing and 149 on the ground. The Huskies overcame 13 penalties for 135 yards, while the Cardinals committed only two for 10 yards. Each team committed one turnover, with both teams capitalizing with touchdowns.
In the first quarter, Dolan tackled Andrew Allen for a 12-yard loss, forcing and recovering a fumble at the Lamar 14. Kelly punched it in from three yards out to put HBU ahead, 7-0, 2:07 into the game. Later in the quarter, Krautz broke off a 56-yard run to the HBU 9, then Robinson hit Zae Giles from six yards out to tie the game with 7:08 left in the first.
HBU had a 34-yard field goal attempt blocked early in the second quarter, then Chadwick missed a 45-yarder at the end of the half. The Cardinals took advantage of 45 penalty yards on the Huskies to set up Carranco's 26-yard field goal late in the second quarter to put Lamar up 10-7 at the break.
The Huskies received the second-half kickoff and Kelly's 39-yard run down to the Lamar 16 set up Chadwick's 33-yard field goal to tie the game less than three minutes in. Guzman pinned the Cardinals at their own 2-yard line with a 43-yard punt and a three-and-out forced by the Huskies' defense set them up with great field position at Lamar's 38. After a seven-yard completion to Lewis, Dawson hit Ajdin with a 31-yard touchdown pass to give the Huskies a 17-10 lead with 5:21 left in the third.
In the fourth quarter, Dawson found Lewis over the middle for a 19-yard gain, then hooked up with Hall for a 44-yard touchdown pass as HBU went up, 24-10, with 12:09 remaining. After another defensive stop by the Huskies, Dawson fumbled and the Cardinals recovered at HBU's 46. Morse came into the game and completed an 11-yard pass to Giles for a third-down conversion, then a 20-yard completion to Handy on 4
th-and-7 down to the HBU 8. Morse followed with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Thompson to cut the Huskies' lead to 24-17 with just under eight minutes left on the clock.
A personal foul and two pass interference penalties set up Lamar at HBU's 19. On 4
th-and-7 junior cornerback knocked away Morse's pass intended for Thompson with 1:45 to go. The Huskies went into the victory formation after that to salt away the clock.
The Huskies return to action when it faces its second FBS and Conference USA opponent of the season, traveling to UTEP Saturday, Nov. 5 in the Sun Bowl at 7 p.m. CDT.
