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HOUSTON – HBU senior quarterback Tony Dawson broke away for two long second-half touchdown runs to lead the Huskies to a 31-24 victory over Stephen F. Austin in Southland Conference action and their home finale on Senior Day Saturday afternoon at Husky Stadium.
 
"We wished we could've played out the last six minutes of the game much more clean, that is part of the growing and maturation of your program," HBU head coach Vic Shealy said. "It was the first time we had been in that situation with the onside kicks, but you learn and we've got good coaches and players who want to better themselves and I'm confident we'll learn and grow. I'm even more excited, as a football program, we can create memories with that 17-point fourth quarter. The turnover we created led to a score and that was a pretty clutch field goal, it wound up making a difference in the game, and that shows the maturity in our program. This is a really significant moment in our program."
 
Dawson broke his own school record with 218 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while completing 9-of-22 passes for 139 yards a pair of touchdowns and an interception for the Huskies (4-6, 3-4 SLC). His 83-yard third-quarter touchdown is the longest play from scrimmage, then added a 41-yard early in the fourth. He had previously rushed for 191 yards against Nicholls on Oct. 15. HBU has set new program highs for wins (4) and conference wins (3) and finished the season with a winning record at home with a 3-2 mark.
 
"We just tried to come out and execute our offense – we didn't try to do anything fancy, just took what they gave us," Dawson said. "(Beating SFA) is a big accomplishment, to get a home win in my senior year for all of the other seniors, everyone else in this program, I'm just really proud of the guys. They had my back and I had their backs, so we just went out there and fought. (The onside kick recovery) was the biggest play of the night, by far, I misjudged the first one, but the second one was the play of the game to seal the deal."
 
Senior wide receiver Ricardo Barnett caught three passes for 60 yards and a touchdown and junior wide receiver Isaiah Hall made two catches for 42 yards for the Huskies. Junior running back B.J. Kelly added 42 yards on the ground and junior running back Terrance Peters made one catch for a 26-yard touchdown.
 
Junior linebacker Cody Moncure led HBU defensively with 12 tackles and a sack, while senior linebacker Dorrin Turner made eight stops and junior defensive end Taaron Timmons added seven tackles, including a school-record 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. Junior linebacker Garrett Dolan was held below his nation-leading average of 12.7 tackles per game, posting six with a pair of pass breakups. Freshman safety Nicholas Smith recorded his first career interception.
 
"It was really big (to force two fumbles) and I just want to thank my teammates for giving me the opportunity to line up and use my length," Timmons said. "(Coming up with big plays) is something that should've happened a long time ago, but something within me made want to ball out for my seniors and that's what I did. I was put in a position to lineup on their tackle, I was the better guy in those situations, and just got to the quarterback."
 
SFA quarterback Zach Conque completed 26-of-43 passes for 386 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, while rushing for 54 yards for the Lumberjacks (4-6, 3-5). Tamrick Pace made eight receptions for 187 yards and a touchdown, while Justic Liggins had three catches for 70 yards and a score.
 
George Stone led SFA with nine tackles, Alize Ward chipped in with eight and Price Miller had seven stops. Kedri Harrison made the Lumberjacks' only sack and Tarri Mitchell came up with an interception.
 
SFA outgained HBU, 473-437, but the Huskies controlled the clock by rushing for 298 yards to the Lumberjacks' 87. SFA threw for 386, with HBU gaining 139 yards through the air. The Lumberjacks turned the ball over three times, while the Huskies made one miscue.
 
The Lumberjacks received the opening kickoff and marched down the field, before Conque found Pace for a 32-yard touchdown. The Huskies answered on their ensuing drive as Dawson hit Peters for a 26-yard touchdown strike to tie the game with 6:57 left in the opening quarter.
 
In the second quarter, HBU went for it on 4^th-and-1 at the SFA 6, but were turned away empty handed. The defense responded with a three-and-out and Caleb Lewallen's 35-yard punt set up HBU at its own 48. Dawson hit Barnett for a 17-yard gain, then rushed for another eight yards, before dropping in a 32-yard touchdown pass to Barnett to give the Huskies a 14-7 at halftime.
 
HBU went three-and-out on its opening possession of the second half. Conque made an 18-yard completion to Liggins, rushed for a 22-yard gain, then hit Pace for a 13-yard completion to the HBU 6. Kijana Arnous punched it in from two yards out to tie the game, 14-14, with 10:56 to go in the third.
 
The Huskies took over at their own 19 and faced a 3^rd-and-12, but Dawson stepped up in the pocket, broke to the right sideline and picked up a block by junior wide receiver Ethan Fry to race to outrun the Lumberjacks for an 83-yard touchdown to regain the lead.
 
Early in the fourth quarter, SFA drove to the HBU 23 and faced 4^th-and-3, but Conque's pass to Liggins was incomplete. Dawson then broke free for a 41-yard touchdown up the middle to extend HBU's lead to 28-14 with 11:16 remaining.
 
On the next drive, Conque dropped back, was stripped of the ball by Timmons and HBU junior cornerback Derek Broussard recovered at the SFA 26. Kelly's 14-yard run set up sophomore kicker Alec Chadwick's 34-yard field goal to stake the Huskies to a 31-14 advantage with 8:10 left.
 
After having a drive stall at the HBU 33, SFA forced a completed 5-of-9 passes and rushed for a first down on a drive capped by Storm Ruiz's 20-yard field goal to make it a two-score game with just over three minutes remaining. The Lumberjacks then successfully recovered an onside kick and took over at the HBU 48. Conque and Liggins hooked up for a 30-yard touchdown to put SFA within a touchdown at 31-24 with 2:08 to go.
 
Dawson was on the Huskies' "good hands" team and secured the ball on SFA's second onside kick attempt. With the Lumberjacks out of timeouts, he kneeled on the ball three times to run out the rest of the clock.
 
In honor of Veterans Day, HBU's helmets featured the seal of a military branch of significant importance to each student-athlete and the Husky Veterans Association served as honorary team captains.
 
The Huskies return to action for the season finale on the road against Incarnate Word Thursday at 7 p.m. at Benson Stadium in San Antonio. The game will be televised live on FOX College Sports.