HUNTSVILLE, Texas – HBU provided its best offensive output of the season, but came up short in a 53-33 shootout with fourth-ranked Sam Houston State in the Southland Conference season finale Saturday afternoon at Bowers Stadium.
Freshman quarterback
Bailey Zappe completed 12-of-23 passes for 197 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 25 yards and a score for the Huskies (1-10, 0-9 SLC). Sophomore quarterback
Jack Swensen completed 6-of-9 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown. Senior receiver
Isaiah Hall rushed seven times for 90 yards and a touchdown and made two catches for 17 yards. Senior receiver
Ethan Fry caught four passes for 76 yards and junior
David Racine caught two passes for 72 yards and a touchdown. Senior running back
Terrance Peters had four receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown.
Senior linebacker
Cody Moncure led the Huskies with 11 tackles and senior linebacker
Garrett Dolan made nine to finish his career with 467 tackles and rank seventh all-time in the FCS. Junior linebacker
Kyle Bowling made a career-high nine stops, sophomore defensive end
Andre Walker made six and senior defensive end
Taaron Timmons made his first career interception.
Jeremiah Briscoe completed 28-of-43 passes for 464 yards, five touchdowns and an interception for the Bearkats (10-1, 8-1). Nathan Stewart caught 10 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns, while Yedidiah Louis had nine catches for 125 yards and a score. Davion Davis had four receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown and Corey Avery rushed for 124 yards on 11 carries.
Josh Price and Chris Stewart each made six tackles for SHSU, with Price forcing a fumble that Stewart recovered. Darius Mouton and Justin Johnson had five stops each and P.J. Hall posted the game's lone sack.
SHSU piled up 682 yards of offense, but HBU put up 415 and led in time of possession, 31:10-28:50. HBU committed 11 penalties to SHSU's seven and each team turned the ball over once.
The Bearkats outscored the Huskies, 26-7, in the first quarter. Briscoe's 41-yard pass to Louis down to the one set up the quarterback's 1-yard touchdown, then Briscoe hit Louis for a 13-yard touchdown for a 13-0 lead. The Huskies got on the board when Peters caught a pass, then threw it back to Zappe for a 22-yard score, which down as a rush for the quarterback. The Bearkats quickly answered on Davis's 67-yard touchdown reception, then SHSU used all three of its timeouts to take advantage of the wind with HBU pinned back. The Bearkats got the ball back and scored on Stewart's nine-yard reception with no time on the clock.
Stewart opened the second-quarter scoring, hauling in a 39-yard touchdown from Briscoe to extend the Bearkats' lead to 33-7. The Huskies did not lie down and Zappe hooked up with Racine for a 61-yard completion that set up a two-yard touchdown pass to senior H-back
Mev Ajdin and make the score 33-14 going into halftime.
In the third quarter, Peters caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Zappe, but Stewart caught a 63-yarder from Briscoe on the Bearkats' ensuing drive. Tre Honshtein had field goals of 27 and 40 yards in the period to make the score 46-21.
SHSU's final score came on Jordan Brown's 14-yard touchdown run with 14:53 remaining. Sophomore tight end
Tyler Kelly's 36-yard reception down the sideline, set up Hall's 12-yard touchdown run for HBU, then Hall had a 41-yard run, before Swensen hit Racine for an 11-yard touchdown for the final margin.
