Video Highlights

HOUSTON – HBU wide receiver Wesley Lewis hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Tony Dawson on the Huskies' first play in overtime to stun Abilene Christian, 27-24, in Southland Conference football Saturday night at Husky Stadium.
 
Dawson completed 13-of-25 passes for 239 yards and the overtime touchdown, while also rushing 12 times for 70 yards and a score for the Huskies (2-1, 1-1 SLC). Lewis made two catches for 94 yards, while junior running back Terrance Peters carried 15 times for 48 yards and two touchdowns, also adding four catches for 49 yards.
 
Junior linebacker Garrett Dolan racked up 17 tackles, one shy of his school record, including a sack. Junior safety Taylor Thompson had a career-high 14 tackles and a pass breakup, while senior defensive end Terrance Manderville also had a career-high with 11. Junior linebacker Taylor Holmes added eight stops and junior cornerback Derek Broussard had eight tackles and a pair of pass breakups.
 
Dallas Sealey completed 32-of-45 passes for 345 yards and a touchdown, while rushing 14 times for 72 yards and a touchdown for the Wildcats (0-3, 0-1 SLC). Adrian Duncan carried 23 times for 88 yards, while Troy Grant caught seven passes for 87 yards and Josh Fink made five receptions for 72 yards.
 
Sam Denmark led ACU with nine tackles, while Bryson Gates and Richard Griffin III had six each.
 
ACU had 515 yards of total offense, compared to HBU's 389 and neither team turned the ball over. The Wildcats committed 13 penalties for 90 yards, but the Huskies committed only six for 45 yards.
 
The Wildcats' Nik Grau made his third field goal of the night, a 38-yarder, on the opening possession of overtime. HBU wasted no time answering as Lewis separated from his defender on the right side of the endzone and Dawson hit him with a strike to send the Huskies' sideline streaming to the corner in celebration.
 
With the score tied 21-21, ACU had a chance to take the lead in the final minute of regulation, but Grau's 37-yard field goal was blocked by sophomore linebacker Kyle Bowling with 58 seconds remaining.
 
In the first quarter, Dawson completed a 69-yard pass to Lewis to set up HBU at the ACU 14. Peters took three-straight handoffs, the last a seven-yard burst up the middle for a touchdown to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead with 3:22 left.
 
ACU bounced back on the next drive, as Sealey hit Grant for a 38-yard completion to the HBU 24, then threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Fuller. The Wildcats went for two as Parker McKenzie's jump ball to Dylan Douglass was hauled in for an 8-7 lead.
 
Late in the second quarter, Dawson completed a short pass to Peters, who gained 34 yards to the ACU 41. Dawson  escaped a near-sack, then tip-toed the sideline before being knocked out of bounds at the 4 for a 38-yard gain. The Huskies' quarterback called his own number of the next play, and found the endzone to put HBU ahead, 14-8. On the final possession of the half, ACU got a 19-yard run from Sealey to the HBU 34, then a 14 completion to Tracy James, setting up Grau's 42-yard field goal as time expired to cut the Huskies' lead to 14-11 at halftime.
 
On ACU's first possession of the second half, Sealey ran for 24 yards to the HBU 47 and completed a 16-yard pass to Trevor Crain to the 20. Sealey completed a 19-yard pass to Fink for an apparent go-ahead touchdown, but the Wildcats were flagged for an ineligible receiver downfield and had to settle for a Grau 34-yard field goal to tie the game, 14-14, with 10:01 to go in the third quarter.
 
HBU freshman defensive tackle Greg Vincent had a key seven-yard sack late in the third and ACU's short punt set HBU up at the Wildcats' 45. Dawson found junior H-back Mev Ajdin wide open for a 43-yard completion on the left sideline down to the 2, then Peters bulldozed his way in for his second score of the night to put the Huskies back ahead, 21-14.
 
The Wildcats tied the game on Sealey's 12-yard run with 7:08 remaining in the game. The drive began when Sealey completed back-to-back passes to Fink of 22 and 11 yards, respectively. ACU received a favorable bounce when Sealey completed a pass to Duncan, the running back fumble, but teammate Kalin Sadler swooped in to recover at the HBU 19. ACU had another touchdown called back on a penalty, but Sealey ran for a 12-yard touchdown two plays later to tie the game, 21-21.
 
The Huskies wrap up their three-game homestand when they host No. 3 Sam Houston State on Family Weekend Saturday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at Husky Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on FOX College Sports and Legacy Sports Network.

POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Vic Shealy
"(ACU) is a team that knows how to win, they've won a lot of ballgames and I'm sure they came in with the expectation that if they played well, this would kick-start their season. You knew at halftime with us being up that they were going to come out and we were going to get the very best play they had and I thought we still hung on, though, in the third quarter. I still feel like we won, if you had to look at it, we won three quarters, we didn't win the fourth, but we won overtime and that ended up being the difference."

"(The game-winning pass play) is something we practice and it was a good call by our offensive staff and Coach (Scott) Smith. What happened was, kind of right after they kicked the field goal in overtime, I knew Wesley at 6-foot-6 and those really long arms, we knew he had a great height advantage on their corners, so I just whispered in Coach Smith's ear, 'hey, let's don't forget to find a way, if you need to, to get a one-on-one matchup with Wesley on his corner.' I just didn't realize they were going to call it on first down, but it was a little double move, (senior quarterback Tony Dawson) came up, pump faked with a little hitch, got the corner's feet to stop, then Wesley's athletic ability took over."

"You can sit there and be a mike linebacker in the 4-3 defense and if you are not making a lot of tackles, then you've got to find a new mike linebacker. It's impossible to run away from that guy (junior linebacker Garrett Dolan), you can always be front-side and run, the difference is if you're not a very good tackler, you don't make those tackles. Garrett is really developing into a phenomenal tackler, you look at how often, really for the first time in our program, how many times ball carriers are going backwards when we tackle them. It's a credit to this weight room right here, plain and simple, this weight room wins ballgames for you on defense, it creates toughness in your program, a physical demeanor and I really feel like the last two weeks, we won the physical battle on the field." 

Junior LB Garrett Dolan
"It's really just been a long time coming, since I first got here and all the guys coming in, this is what you put the work in for. I just love moments like this, this is why I came here, because I wanted to build the program up and get wins like this and we're looking to keep the train rolling. (My success) starts with the guys up front, I love those "dawgs", they fight, take up the blocks for me and allow me to fly to the ball and I just love those guys and Coach (Charlie) Camp for getting me in the right place in the right situation. It was a good conference dogfight right up until the last seconds, I love a bare-knuckle fistfight the whole game."

Junior WR Wesley Lewis
"I'm just doing my job out there, there's nothing to it, we train, we work hard, then we execute -- that's all it is. (The game-winning pass play in overtime) was our play call, that's how we had it set up and we were set up to win. I felt good out there, the cornerback was a good athlete, we just executed. I like to think (staying in the game is) our defense, they keep us going, sometimes our offense stalls, but the defense gives us the motivation to get back out there and work for them -- defense wins games. I can't explain how I feel, I'm speechless, such a good feeling -- it's electrifying."