SAN ANTONIO, Texas – HCU trailed by 10 at the half before storming back for a 23-20 lead with less than six minutes to play but ultimately dropped a heartbreaker in overtime to the UIW Cardinals in Southland Conference play on Saturday night at Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium.
HCU (2-2, 1-1 SLC) went three-and-out on the opening drive of the game, giving way to the Cardinals (2-1, 1-0 SLC) at their own 30. UIW moved the ball to the HCU 45 before
Thio Georges picked off a deep pass to give the Huskies possession at the two-yard line. HCU punted after going three-and-out and UIW returner Jayden Hibbler returned it 35 yards down to the Huskies' 15. It took one play and the Cardinals got on the board with a touchdown run for a 7-0 lead within the first five minutes of the game.
On HCU's ensuing drive, the Huskies converted a pair of third down conversions before
Cutter Stewart found a leaping
Trayjen Llanas-Wilcox in the corner of the end zone with the senior wideout getting his toes down as he was getting pushed out to even the score at 7-7 at the 7:48 mark in the first quarter.
Late in the first quarter, HCU made a stop on fourth-and-two at the UIW 38-yard line. After keeping the drive alive on an eight-yard pass from Stewart to
Jamaal Hall II on a fourth-and-four, HCU moved the ball as far as the UIW 23 before
Lukasz Smolen booted a 41-yard field goal through the uprights to put the Huskies ahead, 10-7, early in the second quarter. UIW scored on drives of 67 yards and 47 yards on the next two possessions with a missed PAT on one to gain a 20-10 advantage. The Cardinals moved the ball to the HCU two-yard line but a big stop on a short completion on the last play of the half kept the HCU deficit at just 10.
UIW muffed the opening kickoff of the second half and HCU's
Rashid Mansour recovered at the UIW 44 to give the Huskies strong field position. That drive ended with a 43-yard Smolen field goal to cut it down to a seven-point ballgame. The teams then traded punts over the next seven possessions and going into the fourth quarter.
The Huskies began their first drive of the fourth with a 60-yard pass from
Maddox Kopp to Llanas-Wilcox that put HCU at the UIW 27-yard line. The drive stalled from there but Smolen again came up big with another 43-yarder to pull HCU within four, 20-16, with 13:51 remaining on the clock.
HCU forced a punt on the next UIW possession, taking over at the 20 after a touchback. A nine-play, 80-yard drive ensued with
Ja'Ryan Wallace accumulating an impressive 74 yards receiving on three catches that included a 53-yard touchdown catch on third-and-21 following a chop block penalty that pushed the Huskies back 15 yards that gave HCU a 23-20 lead with 5:59 on the clock.
Keyon Butler returned the kickoff that followed 26 yards to the UIW 36, setting the Cardinals up for a 10-play, 58-yard drive that ended with a game-tying 24-yard field goal. An HCU fumble on the next drive with just 1:26 remaining in regulation gave UIW the ball at the HCU 49. The Cardinals moved the ball down to the eight-yard line but with just 16 ticks left on the clock,
Javon Bejarano forced a fumble that was recovered by
Mike Sylvalie to keep things tied and send the game to overtime.
UIW went first in overtime, scoring a touchdown on an Emmett Brown touchdown run from 10 yards out. The Huskies' possession started with a 13-yard run by Dozier. A four-yard completion to
Keith Wheeler on second down put the Huskies at the eight-yard line. Consecutive pass attempts to the back right corner of the end zone went incomplete to end the game.
UIW out-gained the Huskies with 442 total yards of offense to HCU's 378. HCU won the turnover battles with three takeaways while turning the ball over just once. Wallace finished the night with five receptions for 85 yards and a score while Llanas-Wilcox had 81 yards and a touchdown on three catches. Hall caught a team-high six passes for 71 yards.
Kopp finished the game 9-of-16 passing for 166 yards and a touchdown while Stewart threw one touchdown and had 96 yards on 10-of-22 passing. On the ground, Dozier totaled 86 yards on 20 carries.
Defensively,
Trent Zappe and Bejarano tied for the team-lead with 11 tackles with Bejarano recording 1.5 tackles for loss.
Ejike Brown had two TFLs for the Huskies that included one sack among his five tackles.
Jayven Anderson added 10 tackles. Georges' interception in the first quarter was his first of the season.
On special teams, Smolen remained perfect on field goals for the season as he booted three successful attempts from beyond 40 yards. Both of his PAT tries were good and he averaged 44.3 yards per punt on three punts for 133 yards.
HCU has one last non-conference game ahead with the Huskies making a trip north to Denton, Texas to take on the North Texas Mean Green at DATCU Stadium next Saturday, Sept. 26, at 6:30 p.m.
