HOUSTON – HBU scored 17 unanswered points in the second half, before giving up a late touchdown to Texas Southern, as the Huskies clinched a 24-17 victory in the "Houston Strong Game", featuring the two FCS crosstown rivals Thursday night at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Freshman quarterback
Bailey Zappe completed 16-of-32 passes for 248 yards, the second-most in school history, a touchdown and an interception for the Huskies (1-1). Freshman running back
James Brown carried 14 times for 118 yards. Senior wide receiver
Ethan Fry caught three passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Senior linebackers
Garrett Dolan and
Cody Moncure each had eight tackles for HBU. Junior cornerback
Raphael Lewis made five tackles and broke up four passes, while senior safety
Taylor Thompson had four tackles and a key interception. Senior punter
Christian Guzman averaged 44.0 yards on seven punts, with six of them landing inside the 20.
Jay Christophe completed 14-of-30 passes for 261 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while rushing for 38 yards and a score. Darvin Kidsy caught eight passes for 200 yards and a touchdown, while Brad Woodard led the way on the ground with 10 carries for 44 yards.
Dondre Dobbins led the Tigers with 13 tackles and Archie Rice and Sean Jones made 10 stops each. Paul Favorite had a sack and a forced fumble and Brad Woodard came up with an interception.
Christophe's 39-yard completion to Kidsy to the HBU 38, plus a 15-yard penalty on the Huskies, set the Tigers up on the 17. TSU settled for a 27-yard Aaron Cuevas field goal to take a 3-0 lead with 6:45 remaining in the first quarter.
The Huskies answered on the first play of the next possession, with Zappe hitting Fry for a 60-yard touchdown, after a reverse flea-flicker to go ahead 7-3 with 6:23 to go. HBU quickly got the ball back after a three-and-out and drove to the TSU 32, but Zappe was intercepted by Brad Woodard at the 28.
After neither team moved the ball for much of the second quarter, HBU was driving late in the half, but Zappe lost a fumble, with TSU taking over at its own 38. The Tigers struck quickly as Christophe hit Kidsy for a 61-yard completion down to the HBU 1, then Christophe punched it in for the score on the next play as TSU led 10-7 with 2:08 left before halftime.
After a 48-yard punt by Guzman pinned TSU back to its own 15, Thompson jumped in front of a Christophe pass on the first play of the drive as HBU took back over on the 29. On third-and-15 from the 20, Zappe hit
LaDarius Dickens on a swing pass and Dickens fought for a 16-yard gain to set up first-and-goal at the 4. Zappe then carried for a three-yard gain and plunged in from a yard out for a touchdown to make the score 14-10 with 6:13 remaining in the third.
Junior kicker
Alec Chadwick added a 36-yard field goal for the Huskies to extend the lead to 17-10 with 7:18 left. HBU got the ball back with 4:32 to go and Brown started off the drive with a 34-yard run, then finished it off with a 33-yard scamper up the middle for a touchdown and a 24-10 lead with just over two minutes left on the clock.
The Tigers drove down the field with Kidsey making catches of 33 and 22 yards on the first two plays, then capping off the drive with a nine-yard touchdown reception with 23 seconds left to cut the Huskies' lead to seven. TSU's onside kick attempt went off the hands of an HBU player and out-of-bounds, so the Huskies took the ball and a knee to run out the clock.
The Huskies return to action in their Southland Conference opener on the road against Abilene Christian at Wildcat Stadium at 6 p.m. The game will be the first-ever contest at the Wildcats' new stadium and will broadcast on ESPN3.
